Will County Public Health & Safety Committee Met March 3.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Mrs. Berkowicz led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Chair Rachel Ventura called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Rachel Ventura | Chair | Present | |
| Meta Mueller | Vice Chair | Present | |
| Mica Freeman | Member | Present | |
| Debbie Kraulidis | Member | Present | |
| Raquel M. Mitchell | Member | Present | |
| Annette Parker | Member | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | Member | Present |
Present from State's Attorney's Office: K. Meyers.
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Public Health & Safety Committee - Regular Meeting - Feb 3, 2021 10:00 AM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Meta Mueller, Vice Chair SECONDER: Annette Parker, Member AYES: Ventura, Mueller, Freeman, Kraulidis, Mitchell, Parker, Tyson |
1. Sunny Hill Nursing Home Updates - January 2021
(Sunny Hill Nursing Home Updates - January 2021)
VI. OLD BUSINESS
1. Opioid Update
(Dr. Kathleen Burke)
Dr. Kathleen Burke reviewed the attached PowerPoint presentation.
Ms. Ventura stated Illinois legalized cannabis in 2020 and that may have had an impact on why we have a lower number. The ER visits are higher, but that may be the reason we are keeping people alive. What you are doing with the reversal of the opioids with Narcan has been beneficial. What are the next steps of the County to help continue those programs? We are expanding the recovery coaches and the different recovery homes; but what other things could we be doing?
Mrs. Berkowicz stated this is an incredible program, badly needed. When an individual is struggling with addiction, it impacts not only them, but their family and the entire community. The thing I am concerned about is Naperville being underreported.
Dr. Burke stated Naperville is mostly in DuPage County. We only have a little bit in Will County and I believe most of the reporting goes to DuPage. The Naperville police department runs a program for people who want treatment and they have a social worker on staff. They work very diligently in their community to stop use and help people get into treatment. When the epidemic first hit, Naperville was the center stage. We had young kids dabbling who did not know anything about heroin and we saw a lot of deaths there, but that has changed. I am sorry but I don’t follow the DuPage County statistics. We have had this conversation before about where you can get more information. I know you are concerned, but I want to emphasis they are not doing too bad, they are doing okay. I don’t know how they are doing with other drugs, because I only deal with opioids.
Mrs. Berkowicz stated Edward Hospital is in DuPage County and they will typically take patients there. Bronner told us our population, based on their data was up to 63,000 or 67,000. Our population base is exploding in Naperville. This problem has existed since my older two were in District 204 schools; this is not a new problem with opioid overdoses and suicides. If they take overdoses to DuPage County; is it possible for you to receive that data? It is important and we need to have that information. We had a suicide last year and that case went to the Will County Coroner; that is very unusual, most of the time they go to DuPage County and that is not reflected. My community has these concerns and I think we have to have accurate data. Is it possible to have that communication, so you have those actual numbers?
Dr. Burke replied the DuPage County Health Department does the same thing I do, except they have more people doing it. They also have a heroin committee in the community. They do fatality review and that is not something we do yet. You can get the information from the Health Department. It is not that I don’t want the information; I just can’t manage DuPage and Will Counties, because it is just me. I understand your concerns. I would speak with DuPage County. I know they had a jump and their numbers are up. That is the best I can do for you.
Ms. Ventura stated Ms. Summers was unable to be here today; perhaps this is a conversation we can have with the Coroner’s Office on how deaths are recorded. I am sure a State statute that tells them exactly how to legally record deaths, in which county or which jurisdiction. We can get more information in the future.
Ms. Freeman asked what is in a Naloxone kit and how much are they?
Dr. Burke replied Naloxone is the antidote used for an opioid overdose. When someone has taken in too much of an opioid, which can be Fentanyl, Vicodin or a number of drugs; they stop breathing. When a person stops breathing, Naloxone knocks the opioid off the receptor and allows the person to breathe again. There are two Naloxone in each box and I have lots of them. People can purchase them at the pharmacy. Your insurance and Medicaid will cover it. I highly recommend everyone carry it because you never know when you will run into somebody who might be overdosing. It is also important for older people who might mix up their medications. Recently, the New Lenox safety group posted my recent virtual program on-line. I can get everybody the link, you can go on and see my training, at your convenience. Naloxone is the generic for Narcan. You will hear me use the two interchangeably. It is a miracle drug, it is not a narcotic. It has been used to bring people out of anesthesia and is a very successful antidote.
Ms. Freeman asked is it a pill? Is it like an Epi Pen? Is a liquid?
Dr. Burke replied it is a spray and demonstrated how it is used. One to three minutes after spraying the person should wake up. If they don’t wake up, then you give them another dose in the other side of the nose. There are two doses in a box.
Ms. Freeman replied I am familiar with charcoal, but I am not familiar with this. Approximately how much is this costing when you say are distributing them?
Dr. Burke replied they are $75 per box, but the manufacturer gives it to us at a reduced rate. Through a grant, at the end of last year, I received $300,000. I now have a room filled with Narcan to distribute and get into our community. I was worried about running out at the end of the grant year, but I am not worried about that now.
Ms. Freeman stated I hate there is a need, but I am thankful you have so much to share. Do the police and sheriff’s department carry this with them as well?
Dr. Burke responded yes, when I first started this job I trained them all. They are required by law to carry it and they are all equipped to do that.
Ms. Mueller stated this is wonderful work. I am glad we are doing so well with this, not well, but that it is working. What can we do to empower a more robust process in this situation? What can we give your department or what can we help advocate for? Give us some direct ways we might be able to help.
