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Norwalk
Health Department
Board of Health Actions
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November 14, 2006
8:00 AM
Library
Call to order at 8:10 AM
Present: Board of Health – Ken Lalime, RPH, John McNamara, MD, and Edward Tracey,
MD
Staff – Tim Callahan, Director of Health, Tom Closter, Director of Environmental
Health, Darleen Hoffler, Clinical Supervisor and Pam Bates, Coordinator Immunization
Action Program
Minutes of October 10, 2006 meeting
A motion to approve the minutes as corrected was made by Mr. Lalime, seconded
by Dr. Tracey and passed unanimously.
Influenza Clinics and Mass Dispensing Drill
Norwalk clinic attendance: 11/7/06, 426 of 465 scheduled and on 11/13/06, 370
of 435 scheduled. Additional clinics are scheduled for November 14, 16, 20 &
27. The locations are St. Mary and St Phillip’s halls and the Health Department.
Scheduled appointments are fewer than expected. The target is now 2,500 doses
down from the initial goal of 4,000. The vaccine order was reduced. Flu vaccine
provided earlier in the season and at new outlets such as box stores and supermarkets
and by health plans, as marketing tools to Medicare a participant are some of
the reasons for the decline in demand for health department clinics.
Several ideas for adjusting the health department program were discussed including
partnering with health plans, advertising the convenience of health department
clinics and including more payors.
The Mass Dispensing Drill took place on October 28th at Saxe Middle School
in New Canaan. All scheduled Norwalk Health Department staff and a large cadre
of New Canaan volunteers staffed the clinic. School nurses from Norwalk and
New Canaan also assisted. There were two objectives for the day; exercising
the health department mass distribution plan using the Incident Command Structure
and immunizing 1,000 people with influenza vaccine. Both objectives were met.
In total 1,143 people were vaccinated. The average time a patient spent at the
clinic from registration through exiting was 6.2 minutes.
Tall Grass & Weeds
In follow up to the Board’s request, Mr. Callahan met with the Inspectors to
get their input on the enforcement of tall weeds and grass. The inspectors made
several observations. If an ordinance is written, the Inspectors recommend that
it be in the Housing Code since aesthetics are included in this code. An example
made by one of the Inspectors is peeling paint. If the paint contains lead there
is a health risk. If there is peeling non-lead containing paint, a violation
of the Housing Code exists. In this latter case there is no health hazard, rather
an unappealing condition exists. Similarly tall weeds and grass may pose a health
risk when pollen bearing. However tall weeds and grass might be considered a
violation of the Housing Code for aesthetic reasons, as with non-lead peeling
paint. The Inspectors also recommended consulting with the State’s Attorney
since prosecution for non-compliance is through this office. Mr. Callahan requested
the assistance of Assistant State’s Attorney Judith Hayes. Attorney Hayes is
the prosecutor assigned to the Norwalk Housing Court. Attorney Hayes has not
yet responded.
Geese
The Board discussed this mater and the following conclusion was reached. Several
studies found pathogenic materials including e-coli in geese feces. There is
an abundance of geese in city parks and their feces are found on playing fields,
in playground areas and in the runoff, which makes its way to watercourses including
Long Island Sound and the rivers. Children and adults use the parks. Contact
with geese feces exposes these people to pathogens. There is also a potential
for injuries resulting from unsure footing created by geese feces on playing
field. The Board of Health unanimously recommends the city develop and implement
a comprehensive program to address this public health problem.
Childhood Immunization Program
Pam Bates, Immunization Action Plan Coordinator, reviewed the objectives and
accomplishments of this project. As a result of extensive outreach to pediatricians,
mothers of infants and other interested parties Norwalk 90% of Norwalk children
have received age appropriate immunizations by age 2. Ms Bates report was reviewed.
The Board applauded the efforts of the staff, local pediatricians and the community.
There was a discussion on steps to simplify the system. Including managed care
companies in the process might eliminate the duplicate entry of immunization
administration. Another idea was to investigate the inclusion of the immunization
registry in the e-health Connecticut project.
Adjourn at 9:10 Am
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