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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-09-15 213 BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING SEPTEMBER 15, 1980 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Monday, September 15, 1980 at 7 00 p m. in Room %-25 of the Town Office Building Members present were Dr William L Cosgrove, Chairman; Mr James W Lambie, Dr Michael S Erdos, Mr George A. Smith, Jr , Director of Public Health and Mrs Sandra Gabriel, Sanitarian The minutes of the last meeting were approved as read except the spelling of one word Mrs Sandra Gabriel, Sanitarian, gave her report of what she has been doing the MRS last month GABRIEL, SANITARIAN- Mrs Gabriel said most of her activities were with the food service facilities REPORT She has been concentrating on the smaller food markets Most places, in general, looked very good Mrs Gabriel reported that she went to the Watts Regulatory Company Seminar on cross-connections She found it very informative and would like to learn more Mrs Gabriel reported how she is working to set up a "food seminar" which will be given in December. Mrs Gabriel told the Board how she worked on the "Res" this past summer, check- ing it out, taking water samples, etc while Mr. Smith was on vacation. Mrs Gabriel also went to meetings with other departments discussing the new town pools, the progress they were making to complete the work for the opening day. Mrs Gabriel also answered any complaint calls this summer during Mr. Smith's absence Dr Cosgrove asked how the LeBellecour Restaurant is now. Mrs Gabriel said that it has improved Mrs Terry Hluchyji, R.N of the Visiting Nurse & Community Health, Inc. came MRS TERRY to the meeting to discuss the activities that the visiting nurses are involved HLUCHYJI,R N in, sponsored by the Board of Health. V N A She reported that the Vynebrook and Greeley Villages are going along well The attendance had dropped off during the summer probably due to the heat and people going away Mr. Smith spoke to the Board about the blood pressure clinic at Greeley Village He has reason to believe that some of the residents of the village are not very nice to outsiders (residents that do not live in the village) Mrs Hluchyji said there is a clique there at Greeley that is very adamant to outsiders She said that the Vynebrook Village group were very nice to the out outsiders The Board is considering taking the blood pressure clinic out of Greeley Village and putting it at another location Mr Smith asked Mrs Hluchyji to have people sign so they can see who is making use of these clinics. Mrs Hluchyji also reported to the Board that one of the visiting nurses, Shelley Levine, had a "Diabetes Discussion Group" for four consecutive Thursdays this past summer The sessions were held in the Community Room of Vynebrook Village The sessions were open to all residents and ranged from 6 to 12 people attending. Mrs Hluchyji, R.N told the Board she is having trouble tracking down communicable disease follow-ups that the Board of Health reports. She said this is particularly so with the oriental people and at times there is a language barrier They do not cooperate and call the visiting nurse back when the nurse leaves the phone number. Mr Smith said if the patient is told that they would be reported to immigra- tion unless they return the nurses call they may be more cooperative. Mrs Hluchyji said the orientals are very mobile and when nurses try to con- tact them, they move Dr Cosgrove said to call the Board members if the nurses have any problems as the Board would have more leverage with these people. BUDGET & Mr Smith told the Board that budget and annual report time is coming up ANNUAL soon He said he plans to sit down with Mrs Gabriel and Mrs Smith to get REPORT the preliminary budget done soon. Mr Smith asked Mrs. Hluchyji to get something together in regard to what the VNA has done this year for the Board of Health RABIES Mr Robert Hills, Jr had sent the Board of Health a letter requesting TREATMENT payment of $82.20 stating that is the amount the Town owes for his wife's BILL treatment against rabies after his insurance company paid their bill. Dr Cosgrove said it should be up to whether a person is able to pay or not Mr Smith said the law states that the county will pay up to $50 00 and the Town has to pay the balance Mr Smith reported that the State has announced there is a new vaccine for treatment of humans when bitten by a rabid animal but the vaccine is limited at this time PNEUMONIA Dr Cosgrove said that Jack Gardner of the A.A.R.P. wants the pneumovax VACCINE vaccine given free to the elderly that are poor Mr Gardner had said that the C 0 A does not have money to pay for it. Mr Smith said the elderly didn't seem to want the shot last year. Only forty people came to the clinic If anyone had the vaccine last year, they cannot get the vaccine again this year It is a three year vaccine. Mr Lambie asked how