 Okay. Oh, I have six participants. Okay. I see participants now. Okay. So pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so by following the instructions on the board of health posted agenda. It'll be done via zoom online or the posted telephone number. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public and adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts we will post on the board of health website and audio or video recording and ours will be audio. Transcript or other comprehensive record of the proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting, including our minutes. I will now open the board of health meeting with a roll call. So I am Nancy Gilbert chair. Steve. Present. Tim. Present. And Maureen. Present. Okay, so the meeting opens and our first action on the agenda is to review the minute from June 10. And I looked at them. I had one question, Steve, did anyone else have any questions. Under the director's report and Emma, you might correct this. And I might be wrong. Over 90% of Amherst adults in age groups other than college age group have been vaccinated. I thought that was in the over 65 population. It could be I'm not sure let's get it right. Do you recall Emma. I don't think 90% of all of our residents adults, I think it was 90% of our over 65 population. He realizes it says 90% other than the college age groups, you know, but I think it was just 65 and over. 50% for the 12 to 16 as well. Right, because it's 43% of one. Yeah, that's including the college students. Yeah, right. So what you, what you're gonna say. It says 90% of adults over 65 years of age. That would be correct. Okay. Got it. Everything else. Perfect Steve. Anybody else have any comments. Can I have a motion to accept the minutes as written with the minor change. I'll move to accept minutes. Someone second. I can second it. Okay, Tim. Moved and seconded all in favor. Tim. Hi. Hi. Steve. Hi, Nancy. Okay, so we have that done. Now our next agenda item under all businesses update from health inspectors outdoor dining farmers market inspections, et cetera. Yeah, so I did invite Susan and Ed. We do have anything new to add right now in terms of health inspections and then later in the meeting under new business, we do have that PVTC inspection outcome. So I'll speak to that when we get to new business. Anything happening on the main street where the two restaurants have been closed. It came up at the last business meeting that there was inquiries about opening restaurants there. Is there any more action? Yep. So I had a meeting with. Rob Mora and David Zomek. We are. Gonna. Give the opportunities for if there is continued, if they can meet the expectations of the continued pest management. The water dealing with the water infiltration. If that's even present anymore. I don't know. I don't know. But. Looking at that again with possible new building management and. Tenants. To see if the properties can. Be used. There was concern from the prior director. The, the restaurant closest to the town hall. And there were a lot of concerns about that half of the building. Ever being able to be compliant. I don't know how accurate that is, but if you could check on that, do any of you. Yep. Yep. So I have the comprehensive files for when this has gone back and have done a big review of that. So I think the feeling is that we want to give the opportunity. We want to make sure that we're able to. We want to make sure that we're able to make sure that we're able to upgrade and make it. Meet compliance. For it to be possibly utilized first food establishments. But certainly right now it's not in a condition where it can be. But we definitely wanted to support local businesses. Tenants getting into those spaces and really revitalizing. Main street and those properties again. So I think that was the, the, the contractor who was involved before. He really worked hard to keep those buildings. So. He worked very hard. Yeah. And improving the structures there. Okay. Anything else? Any questions from board members? Okay. Second is board of health member appointments. Yeah. So we, we continue to search for a new member. I know that there are people attending and listening in. We certainly. Are looking for someone to join the board of health. And improve and not improve, but increase. The diversity on the board and representation of the Amherst community as a whole. So. We continue to reach out to. Key community individuals to try and recruit. Someone on the board. I know Nancy, you were doing a lot of direct outreach on Juneteenth. And really anytime that we've been out in the community. So here we are. There's a hint to anyone who's here and listening. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and fill out the, what's the title of that form? You get on the website. I've had it on. I think it's a community action form. That's right. Thank you. Okay. Third item is listening sessions. And we have. Two listening sessions. On June 22nd and 23rd. The first session. Was for town employees. I'd be, I have all the transcript. So Steve took notes at one. I took notes that time and Anita sorrow. Did at the second one. Nancy Schroeder, Anita and myself took notes. I have all of those notes. I've been looking at. And there are four people who we have to follow up on on phone interviews. I've written the introduction because we are seeing themes. Emma, I do want to give you feedback on things that were done very positively and they those messages came out very clear. People were very happy with the clinics. Younger people were very happy with how you open vaccine clinics at the high school middle school and in town. Once the younger population became open for the Pfizer vaccine. There was a lot of regard, especially from the town. Listening session for how Nancy Schroeder and Jen Brown kept everything going very smoothly were very open kept communication open until you were hired and in place. So I wanted to make sure you heard those messages. Yes, we didn't do everything perfectly. And that comes out but there's always room for improvement and their ideas of how to move forward and hopefully by the end of July, I'll have the report written so you have it before the next board of health meeting. And thank you to everybody who participated and my two board members who helped on those days. Are there any questions. So now we are moving over to new business. And was Lauren going to come on it. Lauren, Lauren's in the room now and Harrington. I let them know that we're moving a little. Okay. Okay, there I see those now. So our first point is racism as a public health crisis that Lauren Mills is going to address. I also sent a letter to the town council in June. I'm giving information about racism as a public health issue with supporting pieces from the American public health association and the CDC. So, Lauren, are you. Okay, Lauren. Hello. Hi, everyone. Hi. Hi. Can you hear me and say yes. Okay. I can't see myself yet. I can't see you yet either. Presentation. We can't see you but. Oh, okay. But we have your slides. Yes. And I wanted to. I just want to have some. Some kind of visual. Present to go along with my conversation. And these are from the webinar series that was shared by dragon. From the national public. The national public health association. The webinar. It was entitled. I'm entitled advancing racial equity series. Racism. Racism. Racism underline racism, the ultimate, ultimate underlying condition. And so I always. I'm not quite. I don't quite know how the conversation will go, but I really appreciate you guys giving me the time to share some of my thoughts about, you know, why. steps we as a community can take with all the different entities that the community involves individuals, the town management town council, schools, businesses, health institutions, and colleges, universities, etc. So I, again, these slides are not mine. They're just from the webinar and I wanted to make sure that I said the name of the doctor who was the main person who presented but she wasn't the only one. Mara Phyllis Jones, MD, she was the president of American Public Health Association. I think she's currently at school, at Emory University, and she's here for that. I'm interested in public health and interested in the issues of racial equity because I think after being a human being, I'm a mother. Are other people having trouble hearing Lauren? Yes, it seems to break up a little bit or