##VIDEO ID:Xc57TuIqEWo## good evening welcome to the November 12th 2024 special meeting of the ponic township Council acting as the Board of Health Miss Marsh in accordance with the requirements of New Jersey's open public meetings act notice of this special meeting was filed in the office of the Township Clerk posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building and on the township website mailed all persons requesting notice in accordance with Township policy 48h hour notice of this meeting was also transmitted via fax or email to the Suburban Trends and Daily Record newspapers notice of this meeting included a statement that the purpose of this meeting is to review the Pana Township Health Department annual report and that no formal action will be taken the Kirk the clerk will please call the role Mr Dy yes Mrs Florence Lynch here Mr Cole here Mrs Russell here mayor herd is not with us the item on this meeting's agenda are discussions of the Health Department's annual report Mr K kzero thank you good evening everyone uh I provided reports for 2020 4 annual report and our activity report uh it's pretty thorough for your review and um uh What uh is in the report describes our mandated activities by the state of New Jersey the requirements of of each local Health Department uh we are fulfilling all the obligations U that the statutes require uh we go above and beyond these standards especially in uh the elevated risk type of St establishments complaints uh and um emerging threats uh so we're always uh trying to keep above the standard uh the standards are minimum standards we try to exceed that to protect the public at the highest level um U what we do is uh there's a lot of uh enforcement activities in order to do this we give guidance to the public uh we enforce a lot of the state and local laws there's a lot of educational activities that we use a variety of platforms to get information out to the public um we uh you know circulate a newsletter um and we make sure that the residents have access to our staff we have a highly professional staff licensed in a variety of disciplines Public Health disciplines uh including uh registered Environmental Health Specialists uh RNs uh and health Educators um uh we do uh the nurses engage in Disease Control activities with contact tracing disease investigation there's about 100 communicable diseases that are reportable to the state of New Jersey um and any Resident who is diagnosed with one of these communicable diseases there's a full investigation it's referred to us by the state of New Jersey and uh we try to educate the person who is uh who has been infected and also uh how to prevent the spread of disease in the community so we these investigations are very helpful to curtail any kind of an outbreak uh the inspectors are out doing environmental inspections they're involved in U all kinds of Public Health nuisance investigations and we enforce laws on a variety of regulated establishments uh and these establishments are regulated by the state because they they are a threat to the public if they're not carried out properly or in accordance with the state laws um they they can pose a high risk to the public so these establishments are routinely um inspected investigated we do education with the owners of these businesses to ensure that they're operating in a safe Manner and uh we're always available for them our health Educators out in the field doing education at different um demographic groups in in the towns um to to um bolster um information about chronic diseases how to prevent chronic diseases um and uh also communicable diseases uh we also uh provide resources for mental health mental health support and uh in especially postco there's been a high rate of increase to mental health issues especially in the schools and so we've uh We've initiated some programs directly with the schools uh we're going to be rolling some things out in 2025 we're working closely with the superintendent of schools uh also uh we're working with the police Chiefs in each of the towns because some of the emerging threats have to do with um uh illegal substances or legal substances that are being sold to miners that uh shouldn't be so it's really a Cooperative effort with all the disciplines in town whether it's the Board of Education police departments uh but we're engaging uh We've initiated these relationships and we're going to be rolling out some programs in 2025 that we're looking forward to um uh the emerging uh threats or really the risks that we're seeing this winter season are pretty much the same as last year you have RSV influenza covid those are basically uh the same as last year uh that we are focusing on we also have some foodborn illness outbreaks in New Jersey or in in surrounding states that we're monitoring to see if it's going to affect New Jersey one is Bor head uh you heard of the BS head outbreak that was a it's still happening there still cases that are that are um emerging especially because it could take up to 10 weeks to get symptoms after somebody ingests was that a just liver wor though uh well initially was liver worst but cross I like I only eat fum yes yes well so it was cross contamination well there was cross the liverworth was the initial product but then it was cross contamination some of the other products tested and some