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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-09-13 a i.+ BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING SEPTEMBER 13, 1983 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Tuesday, September 13, 1983 at 7 15 p m. in the Board of Health Office Members present were Mr James W Lambie, Chairman, Michael S Erdos, M D , Linda Roemer, Ph D , George A Smith, Director and Deborah Halko, Health in the Health Department At seven-fifteen Mrs Jayne Tapia, R.N of the Visiting Nurses Association and Susan Kearns, R.N also of the V N A came before the Board Mrs Tapia and Mrs Kearns came before the Board to discuss what the Board expects of the V N.A nurses and in regard to the elderly, investigating com- municalbe diseases, the monthly report of the V N A contract with the Board of Health Mrs Tapia wanted to know if the monthly report they have been sending in the past few months was satisfactory Mr Lambie said it was helpful, but he feels we are paying for more than we are getting Under the elderly visits, he feels the nurses should be doing more for the elderly collectively instead of individually Dr Roemer asked if the individuals who are visited, are suggested by physicians Mrs Tapis said, "No , these are our patients" Mrs Kearns told the Board that the meeting with the Board of Health last June had been very helpful In the meantime, the number of individual patients that the Visiting Nurse has been seeing in their homes, have gone down The discussion seemed a bit unclear as to who decides that a patient should see a V N A nurse in their home Dr Erdos asked if the physicians decide that his patient should have a nurse? Mrs Tapia said it is the doctor's decision to decide if the patients need a nurse The nurses also decide sometimes if it is necessary for them to go into the homes and care for a patient Mrs Kearns told the Board that the new blood pressure clinic at Countryside Village will begin on September 22, 1983 They also reported that the East Village Clinic has been poorly attended during the summer and if it didn't improve in the Fall, they will think of cancelling it out completely Mr Smith announced that the flu vaccine clinic will be held on October 6, and this year the hours will be from 1 00 p m to 4 00 p m He also stated that he is not going to have a pneumococcal clinic this year There just isn't any call for it and hardly anyone showed up last year w Mr Smith told Mrs Tapia to be thinking about the FY84 budget and the first half of the Town Report from the Visiting Nurses After further discussion, Mrs Tapia and Mrs Kearns thanked the Board and retired Mrs Deborah Halko, Intern/Sanitarian for the Health Department told the Board SANITAR- that she has been busy inspecting food service establishments, - restaurants IAN and markets REPORT She has also been doing re-inspections on places she found that were not up to standard Mrs Halko also found a mobile food server on the road today and pulled him over to inspect it Mr Smith has been going over the proposed "no-smoking" regulations with Mrs Halko The regulations from Town Meeting have been published in the Lexington news- SMOKING paper for two weeks REGS Mr Smith said the Board of Health proposed regulations will be published in the Lexington paper Mr Smith told the Board that he is meeting with Norman Cohen, Town Counsel, tomorrow morning (Wed , Sept 14, 1983) Mr Smith told the Board that he changed the message that he had sent to the cable t v He is now going to stop all the messages about mosquito control He has also sent letters to the schools in regard to mosquitoes Minute Man Vocational School has been sprayed twice so far Mr Henley is doing water management at this time and the problem is being monitored Mr Smith said there should be monies left in the mosquito budget for the winter work for mosquitoes Dr Erdos discussed briefly the incident at the Town Pool He feels that there should be an ambu-tube and an ambu-tube and airway at the pool These cannot be used except by physicians but there usually is a physician/s there on week- ends with their families Mr Smith said he will bring this to the attention of the Town Manager Mr Smith reported a guest at someone's house in Lexington was bitten by a RATS/DOGS & bat and then went back to New Hampshire The bat was shot by the house owner RACCOONS Mr Smith took the bat to the Lab and the results were negative He also told the Board about a dog that was tied out in the yard and a raccoon came along and they had a fight The dog received a good bite from the raccoon The raccoon was taken to Dr Chabot's, put to sleep, head was prepared for Lab and Mr Smith took the head into Jamaica Plain 394 4 The results came back negative Red Acre Hearing Dog Training Farm had taken a dog from our shelter and trained it for hearing-aid dog The employees there named the dog "Trish" after our Dog Officer, Patti The dog has now gone to Connecticut They have now taken a second dog from our shelter The Director told the Board that we will have to draw up some sandblasting regulations for use in this Town SAND- There seems to be more sandblasting being done and it does create problems BLASTING REGS After the regulations are completed, they will have to go to the D E Q E for approval It was agreed that they should have a permit to do this and it also should be known where they are dumping the paint dust that is removed from the house Dr Erdos said "sandblasting" should be one of the topics at the Northeast Health Meetings HAZARDOUS Mr Smith told the Board that the annual hazardous day will be on October 22, WASTE DAY 1983 this year Mr Smith said that the Planning Board would meet with the Board of Health in regard to RDNA at the next Board Meeting which will be held on October 17, 1983 1