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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOH 01/05/2023' Town of Mansfield Board of Health January 5, 2023 Minutes RECEIVED TOWN CLERKS OFFICE W3 FED _g A 4 40 Mission Statement: The mission of the Mansfield Board of Health is to protect, preserves h , C the public health, environment, and wellbeing of our citizens through the enforcement o ` 'deral, state, and local statutes and regulations, education and promotion of sanitary living and working conditions, and protection of the environment from disease and pollution. Present: Antonia Blinn; Chair, Graham Wilson; Clerk, Michael Healey, Kasia Frenette, Amy Donovan - Palmer; Health Agent, Student BOH liaison, Mahathi Kosaraiu. Absent: Rvan Maxwell The meeting of the Board of Health (BOH) was called to order at 7:00 pm by Chair Antonia Blinn. a comment on • Motion to approve the minutes from November 3, 2022 made by Mr. Healey, 2nd Ms. Frenette. Approved 4-0. December 15, 2022 • Motion to approve the minutes from December 15, 2022 with the changes in section 2 to "discussion recommendations" made by Mr. Wilson, 2,d Ms. Frenette. Approved 4-0. • Motion to approve the minutes from December 15, 2022 made by Ms. Frenette, 2nd Mr. Healey. Approved 4-0. Mahathi will be added to the communications to item. the emails the BOH gets and can bring up an ag( is to or. da Academic Public Health Corp Katelyn Billings will share' information on the presentation during the February BOH meeting, which she has worked on with Ms. Donovan -Palmer. Ms. Donovan -Palmer mentions being able to expand on the data information found in the future. In October, one sink in Shaw's was blocked and the establishment physically relocated the sink, but inspector Kevin Duquette saw that the sink was blocked again during a routine inspection. Inspector Paul Gilpin has worked with Shaw's on how to unblock the sink. Ms. Donovan -Palmer asked Shaw's to come to the BOH to show what they have done to fix the problem. There was a miscommunication through email with Shaw's, where Ms. Donovan -Palmer spoke with the safety manager who was apologetic and asked to reschedule until February, since Shaw's plans to work with a food safety consultant, have Ecolab come more often, and work with their internal safety group and district managers to come up with a solution. Ms. Donovan -Palmer believed it was better for Shaw's to reschedule and come to the BOH with a plan in February. Trattoria Romana is giving an update on the number of staff members attending the ServSafe course with a scheduled date, an action plan for priority and priority foundational areas that need to be addressed, and addressing the language needs of staff. Paul Gilpin and Ms. Donovan -Palmer visited the establishment on December 21st and provided written feedback and examples of checklists other restaurants use daily. Discussed by Ted Monahan: • Food service sanitation - scheduled date for January 16th with Brian Lesley, who is certified in food service/management, which 14 employees are attending the ServSafe class but more employees may want to take it o Currently 2 managers are certified, now 4 more managers are certified--) total of 6 managers who are certified o developed a new front of the house training manual where new staff members are required to be ServSafe food handling certified within 30 days SOP checklist - created a checklist for the front and back of the house and a checklist for the temp log addressing all priority and priority foundation violations o Also created a front of the house training manual for staff to understand their role and responsibility which all employees will sign and follow Language SOP - signs for chemical and dry storage are in English and Spanish describing where items can/cannot be stored o Roof leak issue will be handled through a new change to the roofing line Ms. Blinn discusses how a set of steps were described but no action plan has been submitted. Ms. Donovan - Palmer and Paul Gilpin will look at the checklist. Ms. Donovan -Palmer will have in writing what might be missing. Discussion on how the establishment could go from a level 3 risk to a level 4 risk if there are still repeat priority and priority foundation violations. COVID-19: Winter surge of COVID-19 is mostly with seniors, not too bad outside of seniors. More cases in long term facilities. Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations went up with a 7 day average increase of 43% in the last 2 weeks. Hospitalizations increase are rated tier 2. Moderate risk of needing to adjust practice - surge capacity beds are not needed. New strain XBB.1.5 is seen in the northeast. 75% of cases are in New England. New strain does not cause severe disease but spreads quickly. Ms. Frenette would notify a care facility about a case and they would list off what they plan on doing and should know what to do Wastewater treatment COVID Testing: Wastewater of COVID-19 increase is fluctuating consistently. Boston wastewater COVID levels increased by 80% in 2 weeks. • Boston schools put recommendations of masking, best to get vaccinated • Mass.gov gives information and data on wastewater in (each county of) MA Influenza: Considered very high in MA - percent of illness is 8.03% higher than the regional baseline of 2% in the previous three seasons in the same week. Vaccination rates of all ages is 42%. Seasonal influenza is high but has declined a bit, even though it is higher this year than previous years. Mpox: Monkeypox is now called Mpox. The Mpox epidemic in the United States is dwindling with average daily case rates. Case counts are in single digits. The Public Health Emergency Declaration will expire this month. The outbreak has gotten better in Europe and the UK. 29,792 cases in the U.S., 456 cases in MA. Outbreak of Ebola (viral hemorrhagic fever): Outbreak of Ebola in Uganda that started around September. 