Hey, thank you. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to call this meeting of the Cook County Public Health Human Services Board to order on this Tuesday, June 17th at 8:31 a.m. Uh, first thing on our agenda, I'd like
to welcome Erica Turner as our uh new uh executive administrative assistant. And good morning. Welcome. Happy to see you here. Good morning. I'm excited to be here. Yeah. Do you want to introduce yourself and little background or anything? Um, yeah. I'm Erica Turnis.
I've lived in Cook County for it will be 15 years this November. Um, and I've had a wide variety of jobs. I've been a data manager and a high school choir teacher and a children's librarian. And now I'm uh excited to get to apply my freakish
love of spreadsheets to a new endeavor. And uh, yeah. Excellent. Thank you. Um, most people are probably familiar with Eric in the community, but any questions? Just welcome. We're so happy to have you with us. Commissioner White. And you
were the administrative assistant up at the school for a while, too. I was at the school district at the very beginning. Yes. And I managed all of the standardized testing and and compiling and managing all of that data. Yep. And spreadsheets. That's how we remember you.
Awesome. Well, thank you for um introducing yourself this morning and being here and welcome to the team and very excited. Thanks. Next item is approval of the consent agenda. The consent agenda includes our
meeting agenda minutes um uh financial report minutes are not attached here. Uh abstracts and bills um none of which are are on here. Um any anything we can add on to that or
any questions or um is there a motion to approve the consent agenda here? Also discussion. Yeah. Is there support? Um support. All right. Discussion. Yes. I'd like to add an item with regard to amending the bylaws to the public health
and human services advisory council. And we'll put that down at items for board action even though maybe it won't be action. Yeah. Well, actually will be because I think the board has the book. Oh, okay. Very good. Any other discussion?
Hearing or seeing none. All those in favor? I I I opposed. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to our staff report. We have um our public health team this morning.
Good morning. Good morning. Um Betsy and Erica, do you know how to put the uh presentation up on the big screen? Awesome. There we go. Boom. All right. And can you turn the big screen
toward I guess. No, you all need We have it right here. That'll work. Thank you. Wonderful. All at once. Well, good morning to everyone and thanks for having my colleague Andrea and I here with you today to talk a little bit more
about what it is that we do in the public health team with regards to both emergency preparedness and disease prevention and control. Of all the areas that the public health team touches, I feel like this is probably the one that most of you know the most about because
of the days during the COVID pandemic. But uh I think it's important to kind of recontextualize what the scope of this work looks like outside of a pandemic because there's quite a bit that goes into it that um goes beyond what um the
public saw during the COVID 19 pandemic. So um let's see here. Here we go. So, this is a statutory area of responsibility under uh Minnesota state law. So, we are required to provide um
preparation and response to public health emergencies. This image that you see on the right is what the National Public Health Accreditation Board says that all public health departments across the country have to do. And if you see on the bottom where they've kind
of come up with the foundation for what it is that public health has a responsibility to pay attention to and worked on, one of those boxes in that foundational area is emergency preparedness and response. Um, and you can kind of follow it up into what what
that actually looks like. Those circles are kind of like how that manifests as different topics of attention. One of them is communicable disease control or in Minnesota we call it disease prevention and control. So that's looking at all sorts of infectious
diseases, vaccinereventable diseases, immunization rates. These are things that public health uh departments uh at the state level and at the local level have a responsibility to attend to.
So we are part of a broader ecosystem of public health partners. We work with our regional partners, the Northeast Healthcare Coalition. That's a broad group that includes skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities,
hospitals, clinics, and county public health departments all across the Arrowhead region. So that's a group that we're a big part of. Uh that's a group that played a a huge role in the COVID response and helping distribute vaccines across the region. Um we also work with
the community health board which uh Frank is our uh representative on the community health board as well as commissioner Mills. So that's an area those two know quite a bit more about but that's our 4ount region and that's the entity through which um all of our most of our state and federal funding
flows. So we partner quite a bit with the four counties. um St. Louis, Carlton, Lake uh and ourselves, Cook to make sure that we are um coordinating activities. You know, emergencies and infectious diseases don't respect uh
county borders. So, it's important for us to be working with our partners so that we can respond seamlessly and use the resources that we have at our disposal effectively and efficiently. So, that's our regional context. locally. Um quite a few of these
partners, all of them actually are members of our local emergency preparedness committee. Um we also have uh commissioner representation on that group. So Commissioner Sullivan is our representative on that group. So, some of our local partners for emergency
preparedness and response are uh Mike Keeport in emergency management, Northshore Health, Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, um Grand Portage Health Services, Care Partners, um all of our schools, ISD 166 um has representation
on that group. um tribal emergency management, the forest service, the city of Grand Marray, Arrowhead Electric, WTIP and Visit Cook County. These are we also have gotten u representation from different county departments. So MIS
attends that group, the highway department attends that group because depending on the nature of an emergency, any one of these could take a lead in responding. And so the fact that we all know each other, we know who to call if something goes wrong, we have um plans
and policies in place so that we know how we would work together and how we would communicate. All of that is a big piece of what emergency preparedness looks like. And then finally, how does it how's it funding? Who's paying for this? Basically, uh we have this
thankfully has grown since prior to the pandemic. Um, prior to the pandemic, we had about 10 staff hours a week to dedicate to emergency preparedness and disease uh prevention and control. So, we had very very minimal funding and
time to dedicate to this area. Um, and then, you know, when COVID happened, you saw that change quite a bit. Um, we were definitely spending more than 10 hours a week responding to CO. uh and um we were able to receive additional grant funding
to support that. So this response sustainability grant as the first time in state history that state resources have been dedicated to disease prevention and control uh and emergency preparedness in the state of Minnesota. So that's you know within the last 3 to 5 years we received some state funding
to support this work. Prior to that, there was a small grant through the CDC that supported that um 10 hours a week or so, and we continue to receive that at this point in time. And then during COVID, during an actual emergency such as COVID, we did receive one-time grant
funding to support um what they call surge capacity or basically building up the staffing and time to respond appropriately. So what our staffing model looks like right now, Andrea Tafty dedicates about half of her time to disease prevention and control and
emergency preparedness. And then I estimate I spend about 5 hours a week supervising her and also providing some leadership when it's appropriate. Although Andrea is very capable and talented and able to really take the reigns on a lot of this. I'll also mention one more piece of the puzzle
which is volunteers. We saw the enormous value of community volunteers during the COVID pandemic and we really although we don't have an active response that's using volunteers, we do have a platform and a a plan to really bring the
community in and help us when there's a role for that. And often there is a role for that. It's just how to bring people in and organize them so they're able to help us effectively and know what their role is. So that that platform is called Minnesota Responds.
I'm going to turn it over to Andrea to talk a little bit more about what she does. All right. So, the slide that you're looking at outlines the core responsibilities for Cook County Public Health that um are
often behind the scenes, but this is kind of what it guides at work. So is uh absolutely foundational to keep our residents safe especially in the face of uh changing climate and
community risks. So first we can see in the screen um the public health uh emergency preparedness and response capabilities and that is um outlining um the
responsibilities related to coordinating plans, people public health messaging across agencies to ensure that when a disaster or healthy a health emergency occurs. we are not um starting from scratch
that we are activating a system that has been practiced reviewed and is ready. U the scope of this work um broadly includes uh coordinating with the emergency preparedness committee
um also leading um the development or supporting the development of the multi-hazard uh mitigation plan and that which is tailored to our specific needs um in our county supporting community shelters, volunteer
management and partner training. also um act as a leader about risk communication and ensure there is the communication is uh clear accessible uh by the public and particularly to
vulnerable residents who might not have access to digital or uh alerts or transportation. So these works uh follows uh the national public health emergency cycle that you see in a circle shape which
includes mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. And so each phase of of these builds on on each other. And uh we tailor this cycle to our rural realities in Cook County where we have
long distances to uh nearby larger hospitals. We have seasonal tourism and we uh have geographic isolation and that is kind of what it shapes how our uh emergencies unfold.