reverberate. Are you still there Lauren? No, I think we lost her. Okay, I hope she rejoins. Emma, what do we do now? Well, hold on. Here's Ben. Ben is back. Take a deep breath. I will say, Kamara Jones is a phenomenal leader in person. I have met her numerous times at the American Public Health Association meetings, and whenever she speaks, you kind of sit and listen and think, oh my goodness, she's an absolutely amazing leader in public health. Next, Ben and Lauren, I had them re-enter the room. Lauren, I think we lost you a little bit there, maybe with your service, but Nancy was just speaking about how she's met Kamara Jones and how wonderful of a person she is and knowledgeable. Yes, I was very impressed, so I'll try to talk fast and I'll see if I'll have to use the slides. Just let me know if you want me to advance them. Okay. So, I consider myself, I was saying a mother and one of Kamara's, one of her points was that in American society, we don't ask a lot when we greet each other in other traditions. We don't ask, you know, how are the children? And I, that was one of the notes that I took down that, you know, we have to thank to the generations, not just ourselves, and not just our children, but our children's children, and so forth, if we really want to the problems that we continually are going through as far as how racism is impacting all parts of, you know, our health and our society. So I call this, I don't know, I just call this presentation, whatever, this presentation, death by a thousand traumatic stories, we lived and retold. And the, I call it that because I think sometimes we continue to tell the same story and we don't get to the solutions, even though it's important for us to, as the webinar series mentioned that to know the history and to know how things are and why they are and try to answer the why, but we have to not just keep telling the same story over and over again, we have to get to the why and then get to the solutions. And so the key parts of the society that I'm sorry, key parts of society that declaring racism as a public health crisis should address. My is the one the digital divide to access to health services, three public education and anti racism curriculum review group that reviews books that I use to introduce that I used to introduce multicultural topics and events and that are historical or present for community police oversight by alternative safety networks to to standard policing. I think I'm on six creating black spaces and entrepreneurship and seven healing and support for relationships from toxic stress due to direct or perceived racism. Also, some other points that I took from the webinar is how do we come out of this bad situation that we're in. How can communities protect themselves from the threats of racism. And one of my solutions I guess or one of my thoughts of a solution is having good self esteem and and self worth, having knowledge of ourselves and our historical truths, promoting self care. We know as we age this requires more diligence, and we need to stop normalizing and seeing black experiences as all hazards. We have to change these perceptions at an early age, so that those negative labels do not become our realities. We need to practice gratitude for what we have and take care of those in our lives for the best of our ability and we need to seek new ways and people to support our vision of health free from racism trauma and trauma. And I did take some other notes but I guess we could go through the slide I don't know if you want it to like have comments or have a conversation or just like me. Just kind of give my initial thoughts, but as as the presenter Kamara in the webinar, Dr. Kamara she said that the clearing racism is just a stake in the ground. It's not the end all be all there has to be some action steps, and I did want to share I guess some of the barriers that she, you know, had on the slide. So I guess we can go through those if people want to but you can, you can let me know what what you would like to do. I think they're interested in action steps, and what you think is important for action steps. And then if you would tell the board what you think is important for us to do I want to hear your story your voice in leading this. Okay. Other other board members. What do you think. I think that's really important. I also wonder how what's presented to us as a public health crisis is also part of the greater town actions or statements and actions in the area of racism bought by the town council and by the Committee for Preparations and how we fit together because it's really seems like one, one broad topic to me, but maybe I'm wrong. Well, I, I, I came because the declaration and however the declarations are put together by like the town council, they have to be put forward by organization or I don't know if they can be put forward by individuals, but because the declaration would have public health in it and we have the board of. Lauren you're Lauren you're coming in and out I'm not hearing the right commission and Lauren can you, Lauren can you hold up one minute. Lauren, your, your voice is coming in and out for me and I'm missing words way and I don't want to miss them are other people having trouble hearing right now. Yes. Yeah, I want to make sure we don't miss your words Lauren and in your, are you bet are you still there. I think we lost her again. And I don't want to lose her words. Yeah. I didn't want to interrupt her but I wasn't hearing the, the, the message. Yeah, let's see I bet she's going to come back in the room. She's the student attendees. While we wait for her to come back. I think she's talking here. Oh, okay, great. Thank you I didn't didn't want to meet you, you faded out. I can just end it here. Yeah. Okay, I, I don't want, I, I hear what you're saying that you want to hear my thoughts and hear, you know what I feel the solutions would be but I like all of us we are connected to other groups and other parts of the community. So I think it is a collective. It's a collective and a collaborative, you know, way of doing, doing this and you know solving this or making things better. For those who, who live and experience racism. I just wanted to also say that. Are you still there Lauren. I love your quote that's up. I know, I know Ben Harrington is here. And I didn't know if, if he had anything to add maybe while Lawrence having some technical difficulties. If we wanted to open that up. Okay, should we listen to Ben while we wait for Lauren to come back in. Ben are you there. Yes, I am I'm here. Okay. And how is your connection. I think it's good if I stay in the same spot I think. Okay. Okay. Okay, so you sound good. Yes, so I'm here on behalf of the Human Rights Commission I'm the chair of Amherst Human Rights Commission and so we've definitely we've discussed this we had Lauren come and talk to us as well we also sat down with with the dragon. Is it okay to refer to you as the dragon. Yeah, that's fine. I'm so impressed with that name. But um, but yeah so so we're sort of interested, not sort of we were interested in in partnering with the Board of Health and in this sort of declaration and um, and I think like the way the way I think I consistently think of in terms of actionable items. You know, like for me, if we're making a declaration of racism as a public health crisis right, I think it's probably important to incorporate the things that are going on as well and saying, you know, that we support these, you know, you know, for instance, you know reparations and one of the suggestions is this pathway to homeownership right which which also affects health and generational wealth and these sorts of things so I think incorporating the things that exist already you know these initiatives that exist already is very important, and I also think it's probably important. I think from, from your end, you know, as the board of health is to kind of find other ways that we could probably be effective or at least like kind of initiate effectiveness, if you will like kind of bringing up other you know like access to healthcare these sorts of things and, you know, kind of playing a role there so that's sort of my hodgepodge. Or, for now, I'm kind of interested in what sorts of things you all like this we discuss discuss this a lot of the human rights question like what can we actually do to be effective. And one of our steps was to, you know, this idea of partnering with with you