much the vaccine will cost this year Mr Smith said the prices had not been sent to us as yet. pm- . ..0 Mr Lambie said he thinks the elderly would benefit from the pneumonia vaccine Mr Smith said that healthy people do not need the flu shot. He said the elderly and people with chronic problems should get the flu vaccine Mr Smith said he is not ordering more than 100 doses of pneumovax this year. He told the Board we were cut way back on our flu vaccine this year. The State will only provide 430 doses so he is going to try to buy some Mr Smith told the Board that he had been appointed "coordinator of clean air CLEAN AIR week" WEEK He said the E P.A. van will he in Lexington that week and he plans to put a display at both libraries. On the 27th of September he is going to have "emissions" test- ing at the centre playground. Mrs Gabriel will come in and work that day, also. He told the Board that in 1982 this testing will be part of the auto inspection Mr Smith said he talked to the State Police and the Attorney General's Office HAZARDOUS about hazardous waste disposal He said it is more than "just a Board of Health" WASTE problem. It will involve fire and Police Departments also, and that he will have to have some discussions with them Mr. Smith said west of here in Acton and Concord they get together periodically. He said there is a meeting on hazardous waste in Concord on September 30th. Mr Smith asked Mr. Lambie if he should bring in Chief Bergeron and Captain Lima to the next meeting. Mr Lambie said it would not be necessary at this time He said we will discuss it and make them aware of what's going on. Mr Smith said he was awaiting something from the Attorney General's Office and from the State Police Mr Smith told the Board that the D E.Q.E. is all being located in the old Gilcrist Building in Boston, and the co-ordinator with the D E.Q.E. is to answer all Qustions Mr Smith said to be on the 1-okout for dumping of hazardous waste in gravel pits He said people don't usually pay much attention Dr Cosgrove asked what seemed to be going on in Bedford. Over a period of time,MISCELLAN_ there was 30 deaths from cancer, mostly women EOUS Mr Smith said they cannot pinpoint what the cause is, in particular. Mr Smith reported that the Town water tanks need repair and the Town will be working on them shortly Mr Smith mentioned that Dr. Kim has finally connected to sewer. Also, Pollins of Sherman Street took care of his problem and cleaned up the dog messes after 2 hearing at court Mr Smith reported Dr Bergmeyer of Mountain Road will be putting in a septic system Dr Austin bought land on Cottage Street and wanted to put in a septic system but Mr Smith told him he couldn't test the ground until January Mr Frank W K. Smith is building up on Allen Street near the "Trinity Covenant Estates" subdivision and wanted to put in a septic system. Mr Smith said ground conditions are good but Mr. Smith talked him into connecting to sewer in the Spring when the subdivision goes in. Mr Smith told the Board there had been a fire at the Lexington Tennis & Pool Club The pool & whirlpool were closed for one month as they lost the filter system in the fire They had to build a new pump room but everything is fine now Harold Millican was in charge of getting pools into shape. Mr Smith said other pools in Town had their filter systems break down this past summer during the hot weather. Mr Smith reported when the new pools opened this summer it took a large crowd from the Res He said the Res had horrendous crowds this summer due to the hot weather. He said the Town pools were kept open two weeks longer this summer for residents during the hot weather Also told the Board that the new pool complex had been vandalized already as was our dog shelter vandalized again this summer He said the pool complex will have to be policed better this next summer. There were algae problems at the Res this year in June. Water table had dropped way down and they also found a leak in gate. Mr Smith said he closed the Res the first week in August because the water was stagnant and had dropped Coliform count was 2000 - a lot for the Res. Towards the end of August we had some rain and the counts were better then. Dr Erdos said next year the pools will be open and that should take the load off the Res Mr Smith told the Board about the rubbish problems in Town, particularly at the Highland Food Store block of stores He said it is improved around Town but people are still using the dumpsters for their personal trash. He said residents should call police when they see beer drinking behind stores but they won't because they don't want to get involved SHARKEY Mr Smith told the Board the Sharkey place over on Hazel Road - holder of animal HAZEL RD permit is a mess. He said there was 3 horse and a pregnant horse. There were "used" horse syringes but he doesn't know where they got them. He said there are lots of problems there and he's ready to suggest they lose their