of the surface areas in the plant in Virginia I believe believe was contaminated which can risk other products that they produce so they' stopped they decided to stop making liver worst forever more they're no longer oh really yeah Bo's head is leaving the liver worst business the only way I found out about the the outbreak was because shoppr had a big sign saying we don't and never will sell Bor head I'm like what's that all about that's why a lot of you know defects the retailers all the way down the line definitely if they can't sell cold cuts and so they're going to look I mean I'm sure Thum and all these other ones are capitalizing about this so whether B head survives this or not it's yet to be seen I there's so many millions upon millions of dollars of of loss here that uh and there's there's lawsuits and other things they're going to have to contend with so it'll be interesting to see how it unfolds but we get a a lot of recall information from the FDA the USDA we get almost daily notifications some of them they're asked for local assistance to go to these Outlets to make sure these products aren't being sold there's also items and product Environ consumer goods of various kinds that are recalled and we get these communications and we go out in the field to make sure this stuff is actually recalled they get Direct Communications the retailers and the wholesalers but but we sometimes are called on to verify that sure because not it's not always there's sometimes a a gap in competency at some of these places where they're it's not that they're trying to get away with anything it's just that they're not controlling their establishments at the level they should uh so that's another way that we uh try to curtail these uh outbreaks um and uh yeah so we uh as I had mentioned last year we had received a $625,000 grant that's always nice that's a very nice thing we've already thank you out about $400,000 has been used for various uh programs and and across really a lot of the public health infrastructure is also useful to all the other departments whether it's DPW OEM Police Department so we've purchased the things from sign boards to uh to to security cameras and access to to different facilities is being protected now we relocated our antenna radio antenna out to the senior house um we've purchased trailers uh load of with equipment for for rapid response and outdoor operations we have a light tower that we purchase that will illuminate almost a football size field of uh if we have operations at night that would be very useful for floods or any kind of operation where Public Health would also be involved and so um we're we're putting that money to good use it's a townwide impact and uh and we still have some more projects that will'll be finishing up in uh by June by June will'll have all the money uh secured and all the projects completed and anyway you have the reports you have all the data we we got you everything you need if you have any questions on have to answer them so are we at four Towns now or is it still Five Towns it's well we have we're right now we're six towns but as of January will be five towns Bloomingdale Bloomingdale's actually going to the county bake has been expanding into local Public Health activities usually they do uh sea which is community or the County Environmental Health act which is for all the municipalities in in the county they operate as a support agency but the last 8 to 10 years they've actually expanded into getting shared service contracts with the municipalities to do local public health and so Bloomingdale uh did opted to go opted to go over to to the county um we don't think it's we hope that it works out for them what are our five again foric Lincoln Park Riverdale um the Flor Park kenon rdale Boon what's the chances that we'll go after somebody else uh good because I'm always uh I have pretty good relationships countywide and um I think our reputation is very good and I think if there's an opportunity that arises we're always willing to hear what they have to say shared services are the way to go I I don't think we went after botin botin came to us yeah a lot of the towns came to us I I've been reading a lot about a really bad uh strain of walking pneumonia micoplasma walking pneumonia that's really hard and it comes on quick yes have you seen that we we've been seing cases of it so there's been an outbreak of it luckily most of the cases are mild I heard imun no compromise it's 40% mortality yeah yeah well it for but we luck we haven't seen a high spike in mortality but it is any kind of pneumonia especially that kind but really any kind for anybody who's imuno compromised over 65 years of age it's it's it's a high risk yeah everybody's saying go get an x-ray right away well so that I don't know saying it's re I don't know I've been reading a lot about it seeing a lot about the messaging goes out to the uh actually to the about that it's okay I totally did not have it on my calendar there nice to see you good I'll give you your seat well you're all good so you said Flor Park Flor Park Riverdale kennel and so then we and Bloomingdale was here so we have seen a bit of a spike in it we've seen a spike but um the messaging has been pushed out from the State Health Department to the healthare providers because when they have patients where they might