Board of Health — Skokie, IL
Date: 2014-09-11

Skokie Board of Health
 September 11, 2014
 7:30 p.m.
 AGENDA
 U




 I. Call to Order


 II. Approval of Minutes


 III. Mary Carroll
 Community Education Specialist
 Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago


 IV. Chair’s Report


 V. Personal Statements


 VI. Director’s Monthly Report


 VII. Community Health Plan Initiatives Updates


 VIII. Adjournment/Next Meeting:


 Thursday, October 9, 2014

 Maria Alamo
 Board Member
 The Talking Farm

 7:30 p.m.
 Skokie Village Hall
 Annex Room


452820 v.3

Skokie Board of Health
 September 11, 2014


Present Absent Excused
Mr. Abbasi Dr. Prince Ms. Varma Ms. Langguth
Dr. Drachler Dr. Sood Dr. Topouzian
Ms. Nickisch Duggan Ms. Jones Thorne
Dr. Gaynes Ms. Urbanus
Dr. Luka Dr. Usman
Mr. Nidetz Dr. Usman
Mr. Pandya Dr. Veis
Dr. Polin Dr. Williams


Dr. Catherine Counard, Director of Health
Mr. Bruce Jones, Staff

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Dr. Drachler, Chairman

Approval of Minutes - The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

Presentation - Mary Carroll, Community Education Specialist: Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC).

Ms. Carroll spoke about the MWRDGC history and background: the presentation included an overview
of MWRDGC. Ms. Carroll distributed flyers and brochures to the board during the meeting.

The District was originally organized as the Sanitary District of Chicago in 1889 under an act of the
Illinois General Assembly which has been modified from time to time to increase the District’s authority
and jurisdiction. The enabling act in 1889 was in direct response to a long standing problem with
contamination of the water supply and nuisance conditions of the rivers. The District reversed the flow of
the Chicago and Calumet River Systems to stop the discharge of sewage to Lake Michigan and instead,
discharge it to the Des Plaines River, where it could be diluted as it flowed into the Illinois River and
eventually the Mississippi River.

Ms. Carroll showed a MWRDGC movie “Before the Faucet – After the Flush” which can be viewed on-
line at:
https://www.mwrd.org/irj/go/km/docs/documents/MWRD/internet/News%26Media/Newsroom/Media/A
udio_Video/Videos/Before_the_Faucet_After_The_Flush.swf

Dr. Polin asked is the deep tunnel project related to what she presented today. Ms. Carroll explained that
the deep tunnel project started in 1976 and took 30 years to construct 109 miles of tunnels that serve 3
reservoirs at O’Hare, Stickney and Thornton and is designed to accept excess water from towns that have
combined sewer systems that collect both storm water and sewage.

Dr. Gaynes asked about the odors coming from the MWRDGC plant. Ms. Carroll spoke about several
issues that could contribute from the exhaust vents with sediment and organic materials.
Ms. Carroll also mentioned that of their 7 plants, currently 4 utilize tertiary treatment, 2 more will have
tertiary treatment by 2015 and the last plant plans to use ultraviolet rays as a means of disinfection. Ms.
Carroll explained that primary treatment basically involves sedimentation, secondary treatment includes
the addition of oxygen and good bacteria and tertiary finishes with filtration and treating with chlorine.
By products created during the beginning processes are cooked in digesters which produce methane gas
which is siphoned off and used to heat a portion of the plant.

Pat Urbanus asked what type of security they have at the plants. Ms. Carroll stated that plants have
MWRD police on-site and that to tour a facility you must register one month in advance in order to have
background checks done. Dr. Counard asked about security at the water cribs. Ms. Carroll replied that
they are no longer staffed but they do have security cameras both above and below water level.

Mr. Pandya questioned about sewer work being done by Skokie. A short discussion followed about what
type of sewers Skokie has and why the streets flood and some homes continue to flood. Dr. Counard said
she could schedule someone from Public Works Engineering come to present on what Skokie has done to
help alleviate flooding in Skokie.

Dr. Counard asked if there are any thought about reusing/returning the waste water to this region rather
than sending it to the Gulf of Mexico. Ms. Carroll replied they are looking at potential ways to reuse the
waste water at Industrial settings but anything would require some substantial infrastructure changes.

Dr. Drachler also spoke to the larger issue of all the water being wasted and not being sent back into the
Lake Michigan and mentioned San Diego is building the largest desalination plants along with two others
in California being built desalination plants due to the excessive droughts. We live next to 20% of the
available fresh water on earth and we take 1 billion gallons out and none is place back and he believes
the next battles maybe fought over the lack of fresh water in many countries.

