Will County Public Health & Safety Committee met May 3.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Mueller led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Chair Rachel Ventura called the meeting to order at 1:02 PM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Rachel Ventura | Chair | Present | |
| Meta Mueller | Vice Chair | Present | |
| Mica Freeman | Member | Absent | |
| Debbie Kraulidis | Member | Present | |
| Raquel M. Mitchell | Member | Present | |
| Annette Parker | Member | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | Member | Present |
Present from the State's Attorney's Office: Kevin Meyers
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
V. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS
1. APPROVED BOH MEETING MINUTES 3-16-22
(Susan Olenek)
Ms. Ventura stated attached are some informational reports from the Board of Health meeting from March.
2. Sunny Hill Nursing Home Updates - March 2022
Ms. Ventura stated attached are the Sunny Hill updates that they send out it has the newsletter.
VI. OLD BUSINESS
1. Monthly Update from Will County Health Dept.
(Sue Olenek)
2. Opioid Update
(Dr. Kathleen Burke)
Ms. Burke stated I like to give you a little bit of summary of how the month went and there are documents attached. We are always a month behind because of where this meeting falls. I am reporting February and March. I want to give you a feel for what my Rapid Response team is doing. The Rapid Response team are the folks under contract that have live experience which means they are in recovery, and they staff the pop-up tables that distribute all over the County so, when I say Rapid Response that’s what I’m referring to. They have been going to the VFW Naloxone every Friday night in New Lenox for their fish fry. New Lenox had two (2) overdose deaths in January so, any place that they can find in New Lenox their going to be there. Lockport had an overdose death so; they are now at the Lockport food pantry. Lockport, we have a big presence during the summer when they start their car show. We are open at the car show every Monday or for any other outdoor event we might have. Our data is confirming that fentanyl is in all the street drugs. As I mentioned to you last month that fentanyl is the #1 reason, we are seeing overdose deaths; it’s being mixed in all drugs not just opioids, we’re talking cocaine, meth, a whole gamut. Our overdoses continue to rise unfortunately as the Rapid Response team looks for the hot spots. In our Rapid Response team this month we were in 50 different locations, we distributed 193 boxes of Narcan in the pop-up tables, we distributed 24 boxes at the micro pantries and our methadone clinic and family guidance we distributed 26 for a total of 243 boxes. You’ll start to see the uptick as we get into the warmer months. We have a 55% increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids meaning everything has fentanyl in it and similar increase in the number of deaths in which alcohol also contributed to overdoses of opioids and specifically synthetic opioids. Again, there was a lot of alcohol use during the pandemic. We know that if you mix one depressant with another depressant it increases the chance of an overdose. The Rapid Response team has begun to distribute fentanyl test strips. Once the federal government gave us okay to purchase, we then went and had flyers made explaining to people on how to use the test strips because the test strips that we buy are from the laboratory that uses it for urine dips. There is no such thing as a fentanyl strip for substance users. It’s important that my folks tell people that so, they understand when they are interpreting the results. What it does is harm reduction strategy; slow it down don’t use so much, don’t use so fast, and use smaller amounts and do not use alone, now that’s opioid users. People who have cocaine and meth are a whole different ball game because they have no tolerance for it at all so, we advise them to not use and their dependency on their substances is a bit different than opioid physically. The point is the only harm reduction strategy that we can do that’s going to have any impact right now is to get these test strips in the hands of the people who need them most.
Ms. Ventura asked in the past we ask about these health kits that we can get out with fentanyl, condoms as public health kits at restaurants since we know somebody on the team maybe can do a pilot program and get some restaurants and bars to accept with the flyers how to use it posters and the County could pay for the posters to be printed about public health that could go with it. I mean to your point how do we get it in the hands of people who need it? How do we get restaurants and bars on board? I don’t know maybe we get someone who knows the restaurants and bars and present it as a pilot program.
Ms. Burke replied I spoke with my colleagues about this because we’ve addressed how do we get it and the first people I am going to ask is the Rapid Response team because they have experience so, sometimes I think I know best, and I don’t.