all. I'm just kind of wondering if any of you all have thought through like initiatives that might be that people haven't talked about already that might be helpful. Nancy, I know you've done a lot of research as have I but with the American Public Health Association and their implementations, as well as the AMA do you want to speak to that. One thing when people are talking about this declaration. Last year the American Public Health Association have a site where cities and towns can set state that they have declared racism as a public health issue. Last June, Holyoke, Chicopee, and Springfield all June 16th, 16th and 17th and Long Meadow on July 24, their powers to be so we would have to have our town council declare that racism is a public health issue in our town. And that's this declaration that people are talking about. I've been talking, and I'm hoping we're coming to a tipping point where we can do something. We've been talking about it. The public health section of the public health nursing section of the American Public Health Association. All of 2012, every fall has a pre conference session on racism. And I keep saying, we talk about it we need an action plan. We need to move forward beyond talking in our town. I have a million notes here, but how little progress has been made in our long history of anti racism campaigns. And just on July 4 in the South Amherst Common, I attended it. The Frederick Douglass speech on what does the fourth of July mean to a slave. He announced racism way back in 1852. There was a blue-eated boy who our library at UMass is named after in 1896 in his report on the Philadelphia Red Negro, asked for health equity in 1985. We have Martin Luther King and all the movements and the Black Panthers from 1965 through the 70s. And in 1985, there was a, the heckler report on health inequities. He said, his disproportionally sickened and killed in our marginalized communities. And as Lauren pointed out, three times African Americans, Blacks and Latinos are three times more likely to suffer serious consequences or death in the COVID. So, and in our town we have, and the town council is addressing it, the working group, the community safety working group, but we're not fully funding it, and we're not really acting on what this working group and they're telling the working group after August, goodbye. Don't, don't work. We're going to put it in other places. So I think it's important that the community working safety group keeps working and that we start funding what they asked for. And in my letter to the town council, I said also public high school graduation has been declared by the American Public Health Association as a public health issue. To fund a teen program for Blacks and Latinos is important because I'm sure it will help our disparities in our education. And we all, as Ben mentioned, it goes back to the social determinants of health. And what is our town doing. We do need collaboration we do need cooperation and I hope we have a tipping point where we can move forward and I don't know if any of that has just made any sense and I feel like I'm, I'm preaching rather than being an open member, but that's it. I could go on and on. The record it made perfect sense to me. I mean, that's so one thing I think Amherst does very well is to talk about things right. One thing Amherst does not do well is walk the talk, essentially right and I think, I think we kind of are getting to that tipping point. And I'm with you I hope that we are. And I also feel like we kind of, we hear, you know, speaking right now, have the ability to kind of force that tipping point a little bit right. And so I guess, I guess I kind of wonder how do we get the town council to not only declare racism as a public health crisis, but to also get them to commit to putting their money where their mouth is putting our money I should say we all please pay taxes here right so putting our money where their mouth is I guess. What ideas do you have been. I mean I think like the just directly kind of a, I guess sort of having like a soft declaration right kind of like forcing the issue, kind of coming up with the language that that sort of thing so it makes it that much easier. I find like, so in my day job I find that like if I come up with a solution presented, and then ask someone to partner with me. I get a lot more cooperation. And I also think that if we were to do that publicly these are public officials. And I mean, as somebody who is also a public official I can I can say like, there are elections coming up right so now is a is this kind of a very good strategic point to kind of press that issue publicly, you know. And I would hope that becomes like sort of a campaign issue for folks as well. Those appear that there's someone in the attendee room Anita sorrow that has her hand raised. Do we want to open for public comment. Yeah, okay. Yes, yes, yes, thank you. And then it looks like Lauren as well has everyone's being so polite with their hands raised. Okay. I'm going to do Anita and then back to Lauren. Because Lauren missed a lot of what she had to say. I'll be very quick. Can people hear me. Yes, my name is Anita Sarah. I'm a resident of Amherst. And I just wanted to put a plug in for some work that was done in connection with the reparations report that I believe now is still available on the town's website. And then Fishman and I worked on the section that was on health disparities and the information in there is sobering and underscores everything that Lauren was starting to present about the disparities for instance and I'll just put a couple to the list of income and education level on an African American mother has twice the chance of dying and Perry Natalie than a white woman on black baby has twice the chance of dying than a white baby. These are real and they filter down nationally statewide regionally and right into Amherst. I would suggest that when you think through this you use the social determinants of health as a framework, because it shows how income transportation education housing access to medical and preventative care, and particularly what was profoundly moving for me. Community engagement and safety was an essential part of someone's physical and emotional well being so the work of the community safety working group is absolutely essential. What can a board of health do? I think you can be the voice. You can constantly be the voice of why this is important, why the health and safety and welfare of everybody in the community is important and help to break down the silos. Ben was talking about partnering with human rights. You're looking at we're all have an eye on the town council. It's important to bring those pieces together so that the town really will walk the talk. And, you know, when I look at the mission statement for for the health department, I think the question always has to be our outreach. How are we doing it? What groups are we reaching? What groups are we not reaching and why the same thing for education and for for especially COVID which has underscored all of the concerns that we have. So I would just urge you to take the first step and do a declaration but push well beyond that and make it part of your and an essential part of your mission to be able to say we're here to deliver care, you know, to to benefit everyone in the community. Where are we doing that? Well, what's said then to the community are we doing that? Well, and why? Where are we falling short and why? So that's my spiel but please, you know, we put a lot of work into that report. I'd love to know that it's not just gathering dust. Anita, I've read the report and it's sitting on my desk at home with highlights in it. That seems like a good place to start. I guess I wondered from what the Board of Health role might be in, you know, making a declaration if I read through and listen to that webinar. It's not like writing a one, you know, three sentence thing. It's not just one sentence. It's really covers a number of areas about definitions and actions and plans and, you know, so it's not, it's not a trivial task. But I do think, well, like Ben said, if we got that started, at least a framework for that, then to pass, you know, send it up to the town council, that might be a way to go. You know, in thinking about some of the comments from Kamara Jones about things we can address is like who is at the table in Amherst in terms of these discussions. Also, the