Board of Health — Skokie, IL
Date: 2019-05-23

Skokie Board of Health
 Thursday, May 23, 2019

 Village Hall – 2nd floor Conference Rooms D & E
 7:00 p.m.

 AGENDA
 U




 I. Call to Order



 II. Approval of Minutes



 III. Sara L. Manewith, AM
 Director, Response Center for Teens
 JCFS Chicago


 IV. Chair’s Report
 • New Board Member –
 o Tim Youkhana, PharmD, MBA, Assyrian Pharmacy/Health Alliance
 • New Vice Chair – Jessica Jones, MA


 V. Director’s Monthly Report




 VI. Old/New Items of Business
 • Summer Board of Health Dinner date and location!


 VII. Next Meeting: GROUP PHOTO!!

 June 13, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
 Village Hall 2nd Floor Conference Rooms D & E

 Richard Kong
 Director
 Skokie Public Library
 Strategic Plan and Library Renovation

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Skokie Board of Health
 May 23, 2019

Present Absent Excused
Dr. Drachler Mr. Usman Dr. Dave Mr. Abbasi Ms. Moy Wooten
Dr. Gaynes Ms. Varma Dr. Prince Ms. Nickisch Duggan Mr. Pandya
Ms. Jones Dr. Vernon Ms. Haido Dr. Sood
Dr. Shim Dr. Werner
Dr. Topouzian Dr. Williams
Ms. Urbanus Dr. Youkhana


Dr. Catherine Counard, Director of Health
Mr. David Clough, Staff
Guest: Sara Manewith, JCFS Response for Teens

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Dr. Drachler, Chairman.

Approval of Minutes - The minutes from the April Board of Health meeting were approved.

Dr. Drachler welcomed Dr. Tim Youkhana to the Board of Health and congratulated Jessica Jones on
being appointed as the Vice Chair to the Board. He also reported that his appointment as Chairman had
been renewed for another year.

Sara Manewith, Director, JCFS Chicago, Response for Teens

Ms. Manewith is the Director of Response for Teens, one of many programs available through JCFS. The
organization was originally named Jewish Children and Family Services but was rebranded as JCFS to
make clear that their services were for everyone regardless of faith or ethnicity. The organization still
prides itself on being steeped in the traditional Jewish values of caring, community, family, expertise,
responsiveness, and serving the whole person.

JCFS provides an extensive range of services. They have locations in west Rogers Park, Skokie, Buffalo
Grove, and Northbrook. Youth services include a therapeutic day school, integrated pediatric therapies,
psychological testing, and Response for Teens. Adult services include counseling, mediation, support
groups, career and employment services, immigration services, and addiction treatment. Services for
people with disabilities include group homes, independent living support, a specialized recreational camp
for children and teens, job training, and legal representation.

Response for Teens has been around for 50 years and has always tried to stay on the cutting edge of
services needed by teens. They serve adolescents and young adults from ages 12 to 24 with a focus on
developing the communication, decision-making, and leadership skills they will need to deal with life’s
challenges. All services focus on empowering teens to make healthy life choices.

At Response there are 5 clinicians and a psychiatric nurse practitioner who work with teens on issues such
as stress, anxiety, depression, and gender identity and sexuality issues. There is also an outreach and


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education team that works in the community through schools, synagogues, and youth serving
organizations to provide health and wellness education. Their most requested service is sexuality and
relationship education which includes topics like puberty, boundaries and consent, healthy relationships,
and basic sex education including STD and pregnancy prevention. Other programs include bullying,
body image, social media, relationship violence, and sex trafficking. There are also education modules
targeting parents and professionals who work with teens concerning LGBTQ and adolescent development
issues. Most of their gender and sexuality education modules reach Illinois State Board of Education
standards as well as national standards.

Response had a partnership with Mt. Sinai Health Center to provide sexual and reproductive health
services in their offices a few days a week. Due to funding issues that partnership recently ended after
forty years. JCFS is looking for new ways to provide these important services to the community. Current
efforts include supported pregnancy testing and counseling, web based FAQs, and exploring a pilot
program for Peer Health Ambassadors trained in the local high schools.

With that, Ms. Manewith concluded her presentation.

Dr. Drachler asked how JCFS is funded. Ms. Manewith answered that JCFS has a 38 million dollar
budget. JCFS gets significant funding from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and the
remainder is from a multitude of public and private granting organizations.

