flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right um so uh chloe was unable to uh join us this evening um but we do have uh minutes from uh november 17th um just wondering if anybody had any additions or changes uh changes we can note and um contact chloe regarding them i don't know if anybody had a chance to take a look concerns all right okay uh and move to approve the second second excellent thank you i will make my parting gift uh doing the minutes for this evening and i'll type them up and send them on over all right so um before we uh move off of minutes i made the promise that i would uh make some some typos and and uh corrections for the two previous minutes and i failed in my task having forgotten that this today was the day that i'd have my annual eye exam and i put today aside and i simply couldn't do it but i promise that i will take care of that and and submit those changes that will be your parting gift my my part of your all right so bringing um to us to organizational issues so um tonight is my uh last meeting uh with the board just because i was nosy and i'm terrible with dates i did look back and i've been with the board since june of 2019 um when linda was uh chairperson david was already here and so david's been at least here since 2019 and i'm pretty sure for three or four years prior to that as well um at that point um i quickly got involved with the intern program for the first two years basically worked with uh jane carabasi who she kind of took care of everything and i just like watched what she was doing um and then since then i've had the uh pleasure of working uh with interns uh for five years so i guess i have worked with 10 uh student interns um over my time i'm not including last year since i didn't end the year with them um but and and for the past year obviously um been the chairperson so um i've enjoyed being with the board and i'm excited to see kind of what happens uh from here on out i'll probably be like alex kind of spying and seeing what's going on so um tonight is also Seth's last meeting and David's last meeting um and David did you did you discover how long you've been yeah so so um I've been here eight years uh for of which I was um I was the chair uh and I am compelled by township ordinance to um be off for at least a year because I have had two consecutive three year terms and I actually started as a uh as a stand-in for an incompleted term my my first two years I want to take a moment to thank all of the permanent staff who have been in very very helpful throughout the course of the years and all of the the board of commissioners who have um given us the opportunity to uh to serve the township and uh help uh provide them with the consultative services that they need to uh address the uh health issues of the township and it has really been a dramatic time before when I got here there was no county board of health we did our own um uh food inspections uh when the pandemic came along we were ill prepared to manage that because of the absence of a county organization uh and still we've uh muddled through and and uh been able to uh serve the the people of the township and it is a position that I am grateful to have served in it has been a pleasure and it is with uh fond regrets that I say farewell thank you uh we do have the pleasure of having a new board member with us this evening uh Melissa Zaf and I asked her to just uh speak up a bit about herself uh so the other board members can get to know her okay thank you um I'm Melissa Zafin I am uh currently a board member on EAC I have around 20 years experience in the med tech uh consumer and pharma industries working in medical and patient safety um and working in in the regulatory environment um and currently I am a director of strategy and operations for the Office of Chief Medical Officer for the innovative medicine team and that's some of my background and um I have had an interest in in joining the board of health over the last year I've been a Radner resident for around five years now and I have three kids in the um elementary school here and just excited to be part of the this community so thank you welcome Alyssa all right Dave your last communicable disease update um so it is really really

I've been a Radner resident for around five years now, and I have three kids in the elementary school here, and just excited to be part of the this community.

So thank you.

Welcome, Alyssa.

All right, Dave, your last communicable disease update.

So it is really, really hard in an era of completely degraded public health information that we live to have actual quantitative reports.

We've been remarkably lucky so far this year with regard to uh getting to December 16th without any uh major or definable outbreaks.

Um COVID activity appears nationwide to remain somewhat low and sporadic.

Flu activity has ticked up substantially in New York, with the latest data being um uh for December 6th, but it appears to be ticking up everywhere.

Get your get your flu vaccine if you haven't gotten it, and and uh really critical hand washing and uh protection from um exposure.

Uh RSV, uh there is an interesting discussion going on right now because this is we're about a month into what should be the RSV uh annual outbreak, and there isn't one, and it's not materializing.

And there are those who would suggest that this is just another example of the power of vaccination.

We're two and a half years into the availability of RSV vaccines, and this is kind of what you would expect.

And it's happened time and time again.

First time in this country was in January of 1776 when George Washington inoculated all the troops in their encampment at Valley Forge, and we've seen it time and again.

Um we may or may not see an uptick in in RSV, but we haven't yet.

