Lake County Board of Health met Jan. 27.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
1. Call to Order
President Sashko called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m.
Present 12 - Member Cesnovar, Member-at-Large Maine, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member Rheault Ph.D., Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D., Secretary DeVaux and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
2. Pledge of Allegiance
This matter was presented
3. Approval of Minutes
3.1 December 16, 2020 Meeting Minutes
A motion was made by Member Schultz, seconded by Member DeVaux, that this item be approved. Roll call vote taken, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 9 - Cesnovar, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member Rheault Ph.D., Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz and Secretary DeVaux
Not Present: 3 - Member-at-Large Maine, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D. and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
4. Public Comment to the Board
None
5. Awards, Recognitions, Appointments and Reappointments
None
6. Presentations
None
7. President’s Report
President Sashko reported on the following:
1. County Board Chair Sandy Hart will appoint County Board member Julie Simpson to the Board of Health in February. Julie has been on the County Board since 2018. She is also the Chair of the Health and Community Services Committee which Member Carlson
chaired for many years, thereby maintaining that continuity. This is going to be Member Carlson's last meeting and Member Simpson will join us next month. Member Carlson stated it has been an honor, he will miss everyone, and to keep in touch. President Sashko thanked him for his hard work over the years to the County Board, the Board of Health, 2-1-1, and United Way, and stated that there will be a proper send off once things return to normal.
2. He is behind in getting out the Executive Director’s evaluation to the Executive Committee of the Board of Health and of the Governing Council but will get that done very soon. He will also be sending it to the other Board and Council members in case they would like to weigh in, but it is not mandatory. This process is part of the new policy established late last year.
3. Governor Pritzker toured the Lake County Fairgrounds POD today to see the operation in motion. Executive Director Mark Pfister was interviewed and he turned the floor over to him for a COVID-19 Operational Update.
Mark informed the Board that Governor Pritzker was impressed with the team's efforts and the forethought of multiple team members in regard to our digital registration and it's many capabilities. And the drive-in/out system was impressive for all of the elected's and media present as they stated they have not seen it at any other location. That it makes sense to keep people in their cars which is keeping staff and volunteers safe and warm inside the building. The facility itself is large enough that we can easily expand from the current 20-25 cars at a time to 40-60 cars as we move forward. We moved in to Phase 1b on Monday, and the Lake County hospital President's have been so cooperative throughout this pandemic, that we are getting rave reviews from the 65+ group for the direct phone calls from the hospitals, the appointments scheduled by the hospitals, and the vaccinations being administered at the hospitals, and those hospitals are asking for more vaccine. This week we provided vaccine to one of Lake County's major corporations and they can vaccinate up to 750 of their employees per day. By the end of this week we will be able to administer up to 600 doses per day at our fairgrounds site and by the end of next week up to 1,000 if vaccinators and vaccine exist. Starting next week, two school districts are providing space in their buildings for an all pre-K through 12 vaccination effort for all of the Lake County school districts. The school districts will be providing the volunteers, the vaccinators, and the after vaccination monitors, but we will be providing support, the AllVax registration system, and scheduling. President Sashko, Lisa Kritz, and Patti Corn have been working on a partnership with the Lake County firefighters and how they can assist by having their paramedics and EMTs administer vaccinations for law enforcement, fire and other municipal employees in Phase 1b, so there may be two additional PODs as a result. In the short term, we are less worried about having providers to administer vaccine and more worried about having enough vaccine because if we are to push out the vaccine as the different providers want it, we can easily clear out our freezers and refrigerators. Also, of the number of people Lake County has vaccinated to-date, 25% of them do not live in Lake County but they work here making our numbers lower than the actual number of vaccinations provided because the State references the number of vaccines administered by home location. As a public health system, we want people who live and work in Lake County to get vaccinated, because it does not make sense to vaccinate only our residents and then have them working side-by-side with someone from another county or state that does not have the same vaccination program we do. The Governor left the fairgrounds building very pleased with what we've done here in Lake County. He stated multiple times that he frequently hears that Lake County is ahead of the curve on many things, including contact tracing. Mark stated that he can do nothing but thank his team, that they have been working so hard and most of his team, that are salaried, have been working at least 12 hours every day. We did receive another $1M+ from the County and will be using that to hire an additional 20 call center staff. If and when calls begin to drop off, those additional staff will then be utilized in our vaccination PODs. We also received notification from the State that they are going to give us an additional $1.75M for mass vaccination, we asked for $10M. We also requested from the State 140 National Guard members, 80 as vaccinators, and 60 as non-medical staff as we don't want our full-time staff, our Executive Team, working at the PODs. We need to keep them focused on strategy and development of other PODs. Bottom line, we need more people and we need more vaccine, which was directly communicated to the Governor.
President Sashko followed up by commenting that he has the opportunity and privilege to sit in on the daily PHEOC meetings as well as the weekly situational awareness update, which he is then providing to the Board at the end of every week and that will continue throughout the vaccination process. The ability for this group of people to be analytical and critical while working through something of this magnitude that has so many moving parts, the amount of time and effort they have put forth, is unbelievably professional and so impeccably designed.
Member Belmonte commented that working in a hospital system that has nine facilities in five counties, he can say that from that perspective, Lake County really does get the gold star. It makes him proud to be a member of this Board and a resident of Lake County. The foresight, the innovation, the planning is not happening in many of the counties across the state, so kudos to the team for the phenomenal job they have done.