142 cases of Ebola in Uganda, 55 deaths. Evaluate travelers from Uganda who may have been in certain hot spots, which get flagged to the U.S. and need to be followed up on. Mansfield was notified about it. Couple cases in the area who were in hot spots and touch base with them twice a week, showing no symptoms in 21 days. Uganda has gone 39 days without new cases of Ebola, which the Ebola epidemic is declared after 2 incubation periods have passed with no new cases (next week). Mission statement as of December 8th has not been changed. Ms. Blinn mentioned how the mission statement does not include how people should reach their health potential or ensure equitable access to healthcare. Discussion on making changes to the mission statement and getting people to learn about health services/resources. Ms. Donovan -Palmer mentions how people may not know what is available for the community and that education plays a huge role in providing information about health resources. Mahathi talks about providing information to students, such as having pamphlets at grocery stores or resources provided at a nurse's office. Ms. Blinn talks about collaborating with Mahathi's healthcare club at Mansfield High School. health" needs to be included. The 5 member volunteer board now has youth representat language on how equity is embedded in everything in public health. Ms. Blinn asks the be mark up the document they have been working on about meeting present possible goals and the timeline of these goals (possibly 2 or 3 years). Another meeting with the subcom ae should be is a good idea to look at the slides and recommendations the students came up with. A drafted survey with the link will be given to the BOH. The BOH needs to figure out how they want this done and possibly have a summer intern do it. The BOH needs to think about LGBTQIA+youth and BIPOC indigenous communities to inform the programing at the health department, since there has been no specific input from these communities - thinking of who their liaisons are to connect with. Ms. Blinn will schedule a meeting with the goals subcommittee to continue working on the broader document, which she will give everyone on the BOH accessto. Ms. Donovan -Palmer mentions that Geno's has limited hours since the owner John was ill. Inspector Kevin Duquette did the inspection when the restaurant was closed. John Spezio explained how he heated up sauce that did not hit a certain temperature yet since they were not open, which Mr. Duquette recognized and had to make note of. Ms. Donovan -Palmer mentions how Geno's rarely has violations and that what Mr. Spezio did has no risk to food safety. Ms. Donovan -Palmer recommends the BOH to waive the fee for this one time situation. Mr. Healey and Ms. Blinn recommended that following a repeat inspection the BOH would consider the request for waiver the fee. Ms. Donovan -Palmer will email Mr. Spezio about having a log to prevent this issue from happening again. The motion is delayed for the next BOH meeting. Mr. Wilson reports that the committee has not met since the last meeting. There is no new news but Mr. Wilson is trying to find out when the next meeting is happening via email. Mr. Healey mentions that Ms. Donovan -Palmer worked on dumpster regulations and will share a draft with the committee - the committee can make comments before the draft is finalized. Permitting -'Has been discussed by Ms. Donovan -Palmer. Bristol -Norfolk Public Health Partners Coalition - Status quo, everything looks good. FOG - Ms. Donovan -Palmer is meeting with the DPW town engineer next week since there are backups near the plaza at 106 (Cibo Matto, Classic Pizza, Kyoto) to go over options/suggestions and find out more information after the meeting. Ms. Donovan -Palmer will figure out options based on the BOH regulations. Paul Gilpin will do inspection rounds in the plaza, spot checks on internal grease traps, and see how Kyoto, Cousin's Pizza, and Domino's are doing. Mr. Healey suggests Mr. Gilpin look into yellow grease pick up. PFAS - Ms. Donovan -Palmer has not heard anything. Website/Social Media Update - Nothing for the website. Housing Inspections - Regional inspectors found a few things but things are quiet around the holidays. Grant Applications - Received 2 grants. The FDA Retail Standards grant is $4,900 and pays for consultant Diane Legere who Ms. Donovan -Palmer will work with. The grant has a self -assessment on 9 different retail standards and comes up with CSIP. Once it has been accomplished, BOH is eligible for other grants to keep building the food protection program. For the Community Health Inclusion Index mini grant, Ms. Donovan - Palmer is working with a conservation agent and environmental planner who works with DPW to set aside space behind the public safety building. This makes it accessible to people with mobility issues. The grant requires a self -assessment and works with an inclusion community that helps the BOH see problems that may not be visible to them to see what can be improved and done better. Innovative/Alternative Technology in Septic Systems - FAS systems 4 Ms. Donovan -Palmer got everyone on the operation maintenance contracts and the company (wastewater treatment operators) will send her the results. Clerk by Ms. Frenette at 8:46 pm. Approved 4-0. dldl, 3 Date