Ms. Carroll mentioned a book Water Wars by Peter Annin which doesn’t talk about true wars but does
address issues involving the private sector, governments and environmental problems in the Great Lakes
region.

Dr. Drachler mentioned that the locks are opened when the deep tunnel is full resulting in sewage being
directly released into the environment but this is not happening as much anymore so this indicates that
the deep tunnel project has helped the flooding problems in some instances.


Chair’s Report
Dr. Drachler acknowledged Mr. Pandya for all his work on the summer Board of Health dinner which
everyone enjoyed – a job well done!

Dr. Drachler mentioned that Dr. Herwitz has accepted a new position at William & Mary Naval Base and
thus will be resigning from the Board of Health.

Dr. Drachler mentioned two letters from the Mayor Van Dusen to Dr. Plotkin thanking him for his
service and a letter of commendation.

Dr. Drachler mentioned Dr. Williams’s article “Time for a tobacco-free military” that was published in
the New England Journal of Medicine.
Personal Statements
None


Director’s Monthly Report
Dr. Counard presented the August monthly report (attached). The highlights included:

• Emergency Community Shelter Plan Facilitated Discussion – Public Safety Consortium
 During the August Public Safety Consortium meeting, a multidisciplinary team from Health, Human
 Services and Fire held an informational session to review the plans for setting up an Emergency
 Community Shelter. The next steps will be a tabletop exercise, currently planned for December, with a full
 scale exercise likely in the spring.

• Memorandum of Agreement with Oakton Community College School of Nursing Renewed
 The Memorandum of Agreement with the OCC School of Nursing was renewed at the August 18 Board of
 Trustees meeting. The agreement, which allows OCC nursing faculty and students to assist the Department
 during the annual community flu shot clinics and other activities, has been in place for five years.

• Food and Drug Administration Retail Food Protection Grant
 The Department is applying for a grant from the Food and Drug Administration, which will assist with
 ensuring that our food safety program meets national standards. The Department food safety program
 currently meets all Illinois Department of Public Health standards; however, the IDPH standards are less
 rigorous than the national standards. If we are successful, the funds will cover an intern to assist with the
 project, training and a mentorship program.

• Childhood Obesity Project – all Skokie Public School Districts on board
 Establishing obesity rates for Skokie children is an important priority of the Community Health Plan. To
 achieve this goal, the Department is collecting existing obesity data from school health records and creating
 an aggregate report for the Village. Further actions will be based upon the results of this important study.
 It is highly preferable to have local data, rather than relying on state or national data.


Community Health Plan Initiatives Updates
• Access to Healthcare – Dr. Drachler asked if we could have Asian Human Services, a Federally
 Qualified Healthcare Center (FQHC) speak to the Board. Dr. Counard mentioned that she is
 planning to schedule them for the December 2014 meeting.

• Obesity Prevention – Dr. Drachler mentioned that the September edition of JAMA was devoted to
 the issue of weight; including weight loss, dieting and obesity.

• Tobacco Use Prevention – Dr. Drachler discussed an article addressing the issue of smoking in city
 parks. The Mayor and Board of Trustees will be addressing the issue of strengthening our code to
 regulate the use of e-cigarettes as any other tobacco products.

• Healthy Environment – The Board still needs to promote all the continued plans for more bike paths
 in Skokie, as presented at the June meeting.
Old Business
Dr. Drachler asked about the results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
(NHANES). Dr. Williams mentioned that it could be some time before all of the results are compiled
and released.

New Business
Dr. Drachler asked what was known about the cases of enterovirus (EV-D68). Dr. Counard gave a quick
update. This strain of the virus was first identified in 1962, so it is not new but it is typically less
commonly in circulation in the United States than other strains.

No confirmed cases have been identified in Skokie, any neighboring communities, or in northern Illinois,
beyond the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, which sent tests from ill children in August
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recently returned positive. As is true for many
infectious diseases, most of the children admitted to the children's hospital had underlying health
conditions that made them more susceptible to the virus.

Dr. Drachler announced that he will not be at the next meeting on November 13 and that Dr. Williams
will chair the meeting.

Dr. Drachler reminded the Board they were invited to the Talking Farm “Hullabaloo” event on
September 20th between 2-6 pm at 3701 Howard Street in Skokie.


Adjournment The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:50 p.m.