ideas that we've been talking about of an assessment of what the public health needs are in Amherst is another essential step to take. I don't want to get stuck in that, that at that step. And I know some of the grants that Emma's been pursuing it is are some of those steps that we want to want to support and take. So I think there's a lot for us to do and think about but I don't know, do we have it? Can we do it? I don't know if the attendees are aware. We wrote a proposal to do a comprehensive community health assessment and we're partnering with the School of Public Health. We have to get funding. And so it would really look like part of the community assessment that was done for the black community, but for our whole community and looking at data based on the social determinants of health. The assessment tool is built on that. Looking at our different census tracks and small geographic areas so that we can get better data. And looking at that so we need to procure funding for this and that's what we will be working on in the School of Public Health will be partnering with us and it will be starting in the fall. And I would love Ben Harrington to have your group in on this we're going to put together a team so that as we work on it. And what do we do with the data to move forward would be very helpful. And is Lauren connected to talk. I don't see her anymore. I can bring her back in the room. Thank you. Have you been able to hear us Lauren. I don't know if it's close to a window I don't know what what it is, but you, you're not static anymore. So, it's fine. Did you have a question, or you want to me just add something. If you can add anything. Yeah, I would just say that when it comes to the declaration of racism as the public health crisis. Although every you mentioned the the assessment that you want to do for I guess the entire population or the town of Amherst. But I think it's important. And my perspective is to really continue with focusing on the parts of the community that are most affected by racism. And so, I guess, you know, in the, in the, the presentation by the American health, the American public health association. They spoke about the duality of racism and, you know, she gave Komar Jones gave the example of the sign in the, in the restaurant door. And if you're only on one side, you don't realize that there's another, there's another message on the other side. So, that's saying the opposite. And so I don't know that if that webinar if everyone on the Department of Public Health has seen it. And you mentioned that there's a summary that we can look into that has already been researched and presented to you but I would, I would like to continue the conversations. And like a campaign to, you know, let the town know and the other entities in the town know that, you know, this is something that we want to do. And one of the questions that Dr. Mark Jones wanted us to ask whatever organization we are in is how is racism operating in this space. And so I just think that, you know, it would be good to go back to that webinar and maybe, you know, bring out some points that we can add to a campaign and share with, you know, the important parts of the town that we think would be important to like support this separation and the planning that goes, you know, along with that. So that's pretty much what I have. I have a question for you, Lauren. When you say the people that are most affected by racism in town. How would you describe are these geographic locations are these special groups how, how can we identify people that are most affected. How do you identify people that are most affected. I think we're, we're affected in different ways, because the conversations I've been having is that, you know, those who are white, those who are non white, we're affected in different ways and when I first came to the meeting of the human rights commission, the life expectancy of an American has gone down. So it's, it's, yes, it's worse for people of color, African Americans, minorities, people who, you know, however you want to, to subjugate, subjugate those different areas of people of color. But the American lifestyle is is just very stressful. And the public health institutions. As was mentioned in the webinar do not support necessarily health, they're not where health is is necessarily, you know, sustained, even though like when we get sick. Or we give birth, or we have the injury. Yes, we go to the doctor and I was thinking in my mind like, you know, no matter how much I love my child, I cannot, you know, give her a root canal. I can't do dentist work on her, but I can make sure she goes to the dentist I can do my best to make sure she brush her teeth which is always an issue within our household, which, you know, is not a story, but anyway, we need public institution we need health services, but still, that is not where health lies, and I think that's how Dr. Jones put it that's not where health lies. So we need all these other community and collaborative efforts to like, support our health system. And as I say, counter racism and, and, and like, strengthen, you know, ourselves and those communities are most impacted. And your question, like how you identify that well. This is kind of these terms are kind of new to me so I'm not, I'm not a professional, like, activist or person who, you know, knows all the time my head but race, they said that race, you have to say the full word racism it's not the issue of race and how you know America loves to separate people of how they look and where they come from, but it's actual racism and so you have to say the full word and you have to also remember that I just lost my thought but you have to, you have to say the full word racism and racism is invisible in many times and, and I thought that was a very, really important point that even though we might not see it operating or can't put our finger on it all the time. It's always there because it's part of the fabric of the American society so I think it affects all of us but it affects us in different ways. And when we go back to like it as a health crisis. I don't, I don't necessarily want to have access to a defunct health system like I don't feel like me going to the doctor multiple times or getting operations or having access to a unhealthy health system is what is going to better me, but I think we all, we all know when we, we feel good, you know, and, and we all know when we need something and we're not getting it. And so I guess that's a roundabout way of answering your question, but, but it definitely, it definitely affects all of us and it definitely affects people of color. So it depends on how you want to define that. Sorry. So what, let me see if I got these two. I put it is three messages from you. One is you don't want to use the medical model you want to use the public health model. And that I have a question for you. Are you familiar with the community safety working group report. Yes, I have, I haven't read it, but I am continuing conversations with the representative of the group Breonna and Alicia. And so I think, as I said before, is it takes the different silos and takes the different groups that we're connected with that we're and these issues, these communities of shoes to support each other. So yes, I am. Okay, so that and that the importance of collaboration and cooperation between and among different leaders and groups in town. What did other, what other, what did other board members get from what Lauren is trying to say, I'm trying to my problem is, I keep hearing and talking about racism, but I want to start putting action steps in place. Talking about it. I heard Lauren say at the beginning that she, you know, taking from come our Jones that she wanted to get to the why, and then take these action steps which I thought I heard things like some of the the digital divide access to health care, public education and anti racism curriculum. There's something I missed I think group, some kind of group I didn't get that a community police oversight attention to public safety black spaces and entrepreneurship so I mean, it seemed like a whole bunch of not bunch but a really really broad look at at how things work for people in the town in the town. I, I don't have the community safety working group report in front of me, but the community safety working group has touched on many of those exact pieces. So, I guess, and their recommendations to town, to