So the other document you see there is the disease prevention and control. Um it's recently developed is is um nickname my dog. Um so alongside emergency preparedness we
manage uh ongoing disease prevention efforts. So while um often is less visible you know this work protects the community health every day. Uh so among the responsibilities outlined in there that the one we can like reflect
on are like ensuring COVID 19 and flu testing and vaccines are available accessible uh even when um federal responses like winds down. providing um respiratory protection if we have available like
masks um or for things that have to do with uh not only viruses but they sometimes help or with overall air quality. We also monitor
local diseases and um ensuring that we're up to date with the guidance and that um providers or child care centers uh are like up to date with the latest um information coming from Minnesota Department of Health.
We also support vaccine confidence through direct outreach. We do data reviews. We do educational campaigns, partner with the schools and with the clinic uh for child team checkups.
So this important function of public health is uh a bridge between local realities and um state level disease control infrastructure. We have to say that all that we do with
the disease prevention and control which we nickname DPNC and I probably will refer as DPNC moving forward and EP which emergency preparedness. Um these guys our work is gu guided through the lens of the age friendly county
designation. So we assure that we um are always looking at our older population, homebound residents and um and trying to reach out those that avoid uh getting care or mistress
or have u misinformation given to them. And we also um care for I mean keeping my people with underlying health conditions and mobility issues. So we can go to the next slide. Thanks.
Um so what you can see here is um how county identifies the plans that are most significant for the most significant risks. Um so what this is is outline
the most significant risks that we face in the county. [Applause] So with this um um wild wildfire smoke and poor air quality due to what we know are our terrain especially um there's a
wildfire risk up at the Gunfield Trail and they prepare uh been preparing for years um on drills and have faced um a few incidents. Uh so public health here supports with
education on smoke readiness and um masks available for residents that want to be prepared for those poor air their qualities poor air quality days sorry. So al another risk is severe winter
storms and wind events. And for these um these events often lead to road closures or sometimes um power outages or heat or heating system failures are some of the risk associated with those events. And
then um social isolation during emergencies is something that we um are always looking closely too um and making sure that we uh keep in mind those that might be far to reach. And
then in the infectious diseases, vectorbbor diseases um we are keeping in mind how the climate pattern um the seasonal pattern shifts for uh warm days or when
it starts to be the snow melting and the warmer climate that we are sustaining is allowing um that some of the ticks that we did not have up north are moving towards north and then there is more lime ly disease prevalence um in
Cook County. So educating about Lyme disease because it can affect uh in the long term someone's health and then uh understanding that we have in infrastructure vulnerabilities. We
have a aging housing stocked. Some homes are poorly insulated and we have older residents living in there. And so um making sure that also we have places available in case we reach uh extreme
heat events having ideas where cooling standards can be as well as where can be shelters for when we have very cold weather events and then someone cannot um for sure be protected from that cold.
So through the healthy pro homes program we also support um in this phase and by giving some improvements that can provide a reliable home in events of extreme weather.
So in the next slide what we can see is uh some of the plans that are supposed to um that we any um local public health department is these are the plans that are um best practices to have embedded
into the multi-hazard mitigation plan and uh this includes the uh medical counter measurements or also are known as POD which means point of dispensing and then this is in
case like this happened not very much during CO or so is when we were like distributing the vaccines and all that that kind of illustrates what that type of um annex will be having in there and then the mass fatality in case we have
an an event where we have large pe uh many people in the in the county for a county small like this just a handful would like make a mass fatality category and then we have infectious diseases or the panfield plan how we would act and
after COVID this plan has been updated and a new version is coming and then access to functional needs so like how we will make sure the more vulnerable populations don't get left behind um another annex that will reflect how
we will um com respond to wildfire smoke, drinking water incident response that will be in case with there are flooding. For example, last uh year um when we had our heavy rain event um Minnesota
Department of Health was handing out free wellwater testing to ensure that people was drinking safe uh water. And then through us we were coordinating that and being the point person to
request that test through MDH. And then um something that we would like to have that we don't have yet but we're working on is a public health emergency response plan and it basically like summarizes our role within the emergency management
um response. Um and then uh the risk communication and message map is also something we we have um on as a goal short-term goal so we know how to communicate with our
partners and the public in case of a giving emergency. And the idea is to have for the specific risks that we face already uh developed some uh communication
text and um drafts. So finally I'm going to just briefly uh touch on this. This is Grace as explained uh the local emergency preparedness committee and we meet every two months and then we have a mission
and a vision. So as you can see our on the green is our mission and vision and then on blue you can see our recent activities. So but I will say this group is um it's great to have this group getting
together. It was a lot more um there was a lot more attendance during the COVID days. Everybody want we were on an an emergency public health emergency. So there was a lot more engagement but still we have the key leaders engaged
and we're always looking into um our plans and understanding where are we at with uh emergency preparedness in our different agencies. So I don't know if guys do you want to say something on that last slide and
then you can take over. Sure. Yeah. I'll just say this was another uh area where we really tried to reenter coming out of CO so that we were reminding everyone that there are many more emergencies outside of CO and and
there's the potential for ongoing infectious disease um issues that would fall under the umbrella of emergency preparedness. So that mission and vision that was part of that reentering and really bringing making sure we had all the partners continuing to come to the table and making sure that those
bimonthly meetings felt like a good use of everyone's time. So I feel like we've we're we're on a good we're in a good place with that group right now. Um this is just uh this I mean some of this is just hearkening back to what we did during co I feel like that really is a
huge legacy of this work in the recent past for us. We did. You can I'm not going to read them all off, but you can see all the different things that were a part of this disease prevention and control work during the CO 19 public health emergency. Um, one one story to
come out of that is Andrea actually joined us as a Minnesota response volunteer back in the pandemic and um then she became a temporary employee and then when a vacancy opened up on our team to be a a full-time permanent member of our staff, she applied and we
were glad to welcome her in and since that time has done quite a bit of um ongoing professional development to really ground into what this role is so um she received a scholarship to attend the National Emergency Preparedness
Conference this past uh spring in Texas. Um and then there's a variety of trainings through um the state department of health um and various state agencies that she's taken advantage of locally and virtually as well. So really really proud of Andrea
for taking that on and for really um always looking to improve our efforts here in Cook County with regards to DPNC and EP as we call we love a good acronym in public health. So um and then you know as we come out of
the pandemic one of the big things that we're looking at with regards to DPNC is continuing to maintain and improve vaccine confidence um and monitoring trends locally with vaccination rates. And that's work we do um handinhand with the clinic. Um the clinic is the primary
vaccinator in the community. that's where most people are going for their flu shot, their COVID shot, their routine childhood vaccinations to make sure if they're traveling or if they just are not quite up to date on something that that's where they're going. So making sure that we're supporting the clinic in their efforts
um and that we are kind of taking that bigger picture look at um what we see communitywide in terms of vaccination rates and also what we are hearing both in the clinic and um just more generally about people's thoughts and feelings about vaccines. Are there ways that we
can communicate better with people? Are there ways that we can make this easier and more accessible for community members? That's a big part of the ongoing work. Um, and then Andrea um, spoke to this a bit, but one thing that also came out of COVID was a really
clear sense of where our gaps are and where our vulnerable populations are. So, making sure we're reaching people who maybe have transportation barriers and have a hard time coming in for the vaccine events. Um, our seasonal workers often also struggled with transportation and just knowing where to go to get
information and to access um, resources. So working with um resorts and employers that uh bring employees into the community to make sure that those people have a clear and easy connection to our healthcare system. Making sure our
communicate communication is just huge. We just want people to know um what uh the public health evidence-based information is in a way that they can understand and we also want to make it easy for people to act on the recommendations that we're making and
that is uh as we learned in the pandemic really no small feat and that's a big part of this work. Um and I'll say another big part of this work is maintaining situational awareness. Uh and that's the kind of fancy way to say just knowing what's going on, right? We want to be aware of
both what our role is within the public health system. We have partners at the federal level, the state level. We have agency partners in the health care system, in other community agencies. And we want to know what's happening at all those different levels so that we can
really hone in on what our unique role to play is and what is our unique role to play in a in a world that's really changing fast. both in terms of our partners and the resources uh and messaging that they have going on and then the kind of external threats
out there in the world that might become a bigger part of our reality at any given moment. So some of the things that we're keeping an eye on um impacts of extreme weather events, changing weather patterns, uh impacts of AI and cyber security risks. This isn't necessarily
an area that we're leading in, but you know, we're leaning on our partners in MIS, for example, to provide us with information and we're attending ongoing trainings as well. Um, I already talked about vaccine confidence and access, vaccination rates. That's really huge.
