Minutes

Board of Health · from the Town's website · 1 page · 22 KB
open the file ↗ · original at the source ↗

Winthrop Board of Health Meeting
July 13, 2021 6:30 pm
REMOTE PARTICIPATION BY ZOOM
Call to Order: 6:43 pm.
Introduction of New Board of Health Member: Jeanne Holgersen, MSN, APNP-BC, introduces herself as the newest appointed member of the Winthrop Board of Health. She works as COO and clinical director of Commonwealth Clinical Services, Inc., a local VNA in Winthrop. Her vision as a board member is to help facilitate a healthy and safe environment for Winthrop and the surrounding communities. She looks forward to working with the Board to achieve these ends.
Roll Call: Bill Schmidt, Chair; Jeanne Holgersen, Member, Marianne Dalton, Member.
Attendees: Wendy Millar-Page, Kurt Millar, Meredith Hurley, Mary McDonald, Denise Quist, Betsy Shane, Suzanne Hardy, Pam Desjardins.
Public Comment: Betsy Shane, Executive Director at Winthrop Chamber of Commerce requests an update from the Board on plastic bags. Briefly, the plastic regulation went into effect November 1, 2020, but due to requests from several retail stores an extension was given until May 1, 2021. A local business that petitioned for an additional extension citing store renovations was granted a 2-week additional extension.
Currently Inspectional Services is conducting their bi-annual inspections of restaurants and convenience stores, and will address plastic bag compliance. Bill Schmidt, Chair states that he is drafting a letter to the Chamber of Commerce to update on plastic bag regulations, and to provide information to access the full text of regulations online. A letter to the Transcript will also be sent. All these measures are to educate both business owners and the public. Betsy states the Chamber will assist with signage, and that they are planning to distribute 500 pre-printed re-usable non-woven polypropylene bags, eco-friendly and 100% recyclable, free of charge to businesses and individuals. Betsy is requesting specifically the definition of single-use bags. Bill states that a re-usable bag is defined by the thickness of the bag; anything less than 3 mil thick is a single-use bag.
Wendy Millar Page, Zero Waste Committee Chair further clarifies that per DEP rules, plastic bags cannot be recycled, they are classed as trash. Betsy and Wendy will confer offline on strategies to educate the public on the difference between reusable and single-use bags.  Long-term, the charge per bag at establishments is hoped to discourage the use of any plastic bags and to encourage use of non-plastic, non-paper bags.
Public comment closed @6:59 pm.
Review of Minutes-June 8, 2021: unanimously approved 2-0 with one abstention.
Cottage Park Yacht Club Regatta: Suzanne Hardy, member Cottage Park Yacht Club, presents the yacht club’s plan for health and safely when the club hosts the 2021 Snipe Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship Regatta. The event was cancelled in 2020 due to covid restrictions.
Suzanne, who is chairperson of the event, states that spectators and participants from multiple countries will come to Winthrop, but the regatta is capped at 50 boats and 2 sailors per boat. She has met with Meredith to review the safety plans, and wants to give the Board and opportunity to review as well, as a courtesy.
Suzanne introduces Pam Desjardins, RN, from the Medical Reserve Corps as the health coordinator for the regatta. Safety plans include requiring documentation of vaccination or negative testing within 3 days, for both participants and volunteers; the availability of on-site rapid testing, temperature checks, masks and sanitizers; first aid kits, AED’s, and water safety plans. Suzanne states that this regatta is a prestigious event and will showcase Winthrop in a positive light. No Board members present any questions, and Suzanne states she will be in touch with any updates/changes. The event takes place September 19-25.
Betsy Shane commends Cottage Park Yacht Club on its thoroughness in planning both this project and all of its covid restriction observances throughout the pandemic, and further states that the regatta will be good for town businesses.
COVID-19 - Town of Winthrop, Board of Health, etc: Meredith Hurley, Director of Public Health and Clinical Services thanks the Board for the letter submitted by Bill Schmidt to the Boston Globe commending her tireless work in managing the covid pandemic in Winthrop.
Meredith reports active covid cases in Winthrop have been diminishing in recent weeks. 75% of those 18 years of age and older have received at least one dose vaccine, and more than 60% over age 12 have also received vaccines. Summer programs are open. Pfizer is applying for emergency vaccine use for children ages 2-11 in September.
Meredith reports that the Commission for Diversity Inclusion and Community Relations is assisting her department in addressing the recent June 26 shooting trauma in Winthrop. She states that her intern, Mia Haddad, facilitated an event for 8 town employees, with an informal discussion about the fallout/daily challenges stemming from the shooting. Meredith reports that good feedback resulted from this discussion, and that community training will continue for the next 6-12 months.