the town council touches on those. Has anyone else read the community safety working group report. Not recently enough to remember. They have like seven recommendations, but I think this is a little different. The declaration for naming racism as a public health crisis is not in their court, but it, but it is some of the, some of the aspects of the effects of racism like over policing. Like, I guess the main one was over policing because that's what they were charged to look at. And I might be over speaking because I haven't read the whole thing but their, their charge was to see how they can come up with recommendations to the standard policing of the Amherst police department, how communities of color who feel safe, how they can make those communities feel safer. And what recommendations will the town support with finances with money with funds and with the whole conversation with defunding the police or transferring funds to these other areas of the community that will support a more safer community was the oversight of the police, you know, a continual oversight community oversight of the police. And again, like some of the things were like projects like the youth center or the cultural center, which was, I mean it's not clear as are they going to use a building. You know, existing or they going to, you know, create us is the town going to designate as a space. Like, how was that going to work is that going to be two years from now three years from now, but I think from my standpoint, we need to continue to have the conversations in any way that we, we feel is necessary to have the conversations about racism, and, you know, continue to like, ask the question like, how is it operating in the town and racism operates in more than one way. So there has to be more than one way to address it. Well, I agree this is a very important aspect of public health. I think your question about having meaningful ways to accomplish it rather than talking, that is where the challenges. So, I'm thinking about the mission of the Board of Health in terms of developing new regulations, altering the regulations. And I think it's listed like a three important task of the Board of Health. I'm just curious how we could actually help in through those three mechanisms to enhance this. Of course, the declaration will be really helpful as a first start, but we need to start talking about very specific ways we could deal with this issue. So, in terms of operations for a department, the AMA gives some good systems with how they've implemented and actual practices when it's been declared an emergency, a crisis, and also the APHA, I don't have their 85 page playbook, but they also have a pretty comprehensive how to make successful outcomes and actions following these declarations. How do we as a board make it possible for the health department to kind of make some of these things happen? I feel like that's sort of been a question I've been on the board for two years. That's been a kind of question I guess I haven't really asked. So it looks like when official declarations that were posted by the APHA have been declared via town councils or city councils, boards of select men. I think what Ben was speaking to earlier with the Human Rights Commission, what Lauren has spoken about, would be the Board of Health and the Human Rights Commission and possibly other groups making a statement to this town council requesting a formal declaration of racism as a public health crisis by the town council. And then yes, Maureen, you spoke to the very comprehensive declarations that have been published by cities and towns in Massachusetts, but then also around the United States. So official formal declarations that are that comprehensive are typically formulated and composed and published by the town councils or select boards. So I don't think that's something that has to be done here tonight. But I think this is a great discussion but and profitable. Somehow is there a way ending before with ending the segment tonight that we have something tangible after this meeting to kind of bring to town council forward how significant of an issue. Even the discussions in this room have shown as Anita has shared with it with racism here in Amherst. Steve, before I say anything. Yeah, so, you know, I read, I did the webinars and everything and I agreed with essentially everything I saw there that I read, I would personally completely support this and if I was just asked would you sign a declaration I absolutely would. I have some of the reservations I think Tim was expressing about the Board of Health has a charge there's certain things we're supposed to do. And we have to have credibility and what we do we have to be very sure. You know we're going to kick people out of their homes if it's unsafe we're going to close down restaurants I really think everything needs to be very firmly based in information that we that we have. You know, when we go to the social determinants of health, you know, virtually everything is a health issue. You could say foreign policy aspects of foreign policy United States policy is a health issue because the nuclear war for heaven's sakes or immigration is all kinds of things are that, but we should not be doing that it's really not our job I think we want to really focus on the town of Amherst if possible, and by all means a declaration I think that what the declaration says it's fine in general. I heard a couple of things there that I definitely think we should do not do and that is, if we as a board, we as individuals might support something like reparations for example, it would be a big mistake for the Board of Health, as a board to support that because it is a political issue it is a controversial issue there's not a direct enough link to our mission to do that will lose credibility with members of the public. If we start taking positions on things that are not quite directly related to health racism is in general and I support the declaration but that's the caution I have let's stay within demonstrably health issues, and not take positions that will weaken the board's credibility on areas that we really do have expertise on and are and need to be need to be believed when we take a position. So I'm all for, I think urging the town council to make that declaration is good, and I would definitely support that if it's a kind of thing that I've heard except for these very specific things that I think go beyond what we should be dealing with as a board you may all agree with it, but that's different from the board. Okay, I've jotted down four points. One is that we and we can even do it today that we support and we as a board, say that racism and public health issue. What's the definition do we have, do we have a definition of racism I really think that should be in front of us. I can, I can get it from public health. I like that one. I like that one. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, I can get it up the APHA website that we put racism on our agenda. Every month that we that it doesn't slip behind everything that we recruit a BIPOC that our board reflects our town that and that we talk about under our, it comes up the health department development and that we that we start talking about bilingual bicultural department meetings having community health workers that reflect the communities of need and that with our community assessment data that it's done in a partnership collaboratively and see what our data says our community needs. So those are my points that I would like to go forward with. And I think we draw off from some of those other reports that have just are very recent that what I say collaborative co-operative. Yes, yes, because we don't have to create everything. No, no, that's what that's what I mean by collaborative and and in cooperation. Hello, can I just add a suggestion that before. Because I really, I don't. I don't know the steps when when declared and a lot of I won't say it's just me I guess me as a person of color. I don't, I don't get, I try not to get too involved with politics, but I think, you know, these days is like right in your, your face all the time on the news and everywhere. So, I'm just saying that to say that as a person of color, I don't necessarily know all the steps and into making policy or making a change in a political way, which is something that, you know, has to be learned you have to get involved. It's not always something that