Dr. Burke replied we really need to drill down in Joliet, because it is significant. There are a couple of reasons it might be higher here; one the jail is here. When incarcerated people are released, the first two weeks after they get out are dangerous times for overdoses. I would like to see us more effectively work with the County jail. I believe we could do a lot with helping people get treatment while they are there. Then when they are released give them Naloxone. There are a lot of intercept points. With the Health Department opening up their substance abuse program, that is huge and it is helping a lot. You made that happen, so I really appreciate that. I talk to them all the time about what we could do at the jail. I feel like there is a bit of disconnect there and I would like to be more closely attached.
Ms. Mueller asked would it be helpful to have Mr. Palmer facilitate a meeting with the Sheriff?
Mr. Palmer replied I am happy to facilitate whatever meetings we need to facilitate.
Dr. Burke continued the other intercept point is the hospital ERs. It is five years later and it is time to get the hospital emergency rooms in sync with what we need to do to save people’s lives. I realize COVID has wiped them out physically and emotionally, but it is important. There are best practices they are not following. We would like to work with them also. Those to places, the emergency rooms and the jail are the areas we would like to work with.
Ms. Tyson thanked Dr. Burke for the presentation and leading the way; as Will County is now a county people look to for opioid updates. If I administer Narcan to someone is it necessary to call 9-1-1 to take them to the emergency room?
Dr. Burke replied absolutely. You call 9-1-1 first and then you administer the Narcan.
Mrs. Kraulidis stated I know Stepping Stones and they do a great job helping the community. Are we working with general counseling centers to provide Narcan to them? Do you supply it to depression or suicide groups in churches? Is there an expansion we could do of counselors that area already touching a community that would be in need and provide Narcan supplies to them, since they might be touching people in a different way?
Dr. Burke replied when I came on board I did an education across the county. The first people I hit were the professionals. We don’t have a lot in Will County, there are not a lot of private people in Will County. I am reluctant to start giving away, at this point, all of the supplies. If someone goes to my training they get Narcan to take with them. A lot of times people will ask for more than one box, and I give it to them. We do distribute it to all people when we do the virtual trainings now. The effect of depression and suicide is a whole different area. What I know is substance us and mental health are intertwined. Often people self-medicate when they have a mental health problem because it has not been addressed, especially with opioids; trauma and stress affect people deeply. The best thing we can do is make it easier for people to get into treatment. When you don’t have the right insurance, that is the challenge. One of my biggest roles has been breaking down those barriers. I get on the phone and say I have this patient I really need them taken care of. We are doing that and we work with all of the agencies in town. The MAPP Committee has all the folks at the table. I also work with the LAN Committee. There are many collaborations that are going on that I don’t talk about, because I meet with them every day. We want everyone to have what they need to stay safe.
Mrs. Berkowicz asked is Narcan effective against all types of drug overdoses? If you think someone overdosed, but you are not sure because they cannot communicate and you give them Narcan, but it was not an overdose, can that hurt the person?
Dr. Burke replied opioid overdoses are the only type that Narcan works with. If you overdose because of cocaine or alcohol or anything else, it does not work. It only works on opioids. If you don’t know what the person overdosed on, it does not hurt, we always say give it first. The police do that all the time, if they are not sure they will give it because sometimes it is a benzodiazepines overdose and that is different, but they will make sure. I think this brings up a point, either I can do a training for all of you or you can go to the website because these are all really great questions and I feel badly that the Board does not have that information, because I would like you to so you are well versed on the subject.
Mrs. Parker asked are you planning a HERO Helps program this year or is it not happening because of COVID?
Dr. Burke replied we have been talking about it, but in my opinion it is too soon to gather people. The HERO Helps was a great place for people to connect to resources. We need to think of some way to do it that is different. It is too dangerous right now.
Mrs. Parker added it was a great event and I always learned something when I went that.
Dr. Burke stated we have had more and more people ask. We cancelled last year because of COVID. This year everyone wants everything back, but I am reluctant to bring people together until it is safe; when we get everybody vaccinated then we can start talking about bringing people together.
Ms. Ventura stated I was hoping Mr. Palmer could set up an appointment with the Sheriff, yourself and I to see what other things we can explore to help with that. Sending the link for the training would be very helpful for all of the participants here and hopefully we can post that on-line and through social media so more of our community members could see that.
Dr. Burke replied that would be great.
Presentation by Dr. Kathleen Burke - March 3, 2021
(Dr. Kathleen Burke)
2. Monthly Update from Sunny Hill Nursing Home
(Maggie McDowell)
Ms. McDowell read the attached report into the record.
Sunny Hill Nursing Home Report March 3, 2021
(Report)
