BOARD OF HEALTH MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 10, 2009

President Pro Tem George Kellner called the Board of Health to order on September 10, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

Attendees:    Rita Hart, Lynn Jones, George Kellner, Dr. Kevin Ketring,
Jean Hicks, Jim Squires, Cammie Mitrione

Absent    Pam Willis, Mayor Webster, Dr. Webb

The minutes of May 14, 2009 were approved.

NEW BUSINESS
FSO/RFE 2010 License Fee
Mrs. Mitrione stated the new proposed FSO/RFE/vending/mobile fees are less than Cincinnati and Hamilton County fees and in-between Sharonville’s and Norwood’s. She said the fees increased a little. Mrs. Mitrione noted that as much as $61 could be charged for a temporary permit. She said most of the temporary permits are associated with City functions and the fee has been waived but they could recoup some money if the fee was raised. She said the fees were obtained using 2008 data.

There was much discussion about the issue of raising the temporary fee and the board agreed to raise it to $35.

HEALTH COMMISIONER’S REPORT
PHER Funding
Mrs. Mitrione stated the City will receive over $20,000 to be used towards H1N1 activities. She said Focus Area I deals with dispensing, vaccination, administration, community mitigation and preparedness. Focus Area II supports laboratory fees, epidemiology, surveillance, pandemic preparedness and response activities. She said they have had meetings with the schools and other health departments. The money will be used to vaccinate children in school and to pay the nurses and paramedics.

Dr. Ketring suggested spending some of the money on permanent equipment such as refrigeration.

Mrs. Mitrione said they need people to work at the clinics and they can be paid, and some schools may ask for personal protection equipment. She said they also have the Public Health Emergency Planning grant at $9,000 and the CRI grant of $5,000.

Mrs. Mitrione reported that they had a volunteer recruitment meeting and will be using the past Director or Nursing and other referred nurses to give the vaccinations. She said they have been given permission to use paramedics also. Mrs. Mitrione stated Springdale has committed to providing eight people to give shots.

OHD Food Protection Survey
Mrs. Mitrione said someone from the State will be here on September 14, 2009 to survey the food service program. They will check the administration of the program, spot check files and go out with the sanitarian to do a few inspections.

Jarod’s Law (School Inspection Program)
Mrs. Mitrione stated this law was put into effect after a boy was killed by a cafeteria table in school. Several agencies got together and put together Jarod’s Law for school inspections. Before that, there had been guidelines for inspections that had been in place for twenty years. Mrs. Mitrione said Jarod’s Law has caused hardships for some school districts. She said it was added on to the budget bill and was repealed. ODH has suggested that each municipality adopt its own version of Jarod’s Law. She said they would be able to charge a fee for the inspection. Mrs. Mitrione said the inspector would do an inspection before the repeal of the law goes into effect and then they would have a year to adopt their own inspection program based on Jarod’s law.

Smoke Free Workplace
Mrs. Mitrione reported that they signed a contract with ODH for the program which is complaint driven. She said ODH increased the reimbursement rate. She said ODH will now conduct the hearings. Investigations are to be conducted within five hours of the complaint. Complaints with no time associated with them will default to 12 a.m.

Mrs. Mitrione stated The Boulevard was fined $1000 for their third complaint. The decision was confirmed but The Boulevard is appealing.

ServSafe Class
Mrs. Mitrione said the next ServSafe class is September 21st and 22nd. She said eleven people have signed up. She said they changed the dates of the classes from January and July to September and April to avoid snow issues in January.

Rabies Vaccination Clinic
Mrs. Mitrione stated the rabies vaccination clinic will be held September 26. Dr. Ketring said they would provide the scanners for the microchips and could get a scanner for the Police Department.

NURSE’S REPORT
Flu Shot Clinic
Mrs. Hicks said the flu shot clinic will be held September 24. She said they are not to use the vaccine from the State for seniors who can get it paid for through Medicare. She said the Board had agreed to charge for the vaccine this year. Mrs. Hicks said the purchased vaccine arrived today but we have not received any from ODH yet. The vaccine is free for children six months old to 18 years old.

H1N1 Vaccine
Mrs. Hicks reported they will be giving the H1N1 vaccinations at the schools. She said the details are being worked out. She said they will be able to pay nurses. If any members of the board have any recommendations of nurses, please give them her number.

Mrs. Hicks stated the Swine flu (H1N1) is here. Most of the people who are getting the disease are young. There have not been as many deaths as first expected. She said 9,000 people have been hospitalized with the illness and there have been 593 deaths. Mrs. Hicks said antiviral drugs can be used to treat the flu. She also said Medicare will pay for both the seasonal flu and H1N1 flu shots.

Mrs. Hicks stated she has contacted the office managers for the doctors in Springdale and let them know how to pre-register for the H1N1 vaccine. She said it is the job of the Health Department to inspect the vaccination sites. She said that doctors’ offices can charge an administrative fee for the vaccine but that the vaccine will be supplied free.

Health Department Survey
Mrs. Hicks reported that 205 surveys have been returned and are in the review process. She said she will have results later in the year after flu season.

Psychological First Aid Training
Mrs. Hicks reported that a class will be held on September 26 and twenty-one people have signed up. The purpose of the class is to learn how to respond when someone’s behavior is affected by an emergency situation.

Five Year Budget
Mrs. Mitrione stated the department directors are beginning to look at their five year budgets and are expected to make cuts again. She said she expects cuts to be made to the animal nuisance program.

Respectfully submitted,



Cammie Mitrione, RS
Health Commissioner