Um, in an increase in misinformation and disinformation, um, being aware of what's happening, where people are getting information, and what information is out there coming from a variety of sources. There's the official public health information, but then it's also important for us to keep tabs on
what's circulating on social media, for example. What are the things that people are hearing from sources that are maybe trusted to them, but don't always align with the public health messaging that we are putting out there. Um, increasing risks of vectorbor diseases. Uh,
tickborn diseases are huge. That's something we unfortunately are seeing more of and will continue to see more of as tick populations expand and move northward because of changes in weather patterns. Um, and then a gap that we've identified in uh in collaboration with
both land services and soil and water is the safety of surface water for drinking. Um, and this is largely again related to changes in weather patterns um and increases in um algae blooms in PE. So, some people, you know, you think
of people who are camping out in the Boundary Waters, drinking surface water. How are we making sure that if we're seeing more blue green algae blooms that um people know what they're supposed to be doing to um safely consume water if they're drinking surface water. And then
with our partners, um so there's uh the public health system is a lot bigger than just county public health. Um, and so it includes the resources that come to us in the form of grants, but it also includes kind of how
we fit into that puzzle with um the state health department and health and human services at a federal level. So, one thing we're watching right now is really um vaccine um guidance at a federal level and how changes there
could in the future impact us locally. At this point, it's just maintaining situational awareness, but it's a it's a huge part of public health responsibility. So, it's something we're really keeping a close eye on to make sure that people have that um science-based evidence information,
evidence-based information, um and that they have access to tools like vaccines uh with insurance coverage and that kind of thing. So, lots to pay attention to um and lots of um work that Andrea does
every day to try to keep things keep us all safe. Uh a lot of her work is really behind the scenes when there's not an emergency. But we go back to that uh circle. We're always preparing, responding, or recovering. So often the preparing happens in a sort of
lowprofile way um up in our office. So, we're always happy to share information. We're always happy to take questions and suggestions for improving. Um, you know, we can only do so much with the the time and resources we have, but we try to do the best that we can in the interest of
community health. So, happy to take questions from anyone. Thank you. Questions for for Grace Andrea? Um, Commissioner Sto, thank you. Thank you for a great report. Could we have that sent to us? Yeah, absolutely. Good. We can include the slides with the
minute. Yeah, for sure. I think the impact of our weather situation is getting diceier all the time. So I would say depending upon you and your office and WTIP which we need to support because all of us working together then we can help people to be safe especially
during co when I knew that there would be some elderlies that don't even have a computer. So to call them to say this is the number you know that you need to contact for getting a vaccine or whatever. So, that's important. Um, I am
happy to say that, um, Luden Town Hall has the generator. They're getting it installed right now. And so, you know, if we ever need that, I do understand that the Red Cross will support that. So, you know, we have the system there of if we have an emergency, then
emergency manager and the commissioners and you and all of us will be a part of um trying to help people in a situation that we don't know. But the generator is getting hooked up, so we're good that way. Just to let you know, wonderful
news. Any other questions or comments? I would just say I remember very clearly the day in uh 2020, probably early March, when I called um Grace to my office and um when
I was in my five-year rotation of interim administrator. Um, so she and Mike Kaport came in and really all the emergencies that we had ever prepared for here were wildfires. And this was an entirely different thing. I mean, you weren't going to like gather a bunch an
incident, you know, command together with a bunch of people because we all had to be isolated. And um, Grace just did an amazing job. We spent a lot of quality time together, probably every single day. But um but I it's really
great for me to see that you've taken all of that stuff and you've prepared you've you've built it back in and you've taken those lessons learned. So thank you for doing that for the really on behalf of the community. It's just great work. Thank you. And I would like
to add I co right I was on the school board and I remember leaning on as a board grace. It's like it was kind of comforting but it wasn't but it's like you know she would come in and help us like what's the threshold what's the
numbers what you know where because it was about closing the school or not that's what it was that was a very challenging time I remember challenging time and it was but but grace when she would show up not that she made any of us feel any better but it was good that
she showed up so we could make decisions based on something concrete. So, it's true. I mean, everybody really trusted everything that you were saying. I mean, we're a trusted voice that uh that philosophy of just giving people information to make their own best
choices. I mean, that continues to be the philosophy here cuz, you know, we don't despite the broad reach of emergency preparedness and disease prevention and control, we actually, you know, we didn't in COVID and just generally, we don't have a lot of power.
our power is in really sharing that information and helping people have that access. That that's it. So, you know, making sure the school board, for example, had information so that then you all could make the decisions. That was really important. And I think that's still really important. People just need
that quality information. Mr. G. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the report. uh it reflects um um the substance of the learned experience that comes through things
that are part of our life. In other words, we've had many discussions about what would we do in this situation, what we would do in that situation. And sometimes they're hypothetical, other times they're actually what our experience is. And um uh learning from
those experiences so that we take a look at how we are better in response to them is is hugely important. And there are things that theoretically we might make assumptions about, but when we actually live it, it brings more, like I say,
substance to how we respond and how we can anticipate. And the report is is evidence of that. And um uh when we're entrusted with the responsibility to create structure in response to emergency
um it's great to see how we've applied that so that we're better prepared moving forward. about four or five slides earlier. Um Andrea, I believe you made a statement. I just if you can clarify for us that what we see in all the detail here, I think there was one
item that says that our our emergency response plan hasn't been put in place or hasn't been drafted. And I just wanted clarification. In other words, we've been focusing on these things, but our our emergency
response plan is something we're working on. It was about Oh, it's like is it specific? So, I'm going to Can we look at the slides again or no? Specific to specific to a specific
emergency. Is that correct? Yeah. It is this public health emergency response plan. We don't have a section that is specifically to public health like this. So we have all the other annexes intrinsically. But that one right there
will summarize all of our role together. Okay. Yeah. That's it just seemed that all the building blocks from everything else that was identified that that it would you would conclude that there would be a response plan. But when that statement was that's why just wanted a
clarification and so when when it says annex it's an annex to the multi-hazard mitigation plan that emergency management develops with the University of Minnesota. So at the end of that report it spells out a link to all of these different plans. And so that's one
that we didn't have before that's like a summary of who does what. Um it's kind of like an org chart for different kinds of responses. And so that one wasn't in there in the last iteration, but it will be in this next one. Okay. Thanks for the clarification. Yeah, I really like
the um the last annexation there, risk communication and message maps and just rumor control. I'm sure that's a very easy thing to do, huh? One of the things uh we had, so Minnesota Department of Health had a crisis and risk communications training and they
actually came up to Luden and did it last October. Um, and it was fantastic. And we had hoped to bring them back for the emergency services conference, but that was right when the funding was pulled by uh the federal government and they weren't able to come. And so that was unfortunate because I feel like the
the the skills there were so valuable to learn and to practice. Um, they give they would give you scenarios like there's a hepatitis B outbreak. What are you going to say? So they would give you all these kind of kind of like you take a
wilderness first responder course. they put these scenarios in front of you and you have to kind of role play. Um, and so they did that in that training and it was really great. So at some point if that is available again, I would love to bring them back up here cuz it was it was really wonderful information.