3. Monthly Update from Will County Health Dept.
(Sue Olenek)
Ms. Olenek stated most of this you will probably get in the update later today. I hope you are all reading the updates I provide. They are becoming three pages long, and that is what you need to help with information and questions your constituents are asking. In Will County as of yesterday, we were reporting 65,576 cases and 906 deaths. Illinois has just under 1.2 million positive cases and 20,583 deaths. The state’s and County’s positivity rates have been going down. The 7-day rolling positivity rate in Illinois is 2.8%, Will County is 3.7%, and Region 7 is 3.6%, that is good news. We hope people who are being vaccinated will continue to practice the 3-W’s; wear a mask, wash your hands and social distance; those are still important things to do. A total of about 3.6 million vaccine doses have been provided to providers throughout Illinois. Unfortunately, the Will County Health Department has only received 81,170, or about 2.2% of the total number of doses. With Will County having an extremely high population, it is unusual we would be provided such little vaccine. As of midnight last night a total of 2.8 million vaccines have been administered in Illinois, including about 325,000 for LTCFs. In Illinois it is about 80,416 daily dosage rates. Will County providers (including LTCFs) have administered 120,550 doses, fully vaccinating just over 35,000 or about 5.08% of the county’s population. Will County is vaccinating a little over 3,600 people per day. Hopefully as the vaccine supply increases we will be able to provide additional vaccines. For the last couple of weeks we have been provided with second doses, so we were unable to provide first dose appointments. From the information we are receiving from IDPH, our allotments are to be increasing slightly. We always ask for our complete allotment and hopefully our numbers will be going up. The hospital data is looking good as well. There were only 1,231 COVID-19 patients in hospitals across Illinois. I don’t mean only, because I feel bad for that 1,231, but we were close to 4,000 at one point. So the numbers are considerably decreasing. Across Illinois there are 281 in the ICU, and 148 on ventilators. Since my last report, we have no new positive cases at the Health Department or Community Health Center. The mass vaccination plan, is going well as far as the execution. If we had more vaccine, we would be able to provide more doses to individuals. The Will County Health Department continues to operate a daily clinic at our 501 Ella Avenue site administering vaccines to 400-500 people per day. We have expanded our evening hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays and added Saturday hours to accommodate more appointments. Last Saturday we provided a clinic for Licensed Daycare workers who are eligible in phase 1b, along with educators and had about 600 appointments. It was a very busy day and we vaccinated a lot of people. We have provided about 55 external clinics; that means we sent a strike team out for a particular sector and they provided shots in the field. I think that is pretty good considering we only had vaccines available to us for about 8 weeks and the first three weeks all the vaccine was dedicated to the hospitals. We have clinics going on today and over the next few days. Last week we provided vaccinations Stateville, Stateville NRC and the Joliet Treatment Center for a total of 1,380 vaccines. Today we are at the Solstice of Joliet Senior Living and at Ineos, a large manufacturing company. We are going to the Chicago Autism Academy on the 5th, RVJC on the 8th and we doing second doses for the Valley View School District on March 8th and 9th. We are continually our vaccine clinic here daily, and also doing the external clinics and strike teams in the field. We are doing final planning for the large mass vaccinations or what we call POD out into the areas of the community. It is a lot harder than it sounds. We asked EMA to take the lead on this and Ms. Anderson has done a great job. She has followed up with countless facilities to try to work out an agreement whereby we can provide vaccines to areas in the northern, eastern, southern, northeastern and southeastern parts of the County. We are running into roadblocks with people wanting to charge us rent every month or saying we can’t keep our equipment there and setup. If we have to setup and teardown every day that is not conducive to what we want to do. We are looking at opening one site in the southern portion of the County later this month. I will announce that when we have everything ready, including a signed agreement and we plan on doing this clinic six days a week. As we get that one up and running, hopefully, we will have signed agreements and the logistic worked out for other sites throughout the County. Our goal is to finish whatever 1a is coming though; we have some 1a contacting us and saying they work at a dentists’ office and did not get vaccinated. So we are working through those things. Phase 1b is the 65 and older. That is our goal, no matter the race, ethnicity, gender or whatever it is, anyone 65 and older. That population has been the hardest hit in Illinois and Will County. We are working on other sectors in 1b, manufacturing, agriculture, postal workers, transit workers and the other sectors. We are working through those to find the best way to get vaccines to them; whether it is going to their facilities or having a closed POD and having them come here, we are working through all of those. Our Community Health Center is beginning to provide COVID vaccine to their eligible patients in phase 1b. Unfortunately, they are not in the federal program. The Governor has announced a couple of times they are working with CHC in Illinois to make happen. We learned there are only four in Illinois eligible for this federal program. We have put our hat in the ring to be one of those sites. Until then, the Health Department will be providing vaccine to the Community Health Center; they will be the provider, but we will be distributing to them on an as needed basis; as we do the other 30 plus partners within the County. We continue to administer our BinaxNOW Rapid tests program. Dr. Burke talked about Stepping Stones being able to ramp up their operations better and a little faster because of the testing. This is the testing they are doing and we are providing the rapid antigen tests to them. We have 36 sites within the County. The schools have become interested in using them because they want to get students back in school with the ability to do a rapid test and that is going well. The Community Health Center continues to do COVID testing throughout the community. Due to decreased lack of interest, so we are decreasing it to two or three days a week. They have about 10 or 11 sites scheduled for March, so they will continue. Our Call Center hotline is up and running. Initially, they were fielding about 2,000 to 3,000 calls per day. Now they are in a groove and people who leave a message are getting a call back, they are down about 1,300 calls per day. They are taking inbound calls and also making outbound calls. They are trying to work off our registry list to make sure those individuals who registered can get appointments, where appointments are available. It has been working very well. The COVID hotline was added to the call center at the end of last week or the beginning of this week. The communications firm is now in place. They are getting access to all of our platforms, getting familiar with what we have been doing, getting familiar with the agency and the situation and they should be able to start putting out information and working on the campaign formulation next week. There is a new vaccine from Johnson & Johnson. It is a one and done vaccine. It will allow us to provide many more shots, because you don’t have to go back for second dose. We are looking to see where we can use this most advantageously. We have people in home health situations where we literally go door to door to get these individuals vaccinated. That might be a scenario where we use a one dose vaccine, so we only have to make one trip. The CDC, epidemiologist and people who have studied the virus and the vaccines have all indicated that all three vaccines are useful and are well on the way to help curve the transmission, illness and death from COVID. We will be putting all three in our arsenal. Illinois to my knowledge, has not received any. IDPH announced Illinois is to receive 83,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but they were going to be use mostly in the large mass vaccination sites IDPH is putting on with the National Guard. The United Center in Chicago opening on Monday and most of this vaccine is going to the United Center and some of the other extremely large venues. Will County may not see the Johnson & Johnson vaccine until the mid or end of month. All 38 of our normal programs are proceeding as required. I don’t know if you had an opportunity to read my last update, but I provided information not only on COVID, but also on our other programs. I don’t want anyone to forget that we are still providing 38 other programs and we are still doing that very well. We are writing and getting grants for additional programming. Our Behavioral Health division is going through the licensing process for the substance use treatment program. Our Family Health Services is doing outstanding with their caseload for WIC, exceeding 100% of their case load. We have a lot of things going on.