There was a single death from an AV from an atypical avian flu that was that appears to have been a um non uh not a human to human transfer, so avian flu, there's nothing much new to report.

There does appear to be a nationwide uh bump in norovirus, which is something that you want to devoutly avoid.

Uh it's just no fun for anybody.

Um, and again, all of these communicable diseases, hand washing, avoiding face contact with your hands, uh, and avoiding circumstances where you know there may be, and being kind to your neighbors if you happen to be infected with something.

Um I think that's all I have for you.

Good night and good luck, I think, is the way you close out one of these, isn't it?

Thank you.

I did kind of switch uh skip over important health dates on the um agenda.

Uh one thing is that interestingly, um the December 4th through the 8th was National Influenza Vaccination Week, as we've talked about a little late than when you want to get it, but any time is a good time to get your flu shot.

Um so if you haven't gotten it, um uh please consider doing so.

Um, another um just thought is that um a December is HIV and AIDS awareness month.

Um, someone who's been around for a while, myself from high school when um, you know, HIV was a death sentence to all the uh options and availability of treatments that we have today.

I mean, uh it's a very important issue that we continue to keep um in mind and encourage patients to get uh screened if they need to, or encourage our family members if um they have any concern to do so.

Right.

So a little uh student uh intern uh program update.

So recently I've been doing some background research into some strategies that people can use to manage day-to-day functioning, such as pacing and prioritization methods.

Um I've also looked into how mental and physical health can affect motivation and concentration and what kind of supports are commonly recommended.

Um recently I had a personal experience that uh inspired me to appreciate the importance of knowing your family medical history, and that inspired me to change my project topic.

I'm aware that it's quite a big switch, but um it's very near and dear to my heart, and I believe that um this project could have a large impact in the era of modern medicine.

We know so much about how to intervene early in disorders and about hereditary patterns.

There have been so many innovations in treating treatable illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, or thyroid disorders, but there's also a common wouldn't happen to my family mentality that can prevent early detection.

This project would involve public education and materials that can be done outside a doctor's office, making this initiative accessible to all, including marginalized communities.

Um, additionally, recent polls have shown that younger adults, millennials in Gen C have been less likely to go see their primary care doctors, which is obviously a major problem, um, and are primarily seeking care at urgent cares.

Um, and knowing your family health history is just essential to all medicine that you need.

So that is where I'm switching my project, and in the coming weeks, I will be doing research with um members of the Jefferson Integrative Health S and interviewing the genetic counselors there.

I think it's an excellent, excellent idea.

I mean, as someone who sees patients uh daily, there's a lot that do not know their their family history.

Um a lot of times a visit is um an impetus to for them to go and ask their family, and they come back the next time and go, Oh my gosh, I didn't know my uncle and my grandfather um had diabetes in my instance or had thyroid disease.

Um so yes, I think that's an excellent thing.

I mean, I even I, as a you know, I remember being in medical school, and they would be like, Um, can you tell us about your family history?

And I'll be like, my grandfather died from cancer, and they'd be like, What kind of cancer?

And I'm like, huh, I don't know.

I never really, yeah, I probably should have asked about that, right?

Um, so um, of course, some cases we don't know the original uh site of the cancer, but until I, you know, spoke with my parents, I didn't know, right?

So it's something very important for people to be aware of from the time that they're young, in my opinion.

It's great.

It's also a great time of year when everybody tends to get it together with their family to kind of align and um get your stories straight, as it were, with your siblings and generations before and after.

I think there's also a bit of stigma as well.

Um in my in my own family, um, there was a case where um a relative had to get closer breast cancer screening, and they were like, Well, we don't have a history of breast cancer in your family in our family, and then my mom goes, Well, actually, you know, your uh this this relative, they just never really told anyone about it, you know.

So, especially for certain types of um you know reproductive cancers, that may also be the case.

Okay, well, this evening uh we have a presentation.

Um, so a Roberta Winters, who's you know, treasured community member uh with the League of Women Voters, um, they um have had some student intern projects over the years.

I actually um let's see, I said I would see I've been here for five, six years.

I think about three and a half, four years ago, we had a uh student do a wonderful presentation about accessibility of our disabled uh parking spaces for the for the board, and that actually led me to want um to suggest uh to my my student intern looking into kind of bike accessibility in the in the town.