Commissioner Svin, I just want to to thank both Grace and Andrea for their leadership and also for the trust you've built in our community. I have experienced as I do a lot of um wildfire and um you know response to smoke over
the last couple of years and as I've worked with lake and road associations there's an incredible amount of trust that's been built between the county and our citizens and it's because of the response of public health during CO and your continuing partnership with us. So
I want to thank you very much. Thank you Commissioner Sullen. that is I think the best possible outcome of the co 19 pandemic. So thank you. Go ahead Frank and again thank you thank you both for your leadership and
especially Grace for your leadership during leading up to and during the whole co the covid crisis. Um I did have a couple specific questions. Um you talked about the communications um strengthening communications to the aged, the poor and remote um remote
people. Can you give us some examples of what worked and maybe even what didn't? Um sure. And I'll also let Andrea really led a project recently to do to get magnets to put on your refrigerator. Um
and so that is one example of a a recent initiative. But I would say what worked was um I remember we we did a train the trainer for um communications when the vaccines became available um because
they originally were available to people um 65 and older and we did like a tiered approach. So it was 75 then 70 then 65 and older because we just didn't have very many vaccines. So, we had the hub and care partners and the clinic and I
don't and PHS front desk and we just made them all like places you could call and then they could help you sign up over the phone because we were we were overwhelmed. I mean, we would our phone was ringing off the hook. We didn't have enough people to answer the phone. But we we said on the radio, so again, uh
WTIP was a huge partner. You know, if you want to sign up for a vaccine and you can't do it online, you can call the hub, you can call care partners, you can call the clinic, you can call PHS, and any one of those places will have someone who answers the phone and can help you sign up over the phone. So,
that worked really well. Um I think another example was working with the HR departments at the resorts because uh there are a lot of um worker international workers without cars who don't listen to the radio and don't read
the newspaper and so that was our link was through the HR department to say you know do you first of all we did events at resorts for vaccination but then also you know because there'd be people who kind of trickled in maybe they missed the event and then we would um
coordinate for them to have like a van from their employer bring them into town. That worked really well. Um shared housing was came out as a big vulnerability for a pandemic. Just there's only so much you can do to reduce risk when you're living in a dorm
style uh housing situation. So that was really hard. I don't think that we really we did we tried but that was a really just inherently challenging situation. Um, and I think visitor population was another one. And so I I'll kind of ties into the magnet
project. So I'll let Andrea talk about the magnets. Thank you, Grace. So yeah um we have identified communications as uh so when we I think um we we have done tabletop exercises one especially that I can
recall in which we identified that as um vulnerability or like um something that we can reflect on on the action improvement plan. And so we brainstorm on, okay, what do
they use, right? Um, thinking about our older adults that are not they don't have computers or they're not like with the email or that social media avenue. So then we learned that they will listen to WTIP radio or that they will trust
their neighbor neighbor um for with a message and that like the clinic uh they have trust their s sources where they will go look for information. So our best strategy is try to connect the information with those trusted sources.
So it could be the hub, care partners, the radio uh in our our websites as well. So hoping that either through a neighbor through the radio or let's say in an emergency the county has code red
as the avenue to deliver information that is for emergencies and that can read to landlines uh emails and cell phones also will be the radio will probably air that a code red was issued.
So we as public health have a great relationship with the WTIP and we rely on them let's say for air quality alerts they are the ones that can few times a day give an update on what is the
forecast for that but what we can do in public health is have the information available in our website so people know what they can do if they poor if they poor air equality where are their resources you know how to learn um you know those different colors that their
alerts will have and you know what they could get from us for example masks you know they can come and get a mask if they have to be outside when the air quality is low. So those are have been the ways and then magnets have been always really welcome by visitors by
vacation rentals or by any household. So we have one that we developed last year with the CHP which is the community health board and another entity that is our partner and that is for the air quality and it's called know your know your air. We have that at PHS you could
just pick up a magnet and then we created one that is for power outages and that is a structure in a format of pre uh prepare respond recover. So, it tells you what you can do um you know in each of those scenarios. And then on our
website, that one, the power outage is meant to be um magnet and it has a handout that you can find like more in-depth information if you want to get ready like how to build a uh go kit and where to get that you know more
information. So our communication strategies have been following the model that is like um bite it's called bite snack meal. So the bite would be the magnet. It's the small
short you know you you didn't read the whole thing. So here's three bullet points what you should be doing. And the snack is like a maybe a social media post or a little bit more maybe it's maybe they say a little more on the radio and the meal is you go to the website and you have a link to all the
different resources and it's a a bigger handout. So that's that's the idea. You can have a bite, a snack or a meal. Uh and that's that's the that's a communications strategy for public health.
well tested. Thank you. Thank you. I I I appreciate that. Um I believe the county, correct me if I'm wrong, has a reverse 911 system where we can broadcast out calls and I
don't know to which degree it can be segmented. I I think that's code I don't know if it's exactly the same. I think the closest that I know of is the code red system. So, it's an emergency alert, but you it's an optin. So, that's the challenge is if you're not opted in,
you're not getting the message. So, trying to encourage people to opt in is part of the the strategy. Okay. Well, maybe it needs more work cuz I didn't even know about it. Right. Yeah, it does. So, is is that segmented? So, you can say, well, just Gunland Trail for
this evacuation or just people over 70 for this vaccination. It is segmented like that. I don't know about I don't by age um but but geography. So you could say you know just the Gunflint Trail but you couldn't say you know only people
over 70. So how do you opt in? Um on our website I can put the link in the notes. How do you know that you're supposed to go to the website and opt in if there's something? Well I mean that's on the magnet. That's um it's gone out in social media posts but it's definitely an area for improvement if making sure
people know. I would agree that's a good good idea. So related to code red, um a number of years ago, I want to say maybe 10 years ago, we sent a postcard to every property owner in Cook County that talked about how to opt into Code Red.