Ms. Ventura asked what is the call center phone number?
Ms. Olenek replied we are not giving that out right now. They can call the hotline; 815-740-8977. We are trying to dedicate the other line right and we will put that number out. We are trying to dedicate some of that energy towards the call center answering the calls that are coming in from the people they are contacting and people that have gotten the number in general. You can call the hotline number and they will get the call center.
Ms. Ventura asked is the hotline number an automated system?
Ms. Olenek replied I don’t know, it goes directly to the call center. They were going to try to do all pickups if they could. If not, it will go to voicemail.
Ms. Ventura indicated she would test it out and let her know, because people are still complaining about the automated system.
Ms. Olenek clarified the hotline has never been on our automated system. The 815-740-8977 always went to voicemail if they could not get through. It did not go to an automated system.
Ms. Ventura stated I will make sure that is the number these individuals are calling. I don’t know if they were complaining about the voicemail, but they said they could not speak to a person. I want to make sure everyone has the correct number in order to get more information. Are we confirming people’s registration by e-mail yet? If they fill out the registration survey are they now receiving an e mail it has been filled out?
Ms. Olenek replied yes. GIS worked on that a couple of weeks ago and told us they were going to be deploying that. They should receive an e-mail shortly after they complete their registration indicating they are now registered.
Ms. Ventura stated in comparison to other areas, Will County is low. Can you tell us why we are lower than other counties of our population?
Ms. Olenek responded no I can’t. I asked IDPH that question more than once and I have also reached out some of my counterparts. I asked DuPage County how much vaccine they were getting and they have been getting about 10,000 doses per week for a very long time. We have never reached that number on a regular basis. There were three weeks when we received no doses. IDPH has not provided the information. The local health departments have made an appeal to Dr. Ezike at the IDPH, as well as the Governor’s Office, asking for transparency in letting us know how they are calculating the doses being allotted and if they could share who is getting how much and they will not do that. During the first two or three weeks you would see everyone’s allotment, now they give you just your allotment.
Ms. Ventura asked when you talk about DuPage County getting 10,000 doses, is that the health department or any provider in the County?
Ms. Olenek answered that was the health department. I talked with Ms. Karen Ayala, Executive Director and asked her how many doses are you getting on a weekly basis and she said 10,000.
Ms. Ventura asked what can the County do? Do we need to write a letter to the Governor or IDPH? How can we highlight this? We are looking at reports showing DuPage was higher than normal and Will County was lower than normal based on the average population. Do you have any suggestions on what the county can do to help you receive more vaccines?
Ms. Olenek replied a letter from the County Board to the Governor’s office and/or IDPH would be helpful. They will see it is not just the health department personnel and myself looking for this information or asking for additional allotments. At times we were able to request additional allotments and we did that. Both times we did not receive our additional allotments. When we confronted IDPH and said we received a confirmation on these allotments they clarified and said confirmation just means that they confirmed our order, they did not confirm we were getting it. It would be helpful if we could get more doses.
Ms. Ventura stated we will get on that right away. Going back to the e-mails being sent; this is for people filling them out now, were there any e-mails sent to people who had already registered? I registered weeks ago and never received anything.
As far as communication goes, I have no idea if you have received that. Are you going back and sending e-mails to anyone who already filled out the registration forms?
Ms. Olenek replied absolutely. We are doing reverse 9-1-1 so they are getting not only an e-mail, they are getting a phone call and text, if they gave us a cellphone number and an e-mail address. They are getting all three of those. For people who have not received anything back, it is probably because you are not eligible yet. If you registered and are not in phase 1a or 1b, you still won’t receive anything because you are not eligible. We are working off the registry for those sectors that are eligible.
Ms. Ventura asked is it possible to send an e-mail to all of those who are not eligible to let them know we received your registration, you are currently not eligible and we will be in touch once you are?
Ms. Olenek responded that is a lot of people. People just need to be patient.
Ms. Ventura continued I think they will be patient when we communicate to them. That is part of the problem, they are feeling unheard.
Ms. Olenek stated that is what we have been putting on our website and social media.
Ms. Ventura stated they are not necessarily going to the webpage or social media when they are filling out the registration form. I hear complaints from people who filled out the registration forms weeks ago and have had no communication. They are telling us specifically what they need. They are not saying I went to the website and didn’t find the information. They are saying I filled out this registration form out and I got no communication back.
Ms. Olenek stated we will put this in the hands of our communications firms once they get going and see how we can best accommodate that.
Ms. Ventura stated that would be ideal. We hired Ms. Cindy Jackson as Director of Vaccinations, can you give a brief outline of her job description and what she will be working on.
Ms. Olenek stated I provided the County Board with a job description so you should have that. It was a typical job description indicating the nature of the work, her essential job functions and qualifications. Ms. Jackson has been with this department for over 20 years. She has done a lot in program startups, operations and collaboration with different community members, grant writing and she has put together so many model programs within the health department and state. She is an extremely organized person, able to delegate and is able to take a look at a situation and make the necessary changes. With her experience, background and her very intimate knowledge of the community, not only geographically but also all the different partners, she was a very good choice for this position.