8. Action Items
8.1 Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice - Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Site-based Program, $1,100,024 - New Three-Year Grant Approval - Johnson-Maurello
Sam Johnson-Maurello, Director of Behavioral Health, reviewed this item as provided in the agenda packet.
A motion was made by Member DeVaux, seconded by Member Rheault, that this item be approved. Roll call vote taken, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 12 - Member Cesnovar, Member-at-Large Maine, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member Rheault Ph.D., Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D., Secretary DeVaux and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
8.2 Des Plaines River Watershed Workgroup Lakes Project, $80,535.50 - New Funding Approval - Mackey
Larry Mackey, Director of Environmental Health, reviewed this item as provided in the agenda packet.
A motion was made by Member Maine, seconded by Member Hagstrom, that this item be approved. Roll call vote taken, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 11 - Member Cesnovar, Member-at-Large Maine, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D., Secretary DeVaux and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
Not Present: 1 - Member Rheault Ph.D.
8.3 National Association of County and City Health Officials - NACCHO BLOC COVID-19, $75,000 - New Grant Approval - Kritz
LIsa Kritz, Director of Prevention, reviewed this item as provided in the agenda packet.
A motion was made by Member Cesnovar, seconded by Member DeVaux, that this item be approved. Roll call vote taken, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 11 - Member Cesnovar, Member-at-Large Maine, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D., Secretary DeVaux and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
Not Present: 1 - Member Rheault Ph.D.
8.4 Ratification of Waiver of 2021 Food Service Facilities and Small Water Systems Annual Permit Late Fees - Pfister
President Sashko informed the Board that the Executive Committee met on January 19, 2021, with Mark Pfister and Larry Mackey to discuss this item and the Executive Committee recommends this to the Board. Mark Pfister reviewed this item as provided in the agenda packet and requested that the Board ratify and confirm the late fee waiver for all food service facilities and small water system annual permits.
A motion was made by Member Schultz, seconded by Member Belmonte, that this item be approved. Roll call vote taken, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 12 - Member Cesnovar, Member-at-Large Maine, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member Rheault Ph.D., Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D., Secretary DeVaux and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
8.5 Belvidere Medical Building Generator and Lighting Renovations Bid #20172 - Nordstrom
Jerry Nordstrom, Director of Business Operations, reviewed this item as provided in the agenda packet.
A motion was made by Member DeVaux, seconded by Member Johnson Jones, that this item be approved. Roll call vote taken, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 12 - Member Cesnovar, Member-at-Large Maine, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member Rheault Ph.D., Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D., Secretary DeVaux and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
8.6 Code of Conduct Reapproval - Nordstrom
Jerry Nordstrom, Director of Business Operations, reviewed this item as provided in the agenda packet. Member Maine stated that the document contains a lot of what not to do, and asked if there is a corollary for when they are witnessed, is there an obligation to report. Jerry explained that there are policies that identify that someone is just as responsible for reporting something witnessed as they are for self-reporting. That sitting quietly by is not acceptable.
A motion was made by Member Carlson, seconded by Member Hagstrom, that this item be approved. Roll call vote taken, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 12 - Member Cesnovar, Member-at-Large Maine, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member Rheault Ph.D., Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D., Secretary DeVaux and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
8.7 2021 Board of Health Committee Appointments
A motion was made by Member Maine, seconded by Member Belmonte, that this item be approved. Roll call vote taken, all in favor, motion carried.
Aye: 12 - Cesnovar, Member-at-Large Maine, President Sashko, Member Carlson, Member Rheault Ph.D., Member-at-Large Hagstrom D.D.S., Vice President Ehrlich M.D., Member Belmonte D.O., Member Schultz, Member Mittl Pollina Psy.D., Secretary DeVaux and Member Johnson Jones Ed.D.
9. Discussion Items
9.1 Annual Review of Cooperative Operational Agreement - Pfister
Mark Pfister reviewed this item as provided in the agenda packet.
This matter was presented
10. Attachments for Board Review
10.1 Media Placement Highlights - Nordstrom
Attachments: Media Placement Highlights - December 2020
President Sashko pointed out that in the Lake County News Sun on December 18, 2020, it was reported that 100,000 Lake County residents had registered for their COVID-19 vaccine. We are now at 277,000 registrations just one month later. Jefferson
McMillan-Wilhoit confirmed that number and stated that we will eclipse 300,000 in the next week or two.
This matter was presented
11. Lake County Community Health Center Governing Council Update
Mark informed the Board that Dr. Zun and Kim Burke are working on the plan for vaccinating FQHC patients. Staff are working in earnest to prepare for the The Joint Commission review. Sam Johnson-Maurello is preparing for a TJC review taking place this week for our methadone treatment facility.
12. Lake County Tuberculosis Board Update
Lisa Kritz, Director of Prevention, informed the Board that the TB Board meets tomorrow night, January 28, 2021, therefore she will provide an update at the next regular meeting on February 24, 2021.
13. Added to Agenda Items
None
14. Old Business
None
15. New Business
None
16. Executive Session
None
17. Adjournment
A motion was made by Member Carlson to adjourn the meeting. President Sashko adjourned the meeting at 6:48 p.m.
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