Ms. Ventura asked the restaurants would get the kit not the individual. The individual could pick what they needed, right? If they wanted a test strip like that’s why I say a poster would be good that say, this is being provided by your County or your Public Health take as necessary or something.
Ms. Burke commented one of the things that I’ve seen is especially at bars they don’t want the harm reduction people hanging out. They want it to be quieter. We’ve had more success getting it into the motels. They have posters and they carry Naloxone and they put it in the rooms, there are posters in every room and that’s in the hot spots. We focus on where the problem is. One strategy around the county has been to make a little display of Narcan and have it there because everyone pretty much knows what Narcan is. If you have a substance problem people know how to use it and there’s instructions right in it and we can distribute that without having to do an education with every individual. I’m thinking a table like a little pyramid with Naloxone on it. I’m proud of the team because when they find out they identify the place, and they will go individually and ask that business owner. We also know the smoke shops or hot spots and they don’t want us there and they don’t necessarily want us with a table out front. Those are the types of places we can leave it there and they will give it to their clients/customers. Now, I have debated about the bags with multiple things in it, that could change because of the fentanyl strips. It’s an extra expense and it requires being put together by somebody so, I’ve been reluctant to take that on as an additional project, but I’m leaning that way because we would like to give them as much additional information and we do at the pop-ups but, maybe we can do it more efficiently with a little kit.
Ms. Ventura stated maybe you can have volunteering events where people can come out, County Board Members can volunteer their time given the opportunity to come out for an hour and put bags together. It’s an easy thing and can save somebody’s life literally.
Ms. Burke notes those folks that are in recovery are probably the most generous folks I know when it comes to volunteering their time and energy towards anything like this too. I don’t have a gathering spot. For those that in July don’t know I will be moving over to the health department and so, they have more room than I have here. I might be able to leverage a space where we could do that kind of event.
Ms. Ventura asked how much space do you think you need because we have the conference rooms over here?
Ms. Burke stated the two things we need to fight against is fentanyl and stigma. Stigma is a public health issue for both mental health and substance use, and this is Mental Health Month in May, and I don’t know if any of you saw the table downstairs and we’re getting as much information out possible. People are wearing green because green is the mental health color. They delay getting treatment or they don’t get treatment at all, or they get inadequate care. 35% of people with a serious mental issue and 90% of the people with substance disorder never receive treatment. Part of that reason is lack of access preventing them from asking for help because of the stigma. In Will County it’s a combination of we don’t have enough services for people to even ask and then we’re still fighting the misinformation that people have about what a substance use disorder is and what a mental health disorder is so, why do people consistently stigmatize these two areas: 1 is because they tend to blame the victim the person who has the problem. That’s the cause, which it is not and there are stereotypes of dangerousness and unpredictability I’m sure you hear that from law enforcement, police departments. That’s not the general population but there are strategies to learn for someone who has a mental illness or substance abuse. There is a grant being used to teach the Joliet Police Department CIT which is certified training to help them manage that interaction but, the bottom-line is if you look on tv or look in the press people are not shown in a positive light and that creates a fear that these people are dangerous. People have not been educated in mental health or substance abuse if it has not hit their family. Again, media portray people in a bad light and there is stigma related to ethnicity and race and different cultures are not very positive. Those are all the issues that we deal with and it’s real important that we address these issues. So, here’s my challenge to you; let’s break this stigma in Will County, let’s work to get rid of all this misinformation. Stigma is rarely based on facts but rather assumptions, preconceptions, and generalization. Therefore, negative impact could be prevented or lessen through education. My goal is to help educate everybody in Will County and the County Board about this issue so that the decision making is based on actual facts and people understand that a treatment facility is an inpatient facility that’s locked, and people are coming and going. There’s no drug dealer hanging at the facility, no parties going on, no family interaction. They control that very well, and the whole point is to spend the time in treatment working on your treatment and recovery, it's like a hospital.