Ms. Ventura stated I was not trying to make a judgement of Ms. Jackson as an individual; I was trying to get information to the public on what this job was. Could you briefly give the highlights of the job description and responsibilities so the public knows what this position will be working on.
Ms. Olenek reviewed the attached job description.
Ms. Ventura stated it is important to get information to our constituents on what is happening and how we are moving forward. What do view the role of the health department in the vaccine distribution?
Ms. Olenek answered our role is to make sure the vaccine gets out to the all of the different sectors the IDPH has required we vaccinate through their MEP; Phase 1a, 1b and 1c. We have to do our best to make sure information and vaccines get out to all Will County residents within the phases that are aligned with the state plan. We need to do that with the use of data, community collaboration and all the tools we have in our toolbox.
Ms. Ventura stated that sounds like we are more of a liaison. Do you or Ms. Jackson have plans to have a mass vaccination plan from the County; through the Health Department, not through a liaison or partner, but us doing it directly?
Ms. Olenek replied I don’t understand the question.
Ms. Ventura clarified are we going to be offering a mass vaccination clinic or place here? If so, do you have a sketch of what that looks like?
Ms. Olenek replied we have been doing that daily for a long time. We have a clinic onsite and that is what the 55 strike teams and the various distributions have done. We are distributing vaccine to other providers in the county who are administering them and we are administering vaccine as well.
Ms. Ventura asked could we set up a meeting next week to go through a presentation of this plan in more detail? Could you work with the communication firm to possibly livestream this to get this information out so people understand what we are doing with our partners? Perhaps we could have a PowerPoint presentation or visuals so people know the numbers you gave; it would be more helpful than just listening to them. Also, you could show maps of where these locations are, who might be calling them and what the EMA reverse 9-1-1 text looks like. My mom got one and she did not know it was identified as the Health Department. Things like that will give people a heads up these things are coming and they can anticipate them. Is this something the Health Department is willing to put on?
Ms. Olenek replied yes. The mass vaccine plan was sent to you and you should have that in your possession. If it has not already been posted on our website, it will be, so people can view it there. It is public information. I welcome people to read it and get familiar with what it is that we are trying to accomplish.
Ms. Ventura continued who is deciding or what is the process of the order of the registration? You have a lot of different people in 1b; how are you deciding that? Most COVID deaths are people over the age of 65. How many of these deaths could have been prevented had they received the vaccine? Does that factor into what order you do the registry?
Ms. Olenek replied I have no idea how many people may not have passed away if they had received the vaccine, I don’t know if anyone has that information. We are aligning our plan with what the IDPH has set out for us in their mass vaccination plan. Our target is the 65 and older population, no matter what race, ethnicity, culture, where they live and the remaining sectors of 1b, which is agricultural, manufacturing, postal workers, transit workers and anyone in those sectors of any race, ethnicity, or any culture; that is the plan. That is where we are right now and where we will continue to be until we get much further through that sector. This is going to take a long time. We have 93,000 seniors, 65 and over in Will County. I don’t know that all of them will want the vaccine, but if half of them want the vaccine and we have to give two shots, you are still talking about a lot of vaccine and a lot of doses we still need to administer.
Speaker Cowan asked regarding the amount of vaccine, have you contacted the Will County State Legislators to ask them to push the Governor’s Office and IDPH?
Ms. Olenek replied no, I have not contacted them specifically. I have been on calls with many of them and made them aware we are not receiving the same level of vaccines as other counties.
Speaker Cowan stated I strongly suggest you contact the State Legislators. I work for a State Legislator and I was the one who brought it to her attention. They are going to be your best resource and your best advocates. I think that will require some individual outreach.
Ms. Ventura stated Mr. Palmer is going to draft a letter to the Governor and IDPH; we should include the State Legislators so they are aware of what is happening.
Ms. Berkowicz asked can we make a motion to move the request to have a letter sent to the Governor’s Office moved the Executive Committee?
Ms. Ventura stated I was going to ask Mr. Palmer if he would draft something and run it by Speaker Cowan. If we need to vote on it at the Executive Committee, they will let us know the process. This is the most important thing we could be working on right now so we will make sure it happens quickly.
Ms. Freeman stated many of us have gated, retirement communities in our districts; is there a plan to have vaccination clinics within those gated communities?
Ms. Olenek responded we have already scheduled some. If you have any you are interested in finding out about, please send me an e-mail and I can let you know if we have been there or if we plan to be there. It could also be one that is not on our radar at this point.
Ms. Freeman continued Mrs. Kraulidis and I were speaking and we would like to be sure ours are definitely in that list of clinics to be done. I will get that e-mail to you.
Mrs. Ogalla asked as you go through and create different groups you are going out and vaccinating via the POD, would it be possible to do locations where a lot of seniors are living like Clarion and Golf Vista out here in my area?
Ms. Olenek replied absolutely that is similar to what Ms. Freeman asked. We have already done some of those. We have been in touch with many of them and we have an on-going list. If you want to send me the names in your district, I can make sure they get on our list, if they are not already there and we will make contact. We are not sending out a strike team unless we have 50 or more interested in the vaccine. In senior communities that is not a problem. Send me the information and I will be happy to forward that.
Mrs. Ogalla stated a lot of people are saying they registered online and at that time there was no e-mail or anything and they are waiting to get a call to get set up for a vaccine. Some people did the online registration, but others have gone directly to the call center and they have already gotten an appointment scheduled. I am confused. Is there a pattern the call is working on, going through everyone who has registered already and calling them back and simultaneously dealing with those that fit the group 1b; is that what we are doing?