Dr. Drachler asked how teens find Response. Ms. Manewith replied that many come from their
community outreach efforts in the schools and others are encouraged to seek it out by their parents.

Dr. Counard asked if services were supplied in multiple languages. Ms. Manewith responded that a
number of services from JCFS, the immigration services in particular, were available from multilingual
service providers but Response was currently limited to English only.

Director’s Monthly Report – a copy is attached

Highlights included:
• 9th Annual Public Health Partners in Excellence Awards
 Each year the Board of Health and Health Department recognize two entities for their
 outstanding contributions to public health in the Village. Awards were presented at the April
 1st Board of Trustees meeting, in conjunction with National Public Health Week. This year's
 award recipients were:
 • Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital (located in Skokie) for accepting unclaimed stray pets
 that are not cars or dogs, and finding these animals homes.
 • The Skokie Chamber of Commerce for supporting public health efforts to reduce the
 use of tobacco products in Skokie. The Chamber most recently spoke in favor of passing
 Skokie’s Tobacco 21 Law.

• Erie Evanston/Skokie Health Center Expansion Celebration
 The long awaited expansion of the Erie Evanston/Skokie Health Center was celebrated on
 April 3. Responding to ongoing need in the community, the Center capacity has been

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 doubled to 7,000 patients. So many Skokie representatives were in attendance that a separate
 ribbon-cutting for our group was required!

 Dr. Counard urged Board members to refer patients to Erie now that their capacity has
 expanded and Northshore is moving 18 family medicine residents and faculty to the site.

• Medical Reserve Corps: Collaborative Healthcare Urgency Group presentation
 CHUG is a non-profit mutual-aid system to handle emergencies in long term care facilities,
 which has assisted the six Skokie facilities to develop plans and conduct evacuation
 exercises. One facility has already dealt with a failure of their HVAC system without any
 injuries using their CHUG training.

 Dr. Drachler pointed out that Dr. Counard was recently interviewed for the “It’s Skokie”
 podcast and encouraged Board of Health members to listen to it. Dr. Drachler and Ms.
 Varma complemented Dr. Counard on her performance on the podcast.


Old Business
Dr. Drachler mentioned his presentation to the Board of Trustees for the Board of Health budget hearing.
The Trustees were appreciative of the all that the Board of Health does to support the Skokie community.

Dr. Drachler also suggested to the Trustees that they actively promote business recycling. Providing
financial incentives to encourage recycling, rather than sending waste to the landfill, might be effective.

Dr. Drachler reported that the Skokie Resilient Communities Collaborative (SRCC) was continuing with
its Adverse Childhood Experiences work.

Dr. Drachler stated that there is a push nationwide for Tobacco 21 laws. Some tobacco companies are
urging adoption the laws as well, but they are doing it to promote vaping as an alternative.

Recruitment for the SAHELI initiative is now occurring at the Muslim Community Center (MCC), with
the assistance of Ms. Dilnaz Waraich following her meeting with the Board of Health last month.

Dr. Williams asked if the Board of Health might be interested in sponsoring a community vaping
presentation like the tobacco presentations they had done in the past. Mr. Clough reported on vaping
education in the high schools done in collaboration with PEER services. Dr. Williams added that he
spoke about vaping during the Dental Society midwinter meeting with nearly 500 in attendance. He
offered to give the same presentation for the Skokie community. Dr. Counard recommended speaking
with Mr. Richard Kong about presenting at the library when he comes to present in June.

New Business
Dr. Drachler recommended holding the summer Board of Health dinner on Thursday, August 8th, and
those resent unanimously agreed. The Board discussed possible restaurants for the event, including the
Cheesecake Factory, Ruby of Siam, and Pho Phu Lihn.



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Ms. Jones pointed out that two Board members have new babies and suggested picking a restaurant with a
child friendly environment to make it easier for them to attend. It was also recommended that the Board
select a locally owned restaurant rather than a chain.

Dr. Drachler reminded the Board Members that their annual group photo would be taken before the next
meeting on June 13th.

Dr. Counard reported that the Village has launched the new website. She requested Board members
review the Board of Health web page and provide feedback.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:01 PM.



Next meeting:
Thursday, June 13 at 7:00 PM
Village Hall
5127 Oakton Street


DON’T FORGET THE GROUP PHOTO!!!!




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