permit. Mr Smith told her the horses may have to go He said it is just another case of people boarding their horses and no one takes care of the property. He said he did not see any rats but there was grain all over the place Mr Smith said the S P C A. was out there but they are only interested in whether or not animals are being fed and watered. T B Mr. Smith reported to the Board that there is a tuberculosis case over at Middle- CASE sex County Hospital from Lexington. He said the Town does have some credit there currently. '17 Dr Erdos asked if we were responsible for payment. Mr Smith said "yes" if they have no insurance it could be expensive for the Town He said he sent a memo upstairs yesterday notifying them we may need more money for that account Mrs Hluchyji said she had spoken to his wife and he is suppose to come home shortly Mr Smith told the secretary to call in the morning to see if Mr Browning was still there Mr. Smith told the Board that he was notified by the State that there is to be POSTURAL a postural clinic required in the schools now It is required in grades 5 and 9 CLINIC in public schools and by parental consent in private schools. Mr. Smith said it is up to the school system to set up and run these clinics Dr. Erdos said the school nurses could screen for that. MISCELLANEOUS Mr Smith told the board that the Trinity Covenant Estates will be sewered. The plans are now upstairs being reviewed. The Pre-School Eye Screening Clinic will be held on Saturday, October 4th. Mr Smith reported to the Board that Lee Ann's Restaurant in the Battle Green Inn has gone out of business. He said the hotel owner is not going to rent it out anymore as a restaurant but is going to let offices come in there. He also told the Board that Alexander's Convenient Store has put in hot sandwiches and that the Melting Pot is adding take-out lunch food. Mrs Gabriel checked out the carnival last July and in doing so, found a carnival worker's trailer in the woods and made them remove it Mr Smith told the Board that we had a few mosquito complaints during the summer but the hot weather and no rain kept mosquitoes down. Mr Hutchinson, Town Manager, wants Mr Smith to get involved in the Gypsy Moth problem in Town. Mr. Smith told the Board that Sophie Dramatis of the Office for Children may come to the October Meeting to talk about immunizations for Kindergarten children The M D.0 Sewer Project was discussed. Mr Lambie said he had talked to the M.D.C. twice since our last meeting. They are doing a Sewer System Evaluation Survey. Mr Lambie said he is watching the whole thing closely. Arlington has not even started their study but Bedford is ahead of Lexington at this time. Lexington is going to start soon and should be ready by next summer Information will be available for the final sewer design. Each town does their own study. Mike Hanlon, Town Engineer, and the engineering department is doing it for Lexington. Dr. Cosgrove asked how far down the road does this thing get done. ` I8 Mr Lambie said the design starts this Fall, construction starts one year from now and it will be two or three years in consturction The Board discussed inflow and infiltration of this project further. Mr Lambie asked about changing the time of the Board Meetings because Dr. Erdos finds it difficult getting from the hospital at 7 00 p.m. Dr Erdos said 7 15 p.m would be fine. The Board agreed to meet at 7 15 p.m. for future meetings The following permits were signed by the Board Food Service Establishments Cains Seafood Lexington Golf Club 321 Woburn Street 55 Hill Street Lexington Christian Academy Melting Pot International 48 Bartlett Ave. 20 Waltham Street Mother Earth Natural Foods Living & Learning School 10 Muzzey Street 80 Maple Street Cheewan No d/b/a Village Food Stores ARA Services for Honeywell 93 Mass Ave (change of owner) 3 Forbes Road Service Systems at Millipore VIP Vending for Instrumentation Lab. 35 Hartwell Ave Rubbish Disposal Permits Browning-Ferris Industires (4 trucks) 170 Market Street, Brighton, Mass. Animal Permits John H Sellars 3 goats & four chickens 430 Concord Ave. Ralph J Frissore six pleasure horses 92 Blossomcrest Rd. Richard & Maureen McDevitt two geese (holding permit) 483 Waltham Street Anne M Butler 1 horse and 1 goat 22 Rangeway Rd. Joseph Lambert 12 hens 110 Grove Street .. Swimming Pool Permits - Wading Pool Permits Adams Pool Corp. wading pool also 16 Brent Rd Retail Food Store Permits Royal Pastry Cain's Seafood Village Food Store #14 317 Marrett Road 321A Woburn Street 189 Bedford St Village Food Store #12 Mount Royal Butchers Melting Pot International 93 Mass Ave. 240 Bedford St. 20 Waltham Street FROZEN DESSERTS Friendly Family Restaurant 1060 Waltham Street Friendly Ice Cream Shop 60 Bedford Street Recreational Camp Meadow Breeze Day Camp 48 Bartlett Ave. Syringe Permit Micro-Bit Corporation 40 Hartwell Ave Chemical Toilets Comfort Castles for Raytheon Building Construction 141 Spring Street