Ms. Olenek replied we have asked the call center to work off the registry first. In fairness to the people who registered three, four or eight weeks ago, we need to get through the registry. Unfortunately, the registry is not a clean list. I think people thought if they registered three or four times they were more likely to get to the front of the line and all they did is cause an issue with increasing the numbers on the list and it makes it a lot less manageable. As soon as we get enough vaccine and can open up a lot of other appointments then we will continue to get through that. The reverse 9-1-1 calls are coming from is the registry list. We will take 5,000 or 6,000 off the registry list and send them a reverse 9-1-1 giving them information about calling to make an appointment. Then we let that work itself out and send another 5,000 to the next group so we are definitely working off the registry list.
Ms. Ventura stated I don’t know if people were filling it out two or three times because they thought they would get to the front of the list; I think it is because there was no communication that their registration had been submitted and they wanted to make sure. When the communication center is open they should go back and let them know their registration happened. I got an e-mail from someone who said I filled it out three times and I thought we should not be filling it out three times.
Ms. Olenek stated we looked at a couple of these registrations and there were people who filled it out three times and they put in three different occupations; thinking they would be sorted differently and get to the front of the list.
Ms. McDowell stated we have an excess of BinaxNOW Rapid test kits and I don’t want to see them wasted. We have around 6,000 test kits because we get a regular HHS delivery. Is there somewhere I can reach out to and send them so they don’t expire? I reached out to IDPH and I have not heard back. I reached out to AHCA and they have some contacts and they said they would get back with me. Are there schools or somewhere I can send 3,500 of those test kits so they can actually be used?
Ms. Olenek asked where did you get them from?
Ms. McDowell replied they were all HHS delivery.
Ms. Olenek indicated she would check with the BinaxNOW lead and find out if they have any suggestions. Maybe you could give them to her and she will not have to place an order.
Ms. McDowell stated some of them will expire in the next month or two. Ms. Olenek stated she will send an e-mail follow up.
Ms. Mitchell stated I called for my parents last week and had a very pleasant conversation with someone from the call center. I want to give a shout out to Kenyatta and commend her on being very personable, knowledgeable and handling it wonderfully. To clarify, IDPH never asked the County Health Directors how many vaccines they would need before this rolled out?
Ms. Olenek replied no.
Ms. Mitchell continued they just gave us a number and gave us whatever they are going to send us?
Ms. Olenek replied some of it may have to do with how they are getting it from the federal government. We have been told they do not know what they are getting from the federal government so it is difficult for them to forecast what we are going to get.
Ms. Mitchell stated a more equitable distribution would have been nice.
Ms. Olenek stated not only an equitable distribution to Will County, but equitable distribution to Illinois. Illinois is the fifth or sixth most populous state in the nation and they are getting the 40th highest allotment. In other words, 39 states were getting more than Illinois is getting.
Ms. Mitchell stated maybe Illinois did not ask for a lot in the beginning because initially people expressed they did not want it. Maybe that is where we made our mistake as a state. I notice people are not coming to the appointments and the vaccines are going to whoever is around. Can we fix this? Can we call the next person on the list and say you have one hour to show up, we had a cancelation and know you want your shot? Maybe there is a list we could have.
Ms. Olenek stated we have an arms list that we use and that arms list is for people who are in that phase. There are not that many this happens to. We are talking about a handful of people after a clinic, we are not talking about 45 people; we are talking less than ten, based on the number of vials that are open. This is not happening in large numbers. The arms list is still for people within that phase.
Ms. Mitchell stated I know specifically a woman who is around my age, very thin and healthy and she got her vaccination, while my 80 year old father with diabetes did not get his shot. I am sure if he had received a phone call to let him know he had one hour to get to the clinic and get his shot that would have been great. That is one more person in the phase that could have gotten the shot.
Ms. Olenek asked what clinic was that at?
Ms. Mitchell stated once you start asking questions people get quiet. When the questions started being asked they got mum.
Ms. Olenek stated I agree with you 100% it should have gone to the 80 years old. We have 33 to 35 providers within the County giving shots, not just the Health Department. They should be following that same line of thinking, whether they are or are not, but we will certainly emphasize to them. Yesterday we discussed with our group some of these other providers are not making it clear to patients when they leave how they are going to get their second appointment. At our clinics and our PODs, when you leave, you have your second dose appointment, you know when you are coming back. Some of the other clinics are not doing that before they leave and it is causing a problem. We will certainly put that out to these other providers. I appreciate your letting me know.
Ms. Ventura stated that is a complaint we have gotten and the point Ms. Mitchell made is huge. When people feel like others are cutting the line and it is costing people their lives, it is very concerning. Is there a way to discuss this with a little more teeth that if the clinic or partners are not following the IDPH rules they will not be able to continue giving out the vaccine. This is so important that they follow the correct process. It is too important and if they cannot follow those simple procedures they need to not be a provider. We have others willing to follow the rules.
Ms. Olenek agreed and indicated she would stress that with them.
Ms. Mitchell asked is it possible when someone registers online and they are not 80 years old or a person with health issues, it tells you right then you are not eligible and to come back? So they will know they are not eligible right off, you won’t have to send an e-mail because when they register they know. When they put their name on the list they know they are not going get on this group list, they will be on another list.
Ms. Olenek stated I can check, but I don’t know if the system is that sophisticated.
Ms. Ventura stated more communication is better than less. If we add this to the system that you are not currently eligible or sending an e-mail, they won’t fill out the survey multiple times. I think it is super important we are letting them know.