And that way, even if they weren't here at the point in time, that postcard got mailed to their mailing address and they got the information. We had a large number of people that opted in. A year ago, um it was being discussed between Mike Keapport and Sheriff Elias about
doing it again because we've had such a change in our population over the last decade. Absolutely. So, I believe that that is in the works that there will be a postcard going out and I know I saved mine and they requested it as a model for looking at what they were going to put together. Excellent. Thank you. And
maybe as the commissioners through your various u constituency outreach at all the homeowners associations, maybe this is something that could be mentioned. Yeah, we have we have been have have the opt-in list there. And and I would say that it's not just about people opting in, but the sheriff's department and
emergency management needs to regularly practice code red and make sure that their staff and their dispatchers are like trained on how to do it. Absolutely. Um so that they can send out a message quickly. Um, so that's kind of a it's a bigger kind of a bigger picture
of things we probably address. Yeah. Opting is the first step, but it's not the last step. Right. Right. Um, how does one get their hands on a magnet? My trunk. My car is filled all summer. So, if
you'd like one, otherwise upstairs. There are plenty. They're distributed through a lot of community events because I think of like different locations like down at the hub. But I but I actually thought about some of the summer people that come up and they're
not really tuned into the like having an emergency. They are getting their trees cleared but but uh because I would pick them up and go get in their houses and or put them on their doors or something because it's when the emergency happens
that's not the time to Yeah. Absolutely. The magnets, you could put them on the outside of the mailboxes. Oh, that's a great idea. Not inside. We don't have mailboxes in Hovlin. My trunk after this meeting. Yeah. And then I have more upstairs. And
if you'd like to take a stack to I would because I know a number of people that it would absolutely there are some at Care Partners as well. And then we are uh then the magnets were ready about a month ago. We had them ready for the
emergency services conference. Uh and then our next step like right now in the summer is like distribute them make sure that I can connect with the vacation rentals. I have reached out to visit Cook County and then see if through their chamber of commerce I can reach
out those vacation rentals and then you can go to those places as well. So I'm trying to find the key places like you mentioned the hub. Um I haven't reached out there yet but for sure there are kit partners which has a lot of like people coming in
and then I think like we all know people that they're well maybe not they're reclusive you know they just in the woods they're just like if there's an emergency it's like who's going to go check on these people I mean as neighbors type things
and that would be um we just hand deliver to these folks. because they're not going to come out seeking social interaction. It's a it's a challenge to, you know, you know, if someone is staying home, they're staying home and,
you know, it's a challenge to reach folks who are maybe opting for a more isolated lifestyle. So, if people have ideas, feel free to reach out to Andrea. Uh, and we're happy to be creative in how we distribute these. So, just let us know if you have ideas or if you want
some to distribute yourself. We can always do a reprint, but I think it's a great tool. Sticks on your refrigerator so you can't lose it in a pile of mail. That was the idea anyway. Um, so yeah, reach out and we'll we'll be happy to brainstorm creative distribution
techniques. Maybe you could bring a few to the next meeting like Yeah, I mean we could bring them down. We could bring some downstairs before the committee of the whole too if you all want to take them with after the meetings today. Might consider a fisherman's picnic instead of throwing candy. throw magnets. We for sure will have though
them at the fisherman's bic. We had we had we'll throw them. Yeah, we have we won't throw them but we will have them at in our booth, you know, for sure. We will have them at the and the Grand Port this weekend. So,
right. Well, thank you very much. Oh, Frank, go ahead. Yeah, thank you. Another topic um the flu vaccination rates that you mentioned can you give us a handle on what are the well flu vac vaccination rates for flu measles and covid and co boosters
um I don't I can't tell you them off the top of my head but I can get that information and have it present at the next meeting or included in the notes for this one. Great. Yeah, I can I can say a just um roughly on the measles
vaccine, the one that I um give more u because of we have had two measel cases in Minnesota in the last month or so in Minnesota. In Minnesota, not county. No county. Right. And then it was um so for there
was an outbreak of measles a couple years ago, but the one that was currently happening that had an outbreak in Texas in another state and then it hadn't reached Minnesota yet, but it did reach Minnesota. One of the cases was at
the Mall of America and this was about a month ago, 3 weeks, something like that. Um but since then we haven't received any more notifications like statewide because the Minnesota Department of Health epidemiology
department issues alerts when there is something relevant that should be distributed to all hospitals. So that would be like my role. I get those alerts. Grace gets one copy of the alert and then we send to the hospital clinic
and Grand Portage Health Services. So, um, when we look at our vaccination rates in the county, because we have such a small population, if there's one child that has doesn't have the vaccines up to date, then it will show us like we're at like 90%.
But we we're pretty good. I think there's just like a handful or even less kids that are maybe not up to date. So we our population has is less at risk because the population that are more at risk with measles would be unvaccinated
populations and kids that have gotten measles um those cases were unvaccinated populations and then the flu vaccine usually is around 30%. About 30 Mhm. I'd say yeah
it's between 30 and 40 on any given year typically for flu coverage. So, there's definitely work that we could do there. Um, and yeah, I'll be happy to get the a more comprehensive picture for the next meeting because I don't have all of the
rates on the top of my head. Sure. All right. Just pull them right up. Thank you. And my final question was um you mentioned the vector war diseases, ticks and mosquitoes. Presumably that's the big two. Um, which ones are prevalent in Cook?
So we don't we do not have any mosquito related uh vectorbor diseases. We only um we have the the deer tick which will be the one that is likely to give you lyme disease but there's also anaposmosis a puppet both so we don't
but we don't have them we have had the we haven't had the two of the other infectious diseases in the county. Um, no. But we did have Bab the one with the I can't say it right now. I can't say it
right now, but it's something like Babis, I think. I'm sorry that I haven't uh anchor in that uh scientific name. However, so two of those cases, those are like um flashes through your body in
about two weeks, fever and chest congestion. But Lyme disease is the one that is most concerning because it has long-term side effects. And then for Cook County, that number of people that um has had Lyme disease detected, which
doesn't mean like this is something that our epidemiologist always makes a point. It doesn't mean that they tick it was like in their body here in Cook County and bit and give them Lyme disease. It means like the residence is from Cook County could have been bitten
in Finland in Lake County in St. Louis. Okay. But so with that in mind still the Lyme disease cases for Cook County have doubled but they're low. So it's like four now eight or some this is but because we're such a low population just
a few more cases increases but it has increased and still is a pattern that we're seeing for northeast region. So it's something to watch but not something to emergency response on. Try to educate a population that preventing
a tick bite is important because because when you get lyme disease as HR has shared uh you could have like many days of sick leave. You you know can sometimes it's depending on how affects you um you can lose many
days of work because of Lyme disease. No. Yeah. Yeah. No question. Lyme disease is a very serious disease. But if we don't have the deotics up here that spread it, probably not a big public, we do there. That's one of the the changes with the weather patterns is
that we're seeing longer seasons of tick activity and we're seeing um populations of ticks move northward. And so that's why limes disease cases have increased both within Cook County and within the Arrowhead region. So some of the
messaging around that that we've put out there is, you know, how to prevent tick bites and also the importance of doing tick checks daily. Um, you know, within if you have a tick that's bitten you and
it is infected, the sooner that you get it out of your body, the more likely it is that you won't have that disease passed on to you. So within the first 24 hours, if you remove that tick, the likelihood of you becoming ill is very, very low. Um, and so that's a really
good practice. If you've been out in the brush, out in the woods, just do a tick check before you go to bed. That's one of the best uh preventative measures for things like Lyme disease. And then knowing that you can certainly call the clinic if you feel like you are feeling
ill and they can prescribe antibiotics and they can test for things like limes disease afterwards. But best to try to prevent that from happening in the first place by doing things like tick checks and treating clothes with peromethine and all of that good stuff, tucking your
pants into your socks and all that. One of the things I want to like note is like ticks are part of our environment and we have them and we see them every day. It's like if you uh so one of the things to say is like not all ticks carry Lyme disease. It takes 24 hours
for about 24 hours for a tick to be attached to your body for the Lyme disease to be transferring to your body. That's why those tick checks are the most important like throughout the day if you're on a hike like every a few hours check your body because even if you had had one latch on you it's very
unlikely that you'll get Lyme disease if you cut it right away. So that Yeah. All right. Lots of information there. Yes. I'm sure there's more to come. Thank you very much for time for hours. Yeah. Yeah.