is just like automatic. So, when we say we're going to go to the town and declare racism as a public health crisis, I think, before that, like, Maureen was saying that there's planning and there's definitions, and it would be nice to like have people of color and, you know, those in the community who are, you know, if it's going to just be the Department of Human Rights Commission, that's fine. But if we could, as myself, who is part of the initiation of this, like, how, how will we be in the planning parts of like, what the declaration will say, and then as you said the action steps like the campaign to share this with, you know, other, you know, organizations like, how will that all come about? Is that something that we can do together? What I was saying is that as the first step that we as a board identify it as an issue, and using Dr. Kamara Jones' definition, racism is a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks, which is what we call race, that unfairly disadvantages some individuals and communities, unfairly disadvantages other individuals and communities, and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources. And that's her definition of racism. Is that the definition that the other board members were referring to as the APHA definition? That's the one I recall. I mean, there are, I guess other other declarations have different definitions. I didn't really get into the weeds on other towns or cities, but. And we're not just, we are not declaring it for the whole town. We are declaring it as the Board of Health, saying that this is a public health issue. So we're not making the statement for the whole town. That would be done by the town council. They would have to develop the whole declaration. We are just recommending that they do that. Right. And we are stating that racism is a public health issue in the town of Amherst using this definition. Is that what other members are willing to do? We are recognizing this as a major issue, but the most of the action is going to come from the town council. Is that right? Yeah. And another one is if we are identifying this as a major issue, we also need to back it up with some data. This is my opinion. I think Nancy's community survey, if that could be some sort of a tool to assess the importance of this, you know, more quantitatively and qualitatively, we'll be having a much more stronger one rather than a pure definition. So that will help us with the local one, but the data is some of Kamara Jones's data and what Lauren was telling us earlier, and even under the COVID that black Latino and other people of color in the United States under COVID-19 were three times. We have three times the rate of death, disability and severe cases from COVID. And Emma, were you able to get the data on the immunization rate of people of color in our town or people living in section 8 housing? So we are able to extrapolate that micro amount of data. It doesn't break it out like that. As much as we tried to pull reports, I did reach out to Dr. Katie Brown, the lead state epidemiologist and they're not able to help with that. I don't know, do we need to do a little more homework before we come to making this statement to the board, to the town council? Like, I haven't looked into tail at the reports for reparations, but apparently that work brought up the health disparities in Amherst. I know they exist, you know, I know we know the disparities exist. And Anita brought that up in terms of like maternal deaths, you know, in the natal, in the birth period and other things that are, but she mentioned their national, state and local. And I don't, I'm sure they are, but if we wanted to kind of pull on the local, more local data, maybe that's there and could be a statement, some statements that would support the idea that this is not just a national problem, it's an Amherst problem. And, but I don't know, I mean, I don't know how much we need to put in a statement like this to bring it to the town council. I think that there is plenty of national data, and even state level data. And one thing is, if we have community level that is Amherst and also regional, minor value itself, some metrics I think we'll have a much more stronger case when we make the recommendation. So, maybe we can just talk about the points that we would need to address to make a recommendation that people feel comfortable with at our next meeting and we can kind of each draft or pull some things together and maybe get together, maybe kind of put it together at our next meeting or even circulate some of these things just put them out there, I don't know, just trying to move it along, you know, trying to make it good but also trying to move it along at the same time because it gets drawn out. Do we all want to work with Kamara Jones's definition in our declaration that the Board of Health is declaring that racism is a public health issue. I'm good with that. Do we all want to look at what we think would be important in this declaration for the Board of Health. We're not saying this is a town declaration, but that the board makes this declaration that we submit it to each other for discussion at our next board meeting to make this declaration. Do people feel that is a good step to take. Okay, so let's not call it we do a declaration okay we're trying to get information and arguments to present to the town, so that they will make this declaration on behalf of that we then identify that the board identifies racism as a public health issue. Yeah. That's fine. Okay. Yeah. And we were looking for specific points as, as targeted and regional and local as possible, given that it is a declaration from the town of Amherst it should it pertain to the town of Amherst as much as possible. We're part of the whole country but we're convincing our step after we write our own identification of racism as a public health issue is then asking and forwarding this to the town council for their action. So our action, and then how we can ground it into our mission of assessment health promotion and that begins with a and I'm blanking it right now. It's not access it's. Goodness, I just can't get it right now on the spot I would get it in a minute. But looking at the health department mission. Do we feel comfortable doing that. Yes. This is what I would propose for next meeting we should come up with some sort of a key areas which we think has the strong connection between racism and public health. And then within those three key areas we should identify some metrics for Amherst from regional community level. This is just a very strong case for when we move to the next level of making that recommendations. So our action step, shall I make the motion, and then people can, and we can then discuss it. The motion is that the Board of Health will identify racism as a public health issue. So we will all work on our points to support this so that at our next meeting, we can move forward on making this our public statement. Even if we all, I think we'll all agree that why do you need the motion let's just do it. If you want to make a motion, we're going to have to spell it out. I make a motion that the Board of Health identifies racism as a public health issue. Using Kamara Jones's APH a definition. And that we work on our supportive statements and metrics for our next meeting so that we can vote on. 10 days before our next meeting presumably or five weeks that we send it out. 10 day we share them, we share them. 10 days before our next meeting so we can discuss it at our next meeting to move forward. Sounds like a plan. Can only be informative. It can't be any deliberation. Right. There's no discussion. There's no discussion. You, you, we use this as a working document to start our work at the next board of health meeting. Thank you. We're just doing our research and sharing our research. Without discussion. So do you want to read the motion back? Okay. The board of health will identify racism as a public health issue. Using Dr. Kamara Jones's American. Public health association definition. And we will work on supportive. A supportive statement and metrics for our next meeting to be shared. By no, no less than 10 days before the next meeting. Is that it? That is the motion. Any discussion on the motion? Well, you did a second or first. I'll second it. I'll get this back. Any discussion on the motion. Okay. Hearing no discussion. Let's vote all in favor of the