Ms. Mitchell asked are there locations that are saying they can be a vaccination location? I was told there are different parameters that won’t allow for that because of parking and other situations. Wheatland Township offered their building to be a vaccination center. It is a public building and if you can do it at Walgreens you could do it at the township office. If there are places that want to be vaccination centers and we have enough nurses to administer the vaccines, maybe we could expand and take some of the pressure off of Joliet.
Ms. Olenek stated I will ask Ms. Anderson to reach out to Wheatland Township and see what the site would look like for us.
Ms. Ventura stated I think that is important. You talked about places wanting to charge rent; if there are public entities or other locations, even if we don’t have the vaccines now, it is important to get them in the EMA system so when we have more vaccine we are ready. That is for all the County Board Members, if you know
of locations, please get in touch with Ms. Olenek or Ms. Mueller because she is a part of the 9-1-1 Board and she could pass the information on.
Ms. Schaben stated I wanted to address the questions regarding the registration lists. We are working with the communications firm to provide more regular updates to folks as they sign up so they are receiving some form of communication; whether it is simply you are not eligible for the current phase, but you will be in the future.
Ms. Ventura asked can you confirm that the people who signed up long ago and did not receive any type of communication will get some type of communication.
Mr. Schaben replied yes.
Ms. Kraulidis stated the mass vaccination sites you are talking about in Will County; is that going to be staffed by the National Guard? A lot of people are comparing what is happening at the United Center and wanting a smaller vaccination site in Will County. What would that look like?
Ms. Olenek replied there have been no final decisions on the National Guard coming into Will County. We don’t have a large venue such as the United Center. We are looking for assistance from the National Guard where they can help us at any of the other sites we are using.
Ms. Kraulidis continued I heard from two retired nurses, with current licenses hoping to be a part of administering vaccines. Is there a shortage of nurses and is there something that I can let them know? Are you looking for nurses?
Ms. Olenek replied there is not a shortage so far. If they are interested in helping out, give them my e-mail address and I will forward them to the individual putting the schedules together. They will reach out and find when they would like to work and if it would work out for us.
Mrs. Kraulidis stated Ms. Freeman and I are doing a big push because we have Carillion and Grand Haven in our district. We need a hub for vaccinations at these sites. I am sure you are looking at that, it is very important.
Ms. Olenek replied yes.
Ms. Mueller stated regarding the survey, is that going to be updated to collect information for each stage of vaccination? Right now, it is clearly set up to collect information about our senior citizens and people in the first phases. What about people in the second part of 1b and the other stages? Are we going to be updating the survey so people in those stages can fill it out as well?
Mr. Schaben replied the goal is for us, at some point, to phase out the registration process as we move into the EMTrack system which will be used for scheduling. The big hold up in this transition is the number of vaccines the county is receiving. The transition needs to be seamless. We don’t want to pull down the portal where people can register when we are not at a capacity where we are not ready for the EMTrack system to stand on its own.
Ms. Mueller asked do we know when EMTrack is going to be set up and how people will access that?
Ms. Schaben responded it is being used; there is just no forward facing menu for the public. That is simply because we don’t have enough vaccines coming in right now to allow for the scheduling to take place weeks and months out.
Ms. Mueller asked once there is enough vaccine will that shift and open up to the public? Are we going to be emphasizing mass vaccination plan setups in zip codes that have the highest positivity rates over the last year? Does the IDPH plan include suggestions like that? If you have a county that has more prevalent zip codes of positivity we need to be setting up mass vaccinations in those communities as soon as possible. I understand people have to follow certain phases, but I want to know if we are going to be doing that. We have some communities with higher incident rates that need more help from us.
Ms. Olenek replied we are looking at the data right now. I have a meeting at noon with staff to look at data in terms of equity and making sure the vaccine is provided in an equitable manner. I am not sure if it should be those communities with a high number of cases, especially with a 98% recovery rate. I don’t think anyone would disagree that those who were worst affected are the people who died. We have to overlay where the deaths occurred, the positivity rates and transmission were the highest, we should look at outbreaks, and there is a lot of information to look at in terms of where we should put these sites. Even if we come up with what we think is a perfect place to put these sites based on data, there may not be any place available. If people need to drive five or ten minutes they may need to do that. We have to look at this in terms of a lot of different layers and what is available to us in terms of a site.
Mr. Schaben stated there are two things going on; one is the mass vaccination sites and a lot of that is really based on geography. We are looking at sites covering each part of the county, those that area easily accessible, have transportation, that don’t require a lot of disruption for the area. We looked at schools, but that disrupts what is happening at a school so there are a lot of factors going into these sites. Once we have the mass vaccination sites up and running, it will allow Ms. Olenek and her strike teams to go into specific areas of the county that are not being covered by mass vaccination sites, whether it is because they don’t have transportation availability or they are a senior area. With
the sites we are doing two things at once. We are trying to identify available sites and trying to see if they make sense based on geography. We have to have staff at these locations; do we have the staffing capabilities, can we keep equipment onsite, can we have a cleaning service come in. There are a lot of components that are going into these locations.
Ms. Mueller stated the Wheatland Township building is a great location. They did not want to continue to be an early voting site. I am not sure how they intend to handle traffic for a vaccination site, but I think it is worth talking to them about it.
Speaker Cowan stated Wheatland Township contacted me and Mrs. Berkowicz a month ago about being a vaccination site. Ms. Olenek, I am a little distraught to hear it has been a month and no one has reached out to them because I forwarded that e-mail to you a month ago.
Ms. Olenek replied as I stated, Ms. Anderson from EMA is leading that. I will definitely check with her to see if there was a conversation with them and if not, why. I will follow up on that.