No, I appreciate all the information and Yeah, I'm sure there's more to come and appreciate that too. So, thank you for the the presentation this morning and all your good work and carry on. Okay, that moves us on to
uh item five, our director's report. And this morning we have our fiscal supervisor uh plow and Dmitri uh filling in for Allison. And um we have our staff updates and agency updates and I suppose between you and and Reena, you can give
us uh all the info we need here. Good morning. My name is Pomit and I'm the fiscal supervisor for K County Public Health and Human Services and I'm here to uh provide um to deliver the director's report today. First off, I
would like to um extend another warm welcome to Erica. Uh Erica comes to our agency with a lot of experience and a lot of talent and a lot of knowledge and we are very happy to have her on board. So, thank you. Um, another thank you to
Grace and Andrea for the great presentation today and for taking all these great questions. Thank you so much. Um, uh, just a reminder that um, Cook County Public Health and Human Services offices will be closed on Thursday in observance
of Junth. And I have some notes uh that Grace shared with me um that would consist of the director's report today. And if you allow me, I would um read through them here today.
Thank you. The annual bike rodeo took place at the Cook County Community Center on Thursday, May 22nd, and was attended by 53 youth and 35 adults. Volunteers distributed over 30 helmets at no cost thanks to the generous financial support
of joins Ben Franklin spoken gear and the Nord collaborative refreshments and inf famous blender bike were also available thanks to a donation by the Cook County co-op. Public Health and Human Services Department staff attended the Pride
Festival at the Harbor Park on the 14th of June and plan to attend the Grand Portage Health Fair on the 21st to provide the community with health information, information on services that public health and human services provides.
Andrea Orest and Andrea Toi gave a presentation on the Cook County Healthy Housing Program at the Minnesota Department of Health Rural Health Conference on the 9th in Duluth. A draft of the age friendly Cook County
action plan was on display in poster form at the care partners open house. This was a collaborative project between care partners and the public health team. We aim to have a written draft report available to the public by August which will be linked to a future public health
and humanist board packet later this summer. And often connected with the AP and K county higher education to bring the home fit presentation to higher ed on the 26th at 11:00 a.m. This work combines elements of both our
age friendly and health healthy housing work. It is a presentation by an architect who is a certified aging and prey specialist and provides practical tips to consider to older adults who want to maximize the time they are able
to safely live in their homes. This class is free and open to the public. The oral health health task force uh which public health and human services is contributing member won the 2024
rural health team award. This task force includes representation from sat mountain clinic family dentistry and a grand poridge health services. The aim of the group is to increase preventative dental care and access to
dental services. Angie Works has accepted the position of family health nurse at the south mountain clinic. This is a position that public health and human services contracts out to Southwood Mountain Clinic to perform certain public health functions. These
include administering of the women, infants and children or known as wick nutrition assistance program, various perinatal nursing services and maternity early childhood sustained home visiting program. Grace is working with the leadership at
the South Mountain Clinic to ensure that Angie has all the tools and support she needs to take the administration of these contracted programs. The 2026 public health fund grant period is open for applications through July
1st with all relevant information on our website. The grand review subcommittee will meet several times through the summer to interview applicants, review written applications, and provide the PHS board with funding recommendations by its
September meeting. On June the 23rd um marks the oneyear anniversary of the Cook County Prevention Coalition. We are planning a year year end review celebration along with presentation the strategic prevention framework from our
regional alcohol, tobacco and auto drugs regional coordinator Laura Bennett. We're also planning to discuss the kickoff of the youth specific coalition planned for later this summer alongside a youth interview project led by Rosio
Rivers. um your um our youth prevention specialist. Grand Portage Health Services, Nurture Health, Public Health and Human Services, and the South Mountain Clinic have been meeting to
discuss the creation of a cross agency resource directory website that helps community members more easily connect with the health related resources in the community. The startup funding for this project comes from the CO 19 implementation fund
grant that was rescended then reinstated these past three months by the CDC, Center for Disease Control, and then in turn by the Minnesota Department of Health, MDH. The RFP is currently out with a deadline
for bids of July the 14th. Lastly, on the June the 30th, Andre Oras will be facilitating two question persuade refer classes at the Cook County High Education. One is at noon and another is at 5:30.
QPR is an hour and a half evidence-based program that has its mission to save lives and reduce suicide behaviors by giving attendees the education to recognize a crisis and warning size signs rather that someone may be
contemplating suicide and also to access local and national refer resources to get help. These classes are free and open to the public. And that is the report. Thank you. Any questions? Uh
for plowman might be able to answer. All right. Oh, I'm sorry. Please go ahead. I'm sorry. Um I I missed it a little bit. Could you just repeat the funds that were impounded or or tried to get clawed back
and then and then was reinstated? What which uh which funds were those? That is the COVID vaccine implementation grant, right? Okay. Okay. Very good. And um how much of that was left? How much of that did the county have left to
spend which has now been reinstated? So we had about roughly about 30,000 of our allocation that was left to spend. However, because of the some of the uncertainty related to this grant because it was first resended and then it was
reinstated, some of the local partners, local other members of the C the community health board have opted not to use those funds. So more funds have become available to us to spend. um okay
more than the original awarded amount that was okay so the money comes from CDC to the to the state state grants it to the community health board and our original allocation was 30,000 but if others opt not to take it then that would be available too great what can we
use that money for and how fast can we spend it before they change their minds again Grace has a great plan on that and I'll let her all of that right now uh we're planning to spend ended on this the development of the resource directory website and that's the project with
Grand Portage Health Services, Sawtooth Mountain Clinic, Northshore Health and it's based on this idea that out of the coming out of the pandemic all of us independently at our different agencies have heard that people don't always know what resources are out there in our
community and if they do know about them they don't know how to connect to them. Absolutely. So the idea is that this would be a pandemic recovery activity. So, we did get this uh okayed by our grant manager at the Department of Health as a recovery activity, right? um
and that we would um work with our county attorney and if we once we get a bid for the website development, we'll make sure that it aligns with our new contract language because the funding is it's here today, but we want to make
sure that we can um you know, spend it responsibly and not find ourselves in a position where it's taken rescended again um and we're on the hook for an expense like a website design. So, we're going to be working very carefully on um when we get those bids back from website
developers um aligning our contract language so that we can basically make uh a few larger purchases with the grant funds. Um and then there's some additional costs associated with the project like you know branding a logo uh
ongoing costs for outreach for example and if could we spend those upfront and then in the interest of kind of mitigating the uncertainty with this grant. That's the plan right now. Great. Thank you.
Thank you. All right. Any other questions? Looks like not so much. We'll move on to items for board action. And what we had had changed there was um the addition of the bylaws uh amendment for the public
health human services advisory council and um we discussed this a little bit uh before um and oh I'm sorry. No problem. And uh kind of the the long and short of
it, at least my memory, understanding was that um is we we've had we had had challenges with with uh membership and and because of how the bylaws were written um that was making it difficult
to um elect a chair and um and vice chair. And so, uh, it was was it you need you need to be on the council for 2 years, um, or one year. Frank, do you remember this? You were on Yeah, you
have to be on at least one year. One year before you can be vice chair or or chair or chair. Or chair. And actually, if you look, if you turn to page 34 of 39, the the change is um marked there.
It's subsection B. We lined it. Yep. Now, this um this was reproduced from our original agenda. Uh Commissioner Gamble, you uh help me recall, please. Did we adopt this as I don't have the
the recent notes? The I mean the recommendation came from the advisory council to do this. So we had the discussion and and then it just had to come to the board of commissioners or board this board for approval. Yeah. For
approval. But was this the um I believe I believe this is the final ver wording that was recommended at the Yes. from the advisory council. Yes. And so it looks like the only change is the um the striking of chairperson
meeting uh one year and then a grammar change in the next next number there. Is that is that right? Yes. Yep. Yes. And um and there was other discussion that
the vice chair would be mentored or any other members for that all new members as a matter of fact would be mentored by existing advisory council members as to the duties, roles and responsibilities during their first year.
