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Board - committee - commission - Council:
Board of Health
Date: 2020-12-17 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Location:
Address: Session: Open Session
Purpose: Open Session - Remote Meeting Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
Chair Richard Lopez, Vice Chair Kerry Dunnell, Paula Curren; Associate
Members: Geri Cramer, Kevin Sexton
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Health Director Peter Mirandi, Public
Health Nurse Kristine Harris, Reading Coalition Director Erica McNamara,
Reading Coalition Outreach Coordinator Samantha Salkin, Recreation
Administrator Jenna Fiorente
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Jacquelyn LaVerde
Topics of Discussion:
This meeting was held remotely via Zoom.
Chair Richard Lopez called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm. He reviewed the agenda for
the evening, and announced that the Department is close to hiring a new part-time Public
Health Nurse.
Public Comment:
There was no comment from the public.
Reading Coalition for Prevention and Support:
Dr. Lopez prefaced the discussion with the hope of conducting a Community Health Needs
Assessment in the first six months of next year. The Reading Coalition for Prevention and
Support is related to the health of the community, which Is why Director Erica McNamara
and Outreach Coordinator Sammi Salkin were invited this evening to talk about their
program and the services they offer. Ms. McNamara provided a brief history of the
program. Formerly known as Reading Coalition Against Substance Abuse (RCASA), the
name was changed a year ago, as substance abuse and mental health promotion are a part
of their work. The program was started with grant funding, but is now funded by the Town
under the Police Department, which supports the Coalition's salaries and expenses. Projects
done by the Coalition include: Mental Health First Aid; partnering with Mystic Valley Public
Health Coalition which provides training, support and regional Initiatives; medication
collection; Text-A-Tip; Screening Brief Intervention and Referral Treatment (SBIRT)
Program; data collection; and intervention projects. The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) is a
partnership with the Reading Police Department, the Coalition, and Respond, a domestic
violence support service, to provide crisis intervention training, and conduct follow up calls
and assistance. The Coalition is also part of the HUB Team, a regional model by the
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Medford Police Department, which consists of multiple agencies that support individuals with
complex needs that require support from several different agencies including: Police
Departments, Coalitions, Department of Mental Health, Elliot Crisis Services, Mystic Valley
Elder Services, Housing Authority, Health Department, and Hospital Liaisons. Other shared
resources include: the Bridge Recovery Center in Malden; and a contract with William James
College, which provides matchmaking service for outpatient mental health services.
COVID-19 Updates:
Civic/Recreation Permit Issues Including Open Ice Rink Guidelines
Mr. Mirandi and Recreation Administrator Jenna Fiorente reviewed proposed guidelines for
the use of skating rinks including: signage, limiting the number to 50 people on the ice at
one time, requiring all spectators and skaters to wear masks and social distance, and not
allowing sports equipment or hockey nets. Because there is not enough time to hire
monitors, there will be random spot checks by Recreation and Health Department staff to
ensure users are complying with the guidelines. Enforcement is a challenge because there
is no system to allow people to register or reserve a time slot, and the Police Department
staffing resources are limited due to military deployments. The signs will include a phone
number for complaints.
Mr. Mirandi and Ms. Fiorente will prepare a draft of the guidelines for the Board to review
ahead of their vote. Ms. Fiorente volunteered to contact Ms. McNamara of the Coalition
about using the Text-A-Tip line.
The rinks cannot be used until the ice reaches a safe depth, and the Board wants to ensure
the signs are in place prior to the rinks being used. The next meeting of the Board is
scheduled for January 7, 2021. In the event the ice Is thick enough prior to January 7th, the
Board will schedule a brief meeting for December 28th to vote on the guidelines before
people are allowed to use the rinks. If the ice is not ready to be used by the 28th due to
warmer weather, the meeting will not be held and the matter will be deferred to the
regularly scheduled January 7th meeting.
Incident Command Updates
Ms. Dunnell reviewed her report on the Medical Reserve Corp (MRC) which is a regional
volunteer organization. The MRC for region 3B, which includes Reading, consists of
approximately 180 volunteers, some medical and some non-medical, with about 25-30
volunteers from Reading. The MRC can help to setup and support dispensing sites, and
assist with other things such as phone calls to elders and food deliveries. Ms. Dunnell
stated she will follow up with Fire Chief Bums and Assistant Fire Chief Jackson on using
volunteers in the community.
COVID Vaccination Planning Update
Sanborn Place, a housing complex on Bay State Road, offered use of their facility for
dispensing if needed. They have a large space that has been used for flu clinics in the past.
The current plan for the first wave of vaccine is targeted to workers in heath care
institutions. First responders are scheduled for the next phase. The plans are suitable to
the number of people that need to be vaccinated and the available vaccines. The state is
currently assessing whether health departments have the staff, capacity, and space to
vaccinate their own first responders, as well as the ability to store the vaccines.
Case Count Updates
Reading entered the "red" zone today due to a significant increase in daily COVID cases.
Public Health Nurse Kristine Harris reviewed the latest case numbers. The nurses are
seeing 6-14 new cases daily and continue to manage the contact tracing. Since the
beginning of the pandemic, there have been 799 total cases and 40 total deaths in Reading.
The current active case count is 235.
Reading Public Schools has 25 active cases: 8 High School students, 6 Middle School
students, 1 Elementary student, and 1 Pre-K student. There are 7 total staff cases including
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2 in Facilities. Three of the High School cases trace back to a hockey cluster and 23 players
are now under quarantine.
Austin Prep has had 9 cases total including 7 students and 2 staff. Three of the cases are
associated with hockey and 11 students from the hockey team are quarantined.
Artis Senior Living has 6 active cases among workers. No residents have tested positive
and they have undergone multiple tests.
A driver for North Reading Transportation that picked up a Reading student tested positive.
There have been 3 cases out of the Burbank Ice Arena, and 10 Reading residents who
tested positive from the Essex Danvers skating rink. Contact tracing is still being done.
Home Depot had a cluster of 5 employees, one a Reading resident. Ms. Harris has been in
contact with the regional manager, and Health Agent Laura Vlasuk will be conducting COVID
compliant spot checks.
2022 Budaet Plannino — Update from December 15 Select Board Discussion:
Ms. Delios stated that she presented her whole budget to the Select Board and spent a fair
amount of time on the Health Division budget. The"ask" budget includes a full-time Public
Health Director, with enough to keep Mr. Mirandi on, plus enough for more hours for a
Public Health Nurse. The select Board seemed supportive and understanding of the
requests for the Health Division. There Is additional money in the administrative budget for
Outsourced Professional Services for some of the Board of Health's planned work including
the public needs assessment. It is now up to the Town Manager to balance the budget to
present to the Finance Committee, and he knows the Health Director is important.
Meetino Minutes:
Ms. Curren asked for clarification on the total for the FY22 budget. Ms. Delos explained
that the $156,000 difference is the net difference between the FY21 budget and the
proposed FY22 budget.
On a motion by Ms. Curren, and seconded by Ms. Dunnell, the Board of Health
voted 3-0-0 to approve the meeting minutes of December 3, 2020.
Meeting adjourned at 9:08 pm.
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