Ms. Parker asks I know you’re transitioning to be under the Health Department, and I know the Health Department campaigned for COVID 19 but, they’ve also hired The Force to do continual promotion. Will they focus on some of that?
Ms. Burke replied I’m hoping to ask to get that because I do have some new funding. My new grant kicks in in July for doing promotion and that’s exactly what we’re going to ask. United Way hired an agency to do the 211 promotion and that agency is very focused on non for profit. Those are two resources I feel I can take advantage of and get something done. It’s interesting because when I talk about what do you do; you don’t do the traditional billboards, you do things a little differently to get to the people that you want to get too. That is important that the agency we use understands that and knows how do we get to all corners of our community and not just the major urban areas.
3. Monthly Update from Sunny Hill Nursing Home - Attachment Added (Maggie McDowell)
Ms. McDowell explained the information in the packet. Currently the facility is considered to be at outbreak status however, we have no current COVID 19 residents or staff and no active cases. Additionally, we had 1 positive case of Roto Virus involving a new resident, but it was isolated. Roto virus is rampant in nursing homes right now; they’re having some extensive outbreaks despite the mask mandate being lifted we must continue to wear the N95 mask and eye protection. We are continuing to test residents twice a week. We are focusing on safety. Instead of bringing in PIC (Physician’s Immediate Care) to do the testing on site EMS has guided us and informed us they were using an online test which is previewed by a physician and then you’re pass or fail basically. Those reports are kept very confidential. More information can be found on the attached document.
VII. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
Ms. Ventura stated that she wanted to bring up two old business items. One was brought up at the Executive meeting last time and that was the RFP on homelessness solutions that we passed on housing and the full County Board approved last April. I’m going to continue to bring this up at this committee. We need to stay on these solutions, and I will bring them up at the County Board Meeting and probably the Executive Meeting because we want our Executive to follow through with the wishes of the County Board and bring forth some companies that may have solutions outside of what we already presented. The other old business I brought up today at Finance they discussed the old courthouse building and while we’re waiting for the demolition or whatever they decide to do with that there are some needs for the County especially housing and I asked the Capital Improvement Committee to look at what a short-term solution would be.
VIII. NEW BUSINESS
1. Extending Sunny Hill Nursing Home Admission Policy for Non-Will County Residents - Attachment Added
(Maggie McDowell)
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Meta Mueller, Vice Chair SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member AYES: Ventura, Mueller, Kraulidis, Mitchell, Parker, Tyson ABSENT: Freeman |
(Dr. Kathleen Burke/Marta Keane)
Ms. Burke stated recently there was a take back day. The take back day is managed by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) they regulate how those drugs are picked-up, and disposed of. It’s an expensive venture so, a lot of the agencies who used to participate in this have backed out because it’s too labor intensive and too costly. Pharmacies do not take drugs back they do not like people bringing in their drugs. HB1780 was to increase safe and convenient drug take back locations across the State. The act provides that the manufacturer of these medication must cover the cost of the drugs so, no longer are they being passed on the communities rather the manufacturer is required to provide the drug take back program, having to establish and implementing drug take back programs independently or as part of a group of manufacturers together.
Ms. Ventura asked Ms. Burke if she had an update on the MAT in our jails?
Ms. Burke replied to Ms. Ventura yes. We’re still on hold and one of the reasons it’s been stalled is because the jail is implementing a paperless system. They’re giving their incarcerated people tablets; they are going to be able to chart electronically. Right now, the jail is a completely paper system which is horrendous which is why it’s slowed down the opportunity to get data from them.
Ms. Ventura commented I believe in September we are going to have a presentation or possibly join a coalition for suicide. There is a woman who will be on our calendar coming forward in months.
IX. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
Ms. Mueller commenting piggy backing off what Ms. Ventura said about the forest preserve working with the park district. The folks in the Plainfield area I wanted to let you know I reached out to the Plainfield Park District folks that I know to tell them about the program, and they were really interested, and they are as well started to connect with the forest preserved about continuing that out in the Plainfield areas.
X. PUBLIC COMMENT
XI. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
XII. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XIII. ADJOURNMENT
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