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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-02-25BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING FEBRUARY 25, 1986 The monthly meeting of the Board of Health was held Tuesday, February 25, 1986 at 7:15 p.m. in Room G-15 of the Town Office Building. Members present were: James W. Lambie, Chairman; Donald A. Goldmann, M.D., Howard B. Asarkof, D.D.S., George A. Smith, Jr., R.S., Director of Public Health and Jacqueline Selway, Sanitarian. Jacqy told the Board she had done quite a few routine inspections of SANITARIAN'S cafeterias and restaurants and has started her inspections of vending REPORT machines in the different commercial buildings. George and Jacqy had gone to court last week for an overflowing septic system and the court had not sent out the summons to the proper parties so they have to go back again this week. Jacqy said the pig manure has all been removed from the area at the Bedford -Lexington line at Defelice's old property where the pig farm use to be. There had been an oil spill in back of the town hall area and oil went into catch basins on Fletcher Avenue which empties into the Vinebrook. D.E.Q.E. called Clean Harbours to set booms in brook to catch the oil. Estimated spil- lage from tank appears to be less than 100 gallons. Jacqy said they had also been doing the Brie Cheese and the Tylenol recalls. Jacqy had one food poisoning complaint and also one complaint in regard to smoking in a retail food store. At 7:30 p.m. David Henley, Superintendent of the East Middlesex Mosquito MOSQUITO Control Project came into Board Meeting to report to the Board how the project CONTROL is doing - in regard to Lexington and other towns. He said the project is running well and a couple of new towns have entered the Project - one being Hanscom Air Base. David and his workers will train workers at the Air Base in mosquito work and the project will do work at the perimeter of the base. Mr. Henley said with the Pheasant Brook Estates thickly settled woods being opened up it makes it much easier to do the mosquito work done in that area. Seven hundred feet have been done so far. Mr. Henley described what he and his personnel have been doing, what they are planning to do and in what areas, etc. Mr. Lambie asked Mr. Henley what about Tophet Swamp and mosquito control. Mr. Henley said it would be too large an area to do. It would have to be done by aerial spray. Mr. Henley said he had been talking to someone from Pennsylvania that uses helicopters in Plymouth. Dr. Asarkof wanted to know if the budget should stay the same or be lowered. Mr. Henley said he would like to raise the workers pay up a little bit. He has only been paying $6.50 an hour and that is not much incentive to get some good help and keep them. -2 - Mr. Smith told the Board he is going to update on a limited basis the encephalitis copies for the Spring. Mr. Henley said he has some work to do in the Pheasant Brook Estates, some in Conservation land and in Lexington near the Hanscom Air Base and also in Burlington. After brief discussion Mr. Henley thanked the Board and retired. Mr. Smith told the Board that he had received a letter from Health Stop stating that they were going to put on a "Heart at Risk Profile/Screening Program on Sunday, March 16th, 1986 from 9:00 a.m. to 12: noontime at the Lexington Health Stop at 35 Bedford St. They would be screening for Diabetes, also. Northgate's Treetops of Lexington filed plans to build a medical facility "TREETOPS"on Waltham Street between the Elks Hall and the Waltham Star Market. Mr. Smith told the Board that he would like to have them into the next Board meeting of the Board of Health to discuss their plans. The Board agreed that they also would like to discuss this project with them. The Board and the Director discussed the V.N.A. and how one of their nurses V.N.A. refused to visit an elderly person in one of the villages. Her reasoning was that the Board of Health would not allow her to accept any elderly patients. The Board said that the nurse should have gone to visit such a sick patient because all elderly do not come under the Board of Health visits but the nurse refused anyway, not knowing whether the person came under Medicaid, Medicare or some private insurance. Then the V.N.A. took it up with Rita Sullivan of the Housing Authority who in turn wrote a letter to the Town Manager. The Board explained to the Manager what the setup was and the Board of Health felt it was criminally negligent on the part of the nurse to refuse to go see the patient. Dr. Asarkof was also visited by Jim McLaughlin, Chairman of the Housing Authority wanting an explanation for this "behavior". The Board agreed that a letter should be sent to Rita Sullivan in regard to this incident. Dr. Asarkof agreed that he would write the letter and will bring it into the office for George Smith to see. The Board received letters from Dr. Iclal Hartman of the L.B.C. stating that Seragen and Collaborative Research have both requested to do rDNA research at their Lexington facilities. The L.B.C. reviewed the permit application of Collaborative Research to conduct BL1 level experiments and voted to recommend permission to do this. The Board of Health at their meeting approved the application of Collaborative Research to conduct rDNA at BL1 level experiments. 1 -3 - The Board of Health received a letter from Dr. Hartmann in regard to Seragen, Inc. who has requested an application to do BL2 containment experiment utilizing BL3 practices. The LBC voted to defer action at this time until the ruling of the RAC Committee of the NIH appears in the federal register, and the matter discussed further by the full LBC. The Board of Health agreed to defer action until a later time. Dr. Hartman also told the Board that she had attended a session in Washington, D.C. at the N.I.H. RAC meeting and became involved in a discussion on the term Biohazards Committee for the LBC. The term seemed inappropriate and the Lexington Biohazards Committee agreed to change to the Lexington BioSafety Committee. Dr. Hartman requested that the Board of Health amend its current regulations (Section 3) by replacing the title Lexington Biohazards Committee (LBC) to Lexington BioSafety Committee (LBC). The Board of Health concurred with the LBC recommendations to change the title from Biohazards to BioSafety Committee wherever it appears in the regulations. The following permits were signed by the Board: Animal Permit Seragen, Inc. 128 Spring St. Food Service Establishments ARA Services, Inc. (Vending) for: Honeywell Corp 2 Forbes Rd. 100 Inbred Guinea Pigs Dunfey Hotels d/b/a/ Sheraton -Lexington Motor Inn 727 Marrett Rd. Temple, Barker & Sloane - Inplant Cafeteria 33 Hayden Ave. Mobile Food Servers Joseph P. Conley d/b/a Joey's Canteen 269 Brown St., Waltham, MA Retail Food Store Permits The Window Pane Shoppe Gift Shop Council on Aging - 1475 Mass Ave. Rubbish Disposal Reliable Rubbish Disposal, Inc. 12 Jones Drive, Saugus, MA Food Service Establishments Bel Canto Restaurant 1715 Mass Ave. - One Truck 509