Ziomek Named Interim Health Director

Report On The Meeting Of The Board Of Health, July 13, 2023

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Maureen Millea (Chair), Tim Randhir, Premila Nair, and Lauren Mills 

Staff: Jennifer Brown (Health Director), Kyle O’Connor (Program Director)

Changes In Leadership
This was Jennifer Brown’s last meeting as Amherst Health Director. She is leaving at the end of the month. Former Board of Health (BOH) Chair Nancy Gilbert thanked Brown for her more than 10 years of service to the town, first as public health nurse and then as Health Director. The rest of the board joined Gilbert in expressing gratitude to Brown. 

Brown said the Health Director position has been posted and an interview team is being formed. Until a new director is hired, Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek will serve as Interim Health Director.

Board member Maureen Millea was named chair of the BOH until the end of September. After that time, family circumstances will require her to step down or have a co-chair for several months. This topic will be discussed at the August meeting.

Open Positions On The BOH
Millea remarked that she was surprised that Lauren Mills was present at the meeting, since her term expired on June 30, 2023. Mills was appointed in 2021 to complete a term with two years remaining. However, Mills said she thought she had a full three-year term, though at the previous meeting she acknowledged that she was leaving the board and was thanked for her service. She said that when she subsequently questioned the Town Manager on whether she had another year remaining, the Town Manager told her she could be reappointed to a three-year term, but did not need to complete the full three years. Her reappointment was on the agenda for the Town Services and Outreach Committee which occurred after this meeting and for the July 17 Town Council meeting. Millea, said she had not been involved in interviewing Mills for her reappointment. There is still a vacant position on the BOH.

Mills said she was considering being a co-chair of the BOH “because there are things she would like to get on the agenda” for meetings, such as high school sports and mental health. Millea replied that it was her understanding that the charge of the BOH is to support the Health Department in its initiatives and to evaluate regulations, not to direct the department. Brown said she will get information on if having co-chairs is possible and how they would work together. She will also get more information on how the BOH and Health Department can complement each other.

Health Department Offers Narcan Training And Free Sharps Disposal
Public Health Nurse Olivia Lara-Cahoon has been trained to teach people how to give Narcan in the event of opioid overdose. Those interested in this training should contact the department at Health@amherstma.gov or 413-259-3077. Free Narcan is available at Tapestry and other sites.

Program Assistant Kyle O’Connor said that one of the concerns raised during the Community Needs Assessment presented in June 2023 was the lack of availability of needle disposal sites in town. To remedy this, the Health Department will place a free sharps disposal box outside the Bangs Center. This is expected to help people dispose of needles safely and lessen the number of needles in the environment. A contact number for Tapestry’s mobile harm reduction unit will be placed on the sharps box.

The Health Department does offer sharps boxes and safe disposal to residents of Amherst, Pelham, and Shutesbury for $5. These can be obtained at the Bangs Center or at the Transfer Center at specified times. 

Massachusetts has received $1 billion from the settlement of suits against manufacturers of opioids. The funds will be administered by the Attorney General, and 40% is slated to go directly to municipalities “to be spent on abatement strategies developed with input from the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Advisory Council.” The BOH has not yet been informed of Amherst’s share of this settlement.

Other Health Department News
O’Connor said he was working with the IT Department to redo the Health Department webpage to make it easier to use. Brown said the town was still doing surveillance of wastewater for COVID-19 and had the ability of testing for other viruses, such as polio. She also noted that mosquito testing data is available on the website.

Former Chair Gilbert prepared a report detailing the activities of the BOH over the past year and listing policies that need review in the future, such as regulations for woodburning stoves and administering of the tobacco handlers’ quiz. 

The BOH will next meet on August 10.