Ms. Mueller stated I share your frustration about the number of vaccine doses we are getting. I think it is frustrating that at the federal level this was not more equitably handled previously. I want to make sure we are being cautious about waiting to have a response from our state and our legislators before we make assumptions about the number of vaccines we receive and IDPH distributes since we have not talked to them about that yet. I think it is fair to give them an opportunity to respond before we make assumptions.
Ms. Ventura stated we should send a letter to our federal Reps and Senators as well so everyone knows we feel we are not getting an equitable amount and they can tell us why or why not that may be. Regarding the translation services which may not need to be discussed in this meeting, but if there is a budget ask, could you please prepare the budget ask for the Finance or Executive Committee so we can get moving in that direction. I think it is important that we have translation services in whatever language may be necessary as these are lifesaving measures.
Ms. Olenek replied that was in the budget.
Ms. Ventura continued if there needs to be more for that, please make sure the Finance Committee has that. To clarify, you said you are following the IDPH guidelines, but when you are inside a phase, such as 1b, is there additional information from IDPH such as the elderly, preexisting health conditions or something that trumps the others? You mentioned daycare providers, but we received e-mails from librarians and there are a lot of different people who have needs for different reasons because they are interacting with the public, but maybe they are not as high risk of dying as someone who is older. Inside those 1a and 1b is there more direction from IDPH of who should go first or is it literally a first come first serve basis?
Ms. Olenek replied there isn’t any direction on who should come first within the phases. There is further explanation as people ask questions like; where do librarians fall? Are they educators? Where does this person fall? Are they in this category? Those are the type of questions and answers we have on our IDPH calls several times a week to further vet who is eligible within those phases. Actually, that is how the additional versions of the IDPH plan came about. Initially, it said hospital staff or healthcare workers. Then we all asked questions, does that mean custodial staff; does that mean respiratory therapists? Then they would further expand what they meant by healthcare workers, but it was not healthcare workers and construction workers. The only emphasis the IDPH is giving right now is the elderly. They really want us to make sure we are reaching out to the elderly and making sure they are vaccinated.
Ms. Ventura stated we will be in touch regarding this letter as well as setting up something more for the community at large to participate in what the future plans are.
Mrs. Berkowicz asked Mr. Palmer doesn’t Ms. Ventura have the ability to make a motion to have the request go out from the County Board? The statement from the County Board requesting the Governor provide us with a more adequate supply of vaccine.
Mr. Palmer replied this committee can definitely ask that this be moved to the Executive Committee. We can take action if we want to do a Resolution and letter, or we can just do a letter, but Committee chairs have the right to request this. Since you don’t have it on the agenda, you really can’t vote on anything today, you would just be moving it to the Executive Committee so you can have a vote.
Ms. Ventura stated I will follow up with Mr. Palmer to document that I am asking him to draft a letter to the Governor, IDPH, Will County State Legislators and our Federal Reps and Senators. At that directive we can get it put on the Executive Committee for a vote.
Job Description of Vaccine Director
(Handout)
VII. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
VIII. NEW BUSINESS
1. Renewing Contracts for Housekeeping Supplies for Sunny Hill Nursing Home (Maggie McDowell, Kevin Lynn)
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Meta Mueller, Vice Chair SECONDER: Mica Freeman, Member AYES: Ventura, Mueller, Freeman, Kraulidis, Mitchell, Parker, Tyson |
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Mica Freeman, Member SECONDER: Annette Parker, Member AYES: Ventura, Mueller, Freeman, Kraulidis, Mitchell, Parker, Tyson |
X. PUBLIC COMMENT
Mrs. Adams announced there were no public comments.
Ms. Ventura read the following e-mail into the record:
From: Glen Gummess
Date: February 28, 2021 at 7:37:37 PM CST
To: Rachel Ventura
Subject: vaccine?
CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution when opening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders.
Rachel,
I am probably the upteenth thousandth Will County resident and voter who has contacted you about acquiring the vaccine, but I really need to weigh in on the sluggish and opaque process that is continuing.
My name is Glen Gummess, 67, and a resident of Joliet. I work at the University of St. Francis. My wife, Margo, is 69, and has both cardiac and MS-related health conditions. She is also on lifetime thyroid replacement meds.
For some reason, I have gotten my two Moderna shots. The first on January 27th, and the second on Feb. 24th. The shots came via my employer; how they were able to get doses available to USF’s employees is a mystery to me. There is something USF knows that Will County apparently does not.
Then comes an article on Feb. 5th in the Chicago Tribune that said your Will County Health director, Sue Olanek, has dropped the ball on acquiring adequate funding available for the asking- to speed the vaccinations along. I have registered my wife, twice, with the Will County COVID-19 system. The only question it asks about underlying health conditions is whether my wife has any. I answer yes, and that’s where the survey stops. Nothing deeper. By all accounts she should have been ahead of me in line!
My son who keeps tabs on these things better than I informs me that Will County ranks 84th out of 104 Illinois counties in vaccine distribution, and dead last among the suburban counties.
It’s not just a county issue. I get more or less the same level of opaqueness from Dupage Medical Center, and absolutely bupkis every day I check with Walgreens, Jewel Osco, Kodacare pharmaceuticals (who distributed my shot), and Silver Cross. And I am beginning to wonder how much these private agencies rely on Will County for information.
All I know is nothing is happening. I don’t know what to do after my patience comes to an end except write an angry letter. All right, I’m done writing.
NOW what???? Tell you what, I’d like to address the Will County Board in person at its next meeting and give you all a piece of my feeble mind.
Glen Gummess
XI. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
XII. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XIII. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn at 12:07 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Annette Parker, Member SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member AYES: Ventura, Mueller, Freeman, Kraulidis, Mitchell, Parker, Tyson |
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