Please. Yeah. Thank you. So the discussion was because of the the challenges which are sort of culturally a challenge on on many fronts filling positions and having volunteers and the other thing I think in having people
step forward is making sure that they're clear as to the responsibilities at least that's been my experience sitting on different committees what does it mean if I'm put in that position and so we had that discussion and based upon what informed the initial bylaws. We
wanted to make sure that we kept the integrity of that intent in this proposal. And so the mentoring aspect was reflective of that. If if we didn't have the commitment that had that tenure leading up to the appointment that we
would make a commitment to be sure that what our intent was that we would mentor in in into those positions. Yes. So, it it wasn't just a uh a proposal that was to make it easier. It was to try to be
protective of intent and still accommodate change of culture. Yeah. Appreciate that. Any any further? Yeah. Well, I again there's no further discussion. As the chairman of the public health and human services advisory council, I'd like to
submit this change to the board to be voted on and approved as an amendment to the bylaws. Any other um questions or or concerns before we Could I Is that a motion then, Frank? I don't know if I should make the motion as chairman of the advisory council, but
if if I can, I will. There is a motion. Is there support? Support. Okay, we have a motion and support. Thank you, Commissioner Sullivan. Um further discussion. Um thanks for working on this. All those in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes
unanimously. Thank you. Thank you very much. As a as a caut, I would encourage uh our our again our commissioners as you make your uh homeowner association meetings uh this summer to um mention to them that we are looking for this and we do want to one of the other things that
we discussed was a letter to the various um homeowner associations something that they could make a note of either through a email to their membership or at a brace at their meetings that this is what we do and this is what we uh are looking for and we invite applicants.
We'll work on that. Great. Thank you. Moving on to committee reports. First one is the active living steering committee. Commission White, take a moment. Take a moment. Sorry, I saw you did something, but I didn't see what you took a bite.
But yeah, I did. Um I'm sorry. Next thing is you're going to move towards the meal. So that's that's the next meeting to have. um the active living. There was a lot of discussion about the uh progress with
the paths, DNR paths, uh bike paths through Luden, which Jenny probably has even been on them. And then the Gigami Trail and it's um again, funding is an an issue, but it's
not enough of an issue that there's still funding in place for these projects. and and then of course the act of living. I guess that was the safe routes to school. Um there's a lot of people and a lot of organizations in
this county that's mo focusing on moving. So that's what I can say about that. Like movement or movement? Oh yeah. Not like moving out of the county or driving. It's like foot footwork or something like that. Yep.
Thank you. Exercising. Yeah. Uh, next one is the AEOA. Um, Commissioner White. Well, AEOA and the Council on Aging are both going to be here in the next So, don't ruin it, right? I'm not going to ruin any
surprises about it. None at all. Um but one one um statement is that this county receives so much from the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency
that we are we we don't even think about it anymore. So they'll tell us all of their details. But we are really fortunate to have that organization have our backs. Yeah. As as much as they do for us. It's
just the region, too. It's It's incredible. Yeah, we get a lot ourselves, but Yeah. Right. Well, great. Well, we'll look forward to that conversation. Uh, next one is the Arrowhead Health Alliance. Any any updates there, Commissioner White? We
are having a meeting on Thursday. Okay. And it's been nothing other than administrative uh corrections or addition or editing on their contracts. Oh, okay. All right. Um, Arrowhead Regional
Corrections, Commissioner Gamble. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, there was, um, uh, on the update in Cook County relative to our offices, uh, the probation office services include the Grand Portage Reservation in concert
with the tribal probation officer. Staffing stability has been achieved. So we had much discussion about the various counties that participate in and they and um Nerk and they had regional corrections and so the update uh they
were very pleased to say that our staffing stability in Cook County has been achieved. All positions are filled and we anticipate having long-term probation officers in place. There are only two probation officers. So each one handles all types and varieties of cases. They have a substance use
treatment court that continues to run and we have a partnership with the Grand Portage Tribe. We have a presence on their probation steering committee and are actively involved in the hiring and training of their probation officer at Grand Portage Tribe. also noted was that
the probation officers are to be considered change agents, not service brokers, which I think is a good notation for people to be mindful of. And the other um I think that the public would be interested in is that uh Nerk
has issued a state bonding request for solar panels to be installed at the facility. Well, that's amazing news regarding staffing, especially knowing the challenges around the state and the challenges we've had. I I did not see a
way out uh or or an easy path forward and that's that's amazing. So, thank you for that update. Uh that moves on to the child care solutions subcommittee. Commissioner Commissioner Stoley. Um we have not met.
Okay. And then I'm afraid I missed the uh community health board. Um, but I presume Frank was there and might have I was I was and the uh uh it was a abbreviated meeting but the the the main
the main thing I'd like to bring to the board's attention is that there was a slight change in the in the mission statement um to reflect current guidance regarding uh language to be used or language for
forbidden language or language which would raise red flags uh in funding and and grants and in in our activities. So as a preventative measure uh we made a
subst a change which was designed to be uh more compliant with um executive orders uh but without changing the fundamental mission of the uh of of the community health board to the extent talking about um serving all
populations without actually using the word equity. Uh whether this needs to be replicated at other levels, we don't know yet and how far it has to go. But there was a um deep a deep scrutiny of the websites and
any of website and all other forms and applications that we're looking at. Um I also one of the criteria that's often used is a social vulnerability index. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but that's often something that
that uh that is used and referred to and it was suggested that that might be a good idea not to focus on that in future grant proposals and RFPs. So, careful what you say, your money might get taken away.
Thank you. Um it moves us on to uh uh local mental health advisory council. Um yeah, we discussed the the past year's work and so it wasn't really anything new. Okay.
As far as I know. Okay. Review reviewed. Yeah, we did the year and the progress and I'm just always impressed at how much it is done by public health here. uh moves on to restorative justice. Commissioner Gamble. Thank you, Mr.
Chair. Uh the res the state restorative practices grant awarded our program 300,000 in monies. We had asked for 400 and some thousand. They granted the 300,000 which was good news and that will begin next
month receiving those fundings. Thank you. Um, Council on Aging, we'll get to at the committee the whole uh, emergency preparedness. Anything additional there, Commissioner S? Um, yes, we, um, had an
opportunity to have a meeting last week led by Andrea. Um, Mike Keeport as our emergency manager and Grace were gone at a conference and Andrea did an excellent job. talked a little bit about the work being currently done on the hazard
mitigation plan. And um then one of the things that I contributed that at that meeting was the the vast number of community events that we are providing outreach to. Um whether it be for wildfire, smoke, um learning about
evacuation, code red, all of that. And we have 21 events during the summer that are being held where we will be present. And um all of those but one are along the Gunflint Trail and the outreaches to
about 750 people out of,00 citizens living in that area. Um that would include seasonal residents. Uh but it's a great outreach just a great partnership that we have and um I'm in
the process of securing Andrea to cover three of those events where I have conflicts. We have two events or more on one day and um so anyway, we hope to get that secured and wrapped up this week. But um it's really again a fantastic
partnership that we have and um a great way to get information out not only to our residents but the seasonal people that come. And then we also talked a little bit about the midtrail um evacuation which I touched on at our
county board meeting but for those that weren't there um we practice annually and take one roadway which we uh do a practice and our volunteer firefighters go doortodoor um show what the poster is
that gets placed and talk about evacuation plans. Um, and one of the scenarios that was um, reviewed this time was um, residents or I shouldn't say residents but visitors to a campground at Flower Lake which had no
ability to leave in the case of evacuation. There was no vehicle. They were just there camping. And um so we determined a way to engage residents who we can rely on and count on who live in the area to help with evacuation because
our firefighters are going doortodoor. They can't take the time to bring people out of an area. So, it was a very valuable drill and um talked and and discussed at the end uh communication and use of the ambulance, when to use
it, when not to use that ambulance. And um so I'm looking forward very much to next year rather than next year being an observer. I will be participating actually in the drill with firefighters. So I'll come with a new level of um
information to share with everyone. Thank you. Healthcare Planning Committee. Commissioner Sterley, we did not meet. Okay. Anything from Nico? Yes, we did meet. Well, just a couple highlights going
back to child care. Um, the federal government understands the need for families to have some kind of monetary support. So, the legislators passed a 2,700 um um I would say
contribution to families. The Senate is looking at only 2,200. So, um for that decision and for Medicaid, they're hoping to get everything passed before July 4th. So, we're just going to have to wait and see
what happens with all of that with um the hierarchy of the federal government. Mr. Commissioner, is that is that amount of money is that a um a tax deduction or a direct payment? Direct payment is what
I understand. Direct payment. Um, if I may, um, I believe that is a um, it's a it's a tax credit and if you don't pay that much in taxes, they will refund you to it's a
refundable tax credit. So, if your tax is worth a,000 and it's 2,200, take you don't pay your,000 in in taxes and they will send you the check for the balance. It's a refundable tax credit. Okay? as stated today.