Other entities assisting with this issue are Temple Tifereth Israel, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Meredith states she is having ongoing discussions with the rabbi at the temple concerning initiatives that could support healing in the community. “Peace Circles” are planned for the one-month anniversary of the shooting, on July 26.
Bill Schmidt comments that the Senior Center drop-in night was beneficial for those who came; about 50 residents attended, expressing concerns about fallout from the shooting such as children who heard the shots, PTSD triggered from the incident, and fear of violence.
Meredith mentions the grant proposal her office is working on, from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, to benefit the CLEAR program if awarded. Meredith also cites recent purchase of case tracking management software that will facilitate tracking mental health/substance abuse, which will impact positive change in the Town.
Blink Royalty – Services: Bill Schmidt provides a short timeline of the process the Board has conducted to ascertain if the Board had oversight/authority over the services provided by Blink, namely the botox/injections/fillers advertised for the “pop-up” event by the Aesthetic Nurse Injector.
The last Board meeting had concluded with a conditional approval of the pop-up event contingent upon submission of documentation of consent forms, certification by the nurse who would perform the injections, and clearance by Inspectional Services once premises were inspected.
However, concerns were raised by Jeanne Holgersen, Member, about the qualifications of an RN performing the injections without a physician on-site.
Motion was made by Bill to reconsider the conditional approval of licensing Blink Royalty, approved 3-0.
Discussion: Jeanne cited Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing Advisory Ruling on Nursing Practice 1301:
It is not within the scope of practice for a Registered Nurse who is not authorized as an APRN [advanced practice registered nurse] to medically diagnose or to prescribe medications or treatments.
Jeanne further lists other restrictions from the Advisory Ruling: that the non-APRN has no authority to select the medication or dosage to be used in cosmetic or dermatological procedures; the non-APRN has no authority to purchase or obtain a drug or substance (botox or filler) to be used in cosmetic or dermatological procedures either independently or as an agent of the prescriber.
Jeanne clarifies that delegation of these duties may be to an RN, but all assessment must be done by a prescriber, and prescribing treatment and diagnosing are outside the scope of practice for an RN.
After consideration of these findings and other concerns raised by Jeanne, the Board votes unanimously 3-0 against approving Cassandra Harris’s request for the Pop-Up event with an Aesthetic Nurse Injector at Blink Royalty. Jeanne will draft a letter with the above cited advisory rulings, to be edited and and finalized by Bill Schmidt, Chair and sent to Cassandra Harris.
NSPHC - Environmental Health Impacts Group: Bill Schmidt, Chair summarizes in brief the work this group does, for the benefit of new member Jeanne Holgersen. This group, which meets monthly, aims to enhance public health programming and improve public health outcomes in the cities of Revere and Chelsea and the town of Winthrop. One outcome of a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) done by MGH was that air pollution was a key concern amongst residents in Revere, Chelsea and Winthrop. A $35,000 grant was awarded to brainstorm on how to obtain independent data, monitors and filters for air pollution levels and mitigation. This grant has enabled the above mentioned communities surrounding Logan Airport to gather independent data backing up concerns about air quality to present to Massport.
Solid Waste Disposal: Wendy Millar Page, Zero Waste Committee Chair, has sent an email to the Board of Health detailing recommendations on revisions/additions to the current solid waste/recycling ordinances in the Town of Winthrop. Bill Schmidt confirms that it is the Board of Health that has jurisdiction over solid waste issues, but the fees are set by the Town Council, not the Board. The plan, as laid out by Bill, is for the Board to review Wendy’s email, and with further input from Peter Christopher, Precinct 3 Councilor, Town Manager Terence Delehanty, a set of regulations to be drafted by Bill will be reviewed by the Board at its next meeting in August. After that meeting, a public hearing will be held, and the Board will vote on the regulation.
Marianne Dalton, Member poses a question about town-sponsored composting to Wendy. Wendy clarifies that while there is no space in Winthrop for a composting site (for food waste), the company Black Earth is considering a site in Marblehead. Wendy reports using Black Earth’s weekly food waste collection plan with very good results. Wendy hopes to have future dialogues with Black Earth to discuss town-wide participation in composting food waste from the school system, the senior center, and food service establishments in Winthrop. This participation currently is precluded by lack of space and lack of personnel to staff such an operation.
Bill states he will consult further with Wendy on the formulation of the solid waste/recycling regulation prior to the August meeting of the Board.
Board of Health Town Website: Bill Schmidt states hopes for updating the information on the website. More discussion next meeting.
Board of Health Workplan: Bill asks Board members to review this and make additions/suggestions as needed.  Solid waste will need to be added to the information found there.
Adjournment: motion made at 8:06 pm, approved unanimously 3-0.
Respectfully submitted by Marianne Dalton, Member