Again, they're different versions of the bill, but that's what it's been. I mean, they're just talking about they're not changing the program. They're just talking about the amount. This is this is federal, right? Well, good. Um, that's great. About time.
Um, and and this was raised from two from last year it was 2000 now going up to something else. Sure. 22 or 27. Yeah. Thank you. Um, moving on to the Northeast Minnesota Office of Job Training, Commissioner Gamble meeting
coming up in July. Okay. And Northshore Collaborative. Um, we had a cancellation for our main meeting unless I missed something there, but yeah. And then um, uh, public health advisory council. Anything additional there, Frank? Again, thank you for passing the proposed
amendment. And as our interim director mentioned that uh we are now in active season for our um our grant funding program uh budgetary considerations. Again Grace uh does a great job of organizing our
our meetings and our plans. uh and I believe we're just going to go on an assumption of what we will have to uh to distribute and we will be of course sub finally subject to the uh to the full uh budget decisions made by
the board. Grace, did you want to add anything about our upcoming considerations? No. Uh at this point we have everything on the website live um including a recording of the information session for prospective applicants. That recording of that info session is also
on the website. So if somebody missed that but wants to get more information, they can watch that recording. Um I believe the amount we have included in our um draft budget is the same as we had last year. So it's static 50. Um I
can't recall off the top of my head. Plman, do you recall what we have in there? I have to pull it up. But um at this point the application period closes on July 1st. So we have a couple weeks yet for applicants to send in their
materials. And again all that information is on the website or if um someone has questions they can give me a call and in reviewing last year's program with the with a set aside for new and innovative programs. Um I think in reviewing that we thought it was successful in in its purpose of
generating new and innovative ideas and new applicants. Um and with some minor changes that will continue going into the current the current grant season. Thank you. Moving on. Oh plumbing. I'm
sorry. I just have that amount. It's 190,000 for year 2025. Okay. Thank you. Which was an increase from 150 and 2024. Thank you. Yeah, I'll be real curious to see where
all that Yeah. where all that shakes out. Thank you for working on that. Um the prevent co county prevention coalition commissioner. Um they are uh talking about mental health and like I said last time mental health and
substance abuse prevention. It's a high energy hopeful group. It they they give off a vibration of of uh uh it's it's a real can do and and they
will be empowering youth to carry the message too. So it's I really like that group. So, and then just I haven't shared this yet all yet, but um ARC um I
don't know the woman's name, but I was told by the person who is leaving as the facilitator from ARC for the Northshore Management Board, she's going back to work in her um
in her department at ARC with aging. But a person she works with is trying would like to get together and develop in across the region groups. Well, it's not like the
grandparent program per se, but integrated groups of an adult to just get together once a week and talk with kids, just sit around and shoot hoops or just talk about things or share a pizza, but to give the generations
uh an opportunity and a safe place because many kids don't have a safe adult or a normal adult, which would be hard to find in this county, but you know, just somebody that they could trust and they could just get kernels of
wisdom or great stories to tell if that were the case. So that will be I will be um I was contacted by that person saying are you interested and I said yes but I've gotten no more information but I will be
sending that along to the people on the prevention board. So is there like a name for the program or is just Yeah, there is but it's not in my head. Okay, that's fine. It was a verbal conversation as we're all leaving. So Okay.
And then uh as far as the Cook County Food Access Council is concerned, I I attended late due to a conflict with um the DCYF meeting. Um but it's largely uh mission vision discussion. One takeaway
I I kind of picked up at the end too was just about a little reticence I'd say about being an official county uh you know government group versus a coalition of um independent and um so I
think there's going to be more discussion just about implications or or structure and format and that sort of thing. any other details there that you wanted to add? Were you at the part of the um the extension presentation on SuperShelf?
Did Were you able to hear that? Oh, maybe I missed. Yeah. No, there was a there's a woman named Linda Erdall who works for the U of U of M extension out of Duth on a project called SuperShelf. And it's uh it's a a model of making
food shelves include more um fresh produce and healthy foods and making them very like consumer oriented. So she did a presentation and we had represent representatives from the local food shelf there as well and a lot of interest in learning more about our
local food shelf and um and hearing more from Linda. So her role is to help food shelves in northeast Minnesota adopt portions of this super shelf model if they're interested. So she was she was a great speaker. Yeah. No, I missed I
missed her all together there. So maybe I missed a meeting all together here. That's what I'm wondering. I don't know. It was it was um two weeks ago, a week and a half ago, I guess. Two weeks ago tomorrow. Yes. I missed that. Yeah. I was I was
traveling with family. Commissioner Gamble. Yeah. Relative to the the food issue. Um when we look at resources that are available in the county and the food shelf certainly is one of them. Um the
other is Ruby's Pantry and when I think Ruby's celebrated its 10th anniversary here not too long ago. But um uh participation in a I think there must be a um a consensus as to the type of food
that we're getting and and that is available to us and that is food that is is healthy the fresh foods uh the things that provide protein and um I think in in looking at those programs so that
they're attractive and that they meet our intention which is to provide good food for, you know, people that want to avail themselves of those resources. Whatever we can do to influence those things in the Ruby's Pantry situation,
it's something where, you know, organizations donate that food so you get what you get. But, but I think just the message underscoring the importance of making sure we're giving substantive food and not food that's detrimental when it comes to the health issue. Mhm.
There have been uh a number of organizers from Ruby's Pantry who've been really active on the food access council and um have brought up that very issue. So um I I would say there's a lot of passion in that group, a lot of
people who have put in a ton of work to help Ruby's pantry function, the food pantry or the food shelf itself. Um, so there's a lot of passion I would say in that group and I think there's recognition of that very issue that there's not a lot of choice when it
comes to the Ruby's Pantry program just because of the nature of the way it's set up. And there's also been some frustration voiced in the that group by some of the organizers just because there isn't that choice of how to you kind of you kind of get what you get. They bring the truck up and whatever's
on the truck is what goes out. So that is a challenge that's come up in the context of the food access council. So I think it's definitely on people's minds. A lot of organizations that start out, you know, with their founders with the intent of what they provide and
sometimes it it can drift a bit um just making an assumption based upon, you know, the tendencies sometimes that come with people that have vision and what they're they're advocating for. And I think just from our standpoint uh
whatever we can do so that leadership of the program uh negotiates with people and makes those decisions on behalf of the enduser so to speak. I think that's an important thing just to respectfully encourage that that we share those
similar values and how the program provides. Thank you. Uh last thing is for the good of the order. Anything else someone would like to um add there?
Then we're adjourned. Thank you. Absolutely. No problem. Thank you so much. Why do I talk when I have