motion. Maureen. I. Tim. Hi. Steve. Hi. Nancy. Hi. Okay. Now I have. Another. Motion. And that is that as we move forward, racism. Is an agenda item on our. Monthly agendas. You make you make up the agenda. Just put it on. It's fine. Okay. You need to have a motion. Okay. Lauren, are you still there? Oh, I don't know. Yeah. Okay. I just brought her back. Okay. We need a board of health member. That is. I don't know how to politically correctly say this. A BIPOC member. I don't know if that's the right term to use now, but that's the one that's going around and all the literature is going to be in the form of a board of health member. Yes. Yes. I am considering and have considered. And I still have to fill out that form. Okay. Yeah. So if you still consider fill out that form. If you know anyone else, please suggest them to them. To fill it out. And I know. The other thing is that it's about the racial equity. Facebook page for town. So I don't know how else to get this. Request out. Marcy slow. Marcy's slow. She posted it on the, um, uh, racial equity Facebook page for town. Okay. But if you know any other way to get the message out, if you know any other way to get the message out, I'm going to send it to you. Yes, I will spread the word to the CSWG. I think we're going to keep that, that organization alive. Despite. Now is, is bad hearing to still on. No, he's not on, but if he or anyone else who is attending and hearing. Please, please, please get this message out. I certainly will. And, and this will let me know if you need me to stay on or. If you need me to stay on. If you need me to stay on. If you need me to stay on. If you need me to stay on. If you need me to stay on. Um, Section of me. We are, but it might be coming up again, because I'm going to bring it up under the department development. But if you'd like to stay on, if you're considering to be on the board and want to see how we. Are doing things. Okay. Sure. Remotely you can. Does anyone else have any. Other comments before we move on. And thank you, Lauren, for coming in, bringing this. Forward. Action. Okay. She's still here. I just moved her to an attendee. I apologize. But she could hear me as an attending. Okay. And thank you board members. So now we are going to talk about the pioneer valley tobacco control inspection outcomes and follow up. So we had four and I forwarded to all the board members, the letters of the four. Non-compliant. Businesses in town with. Selling to underage. Buyers. Tobacco. From the green products. Yep. So the four. The four. The four. The four. The four. The four. The four. Russell's liquor store and spirit house. And it was a, it's a mix of all four with a combination of not asking for ID. For the youth. And not asking the ages. With that being said, Stephen McCarthy, who works in the licensing department. I'm going to go through the four letters. And then I'll go through the letters with Susan Maloney, the inspector. With their subsequent fines based off of the new. Regulations. Did also send their. A acknowledgement at the beginning of the year when they got their new license for the year. With compliance with the tobacco sale laws. And then on Wednesday. I got an email from a local attorney. That was unable to previously send out the tobacco quiz. To these establishments, but that has subsequently been done. We, I even got an email today. Just inquiring if those had to be returned to town hall in the licensing department. Or if they were for an internal record. So. I did respond to that one establishment today. And that they were reaching back out. Board members, do you have any comments before? Emma was a, were those violations found by their, the method of sending a person in to try to buy, or was it based on reports? Yeah, it was on the, some, someone being sent in trying to buy under the work of the Piner Valley tobacco commission. Those documents that we saw, you know, that were copied to us, those were, those initial checkoffs that they'd gotten this, or was that something they did after the fact? I wasn't quite sure what those documents represented. That were sent by Stephen or somehow we got today. Yes. Yeah. So I, check boxes about how all the new, all the laws should work or the regulation. Yep. So that's when an establishment. Re does their license request for the year that they check off those boxes acknowledging. That they're going to commit to those standards. So Stephen just wanted to share them. Jim, do you have any comments? So. One question is what do we do about it? You know, the violations. It's a, it's a tough one. Is there any, I mean, I'm thinking of how, how stick those rules should be on what we should be doing. And it should be sent a letter or I'm just curious, you know, what are the, what are the follow-ups, follow-ups related to that? Yep. So the regulations were updated. Were they last year? Yeah. Yeah. So the first violation is $1,000. Tim. The second violation within a 36 month period. From the first violation is a fine of $2,000 and a blank day suspension that we as a, that you as a board of health would come to decide what would be reasonable. And then a third violation within a 36 month period of time from the first violation or additional violations during that time period are a fine of $5,000 and also a possible. Several days suspension. And then they're offered to have a hearing, but they would have to communicate with us if they would want that hearing and their fines are due within 21 days of receipt. I have a couple of concerns. We wrote these regulations and we put this quiz in to try and help establishments not to get these fines. And I asked in February how these quizzes were going out and we never got an answer. And we have to do the fines. I've never seen four done in one compliance check swing, not in the 15 years I've been on and off the board. Never have we had four at one time. And my concern is we tried to put this in to prevent this from happening. So the tool that we put in to help prevent was just mailed out on the 7th of July. That's seven months after our. Our regulations went into effect. On the other hand, the regulations that were violated are not new. It's all an age related. Thing. I mean. No, seem like it is a subtle. A subtle change in the regulations that caught people. I mean, this is, this has been this way for a long time. I mean, this has been this way for a long time. You know, I, I agree. It started disappointing that those didn't go out sooner, but I don't know that that's really. What the issue is with this, these violations. It just seems laziness or something about non-instructing people and, and making sure, you know, supervises making sure that their employees are following the rules. Okay. Are anyone, is anyone going to appeal this? Do you know, Emma? We have not gotten any. Notification about appealing. Have any of you been on these appeal hearings before? No. Okay. Cause you know what they're all going to say. Oh, we were short staff, someone knew, blah, blah, blah, which is our no excuses. We were short staffed. My brother was filling in. This is, this is what happens at all these hearings. So. How can we move forward with these quizzes? Cause the purpose of the quizzes was to make sure everybody knew. What was done because when the owners check them off, it doesn't mean that the employees and that, that's what they say. Well, they didn't know. Can you have they, we were short staffed. How can we move forward to make sure the, the purpose is not to keep finding people. The purpose is not to be selling this. And how do we get. The handlers who are selling it besides the owners educated. That's my own. Yeah. I mean, the quiz was distributed. To each one of the. You know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know the agencies. Even McCarthy yesterday. Yeah. So on July 7th, it went out to everybody. Yeah. Or then. So. I was notified that it went out on July 7th. There were numerous requests. Over the last several months about it going out. Yeah. Starting in our February meeting. And I was like, I don't know. And I wonder if that should be part of that checklist that. The new employee needs to be. You know, read these regulations and take this quiz or something, or each person is going to be selling tobacco. At the establishment. You know, to emphasize that part a little bit, although I don't know how quick, how. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to make change, but maybe if it's there would highlight it. And we did talk to Steve in February. So my concern is from February to July, no action. And you are all agents of the board. That no action had been taken to get those quizzes out. I know COVID came. And we had a big effort on COVID, but it didn't go out until July 7th. When we brought it up in February, let's get these out. So, so it's hard when I mean, a task has been delegated to another department. That isn't within our department. To have absolute control over. And I guess I don't know what else to say other than that. How can we prevent this from happening going forward? The size of the fact that four people have had to pay $1,000 to all the other 14 tobacco license holders. I think that'll make the news. If Scott Merzback picks this up, maybe he can put a little thing out. I guess I don't know what else to say other than that. How can we prevent this from happening going forward? I think it's a little thing out. Four. It does seem really unusual. Which is very unusual. And it's $1,000. It's up from the small one. And if you, if you do it another time, you're going to lose the ability to sell for a couple of days. A couple of suggestions to add to that. I think of course the quiz will. Help to develop some baseline. Information, but. If we can find a way for the establishments themselves to self-regulate their new employees. Say for example, if there's a new employee who has violated certain rules, they sold it to minors. What do they do about it? Will they penalize with some pay cut? I mean these are something self-regulation is a very effective mechanism. We can make some suggestions to do that instead of, that's one way. Another one is increasing the probability of finding any type of violations. Say for example, if it's going to be once in three months, people usually incorporate those probabilities into the addition making. Instead of that, you know, can we increase that probability of inspections to become random and more frequent? So these are some couple of ways, you know. Are there follow-up challenges to this? Or if someone's found a violation or is it just goes back into the routine frequency of challenging the, you know, sending in people to try to buy who might be underage? Is it? I don't have that answer right off the top of my head. Let me see if I can look it up real quick in the Pine Valley Tobacco Commission agreement. I'm not seeing direct specifications under the Pine Valley Tobacco Commission. No, it's just a, I wondered what they, how they, what they did. But. Yeah, it doesn't say the answer. Yeah, that's no problem. Do, does anyone have anything else on this topic or do we feel like we could move on? I feel like we put on and I put you on the hot spot, but as long as we can get these quizzes out, we'll see if anyone is going to file an appeal. And let's just move forward. And if you can just report next month on how these quizzes are going and how they're being checked on. Okay. Next, back on the hot spot. Okay. So we're going to move on to our health department development. So here we are. So we applied for those two grants. We're still waiting to hear if we're able to get them, they would certainly help us expand our department and improve. Diversity and inclusion. But currently we don't have that capacity. So I'm going to go to the next slide. And I'll just go to the next slide. And I'll just go to the next slide. So I'm going to go to Debbie fish as the per diem temporary nurse to help compliment Jennifer Brown's hours. But I am sad to report that Jennifer Brown. Is it's good news for her. She's taking up another opportunity and going back to school to finish her PhD. But her last day with the town of Amherst will be July 16th. April 16th. And shared with mass public health nurses, MHOA, MAHB. For posting. The position that, that Debbie. Fish took. I mean, was posted April 16th. So. Challenge for public health hiring right now. So Emma, can you share with the board before I go on my old tyrant? Now, how much the town is going to pay a public health nurse in Amherst? The position is posted as a great, a level three salary for non union staff, which starts at, I believe 2741 an hour. Now, can I go on my tyrant? I don't know what anybody else feels. Number one, do you know that. School nurses in Amherst start at $43 an hour plus steps. That the. Wilbur ham just recently advertised for an LPN. That's a licensed practical nurse for their public health. A department at $40 an hour. Do you know that nurses new graduates. Start at anywhere from $45 to $65 an hour. Do you know that a PVTA bus driver that's a student at UMass gets starts at 1750 an hour. I think this is a huge insult to nursing and the health department and that the board of health can't move forward. I mean that the town can't move forward and pay a public health health nurse should be receiving. We're asking for someone with public health specialty. That's advanced learning. 20, what did you say 28 something. 27. 27 something. That's absolutely. Fill in the blank. I have moved forward with. I'm not going to go into that. I'm just requesting that the HR. And I forget if it's the personnel board or the committee that works on the salary scales review that. That request has been put in several times. And at this time it will not be shifting. Well, they should at least put it comparable because the school nurses used to be in the health department in the 80s and in the 80s and in the 80s and in the 80s. I'm just going to quote Andy Steinberg. I don't know what the, the, the salary for anyone coming in under the grant. But when I sent a letter to Andy Steinberg about financing stuff for the health department, I sent it to the town council as not as a board of health member as a community member. Andy Steinberg wrote back to me that. He said, you know, you know, you're getting from the vaccine reimbursement to go back to the health department. His comment was, well, if he doesn't believe in funding anything with grants or just one time finances. So my concern is that we get the grant and you get things, what happens when the grant goes away? Does the health department disappear? I mean everything that is in the health department. And I'll, I'll end now, but I, I, as, as a nurse, I'm insulted and as a town, I'm insulted that that's all the town will come up with to pay a nurse for the health department, especially everything that nurses and all the nurses that volunteered this past seven months. It's an insult to all of us. Amen. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It makes it hard to recruit. Yes, it does. So that's really all I have for health department development right now. COVID-19 update. So we have, we officially did finished. I think I spoke to this our last meeting. Oh, actually no. Our last clinic here was the 28th. We have a total of six months since our first clinic was January 11th. We've done total with the mobile program to over 13,000 vaccines. We have had over 200 volunteers help us. We did a 500, 500 vaccines for mobile regional homebound and 14 communities. We helped support and. And helped guide. School clinics in five municipalities and seven schools, vaccinating over 200, 300. I think it was over 300 kids. Just really phenomenal work for our small department here. In terms of COVID-19, we've had several and rates. We've had several weeks of no cases. Some that appear to come through as probable or antigen tests, but are also. I guess the antibody tests are classified in the same probable category. So those are hard to follow. We have to look into those and then acknowledge that they're antibody, not antigen, not the active virus. We've had a lot of, we've had a lot of, a lot of cases that's it for cases. And we've continued to collaborate and communicate with the university and Hampshire college and Amherst with preparing for the fall. In terms of vaccine rates. And we've had a lot of, a lot of cases that have a clear understanding. They don't have the capacity as well on the state level to help us. Improve the, the efficacy of our understanding, our data as a town. Cause our numbers are based off of census reporting. Which includes students. And whatever residents, students or individuals are reporting as for when they get vaccinated is the address that it's being. Listed under for statistics. Amherst has the highest population in the entire state. Of 20 to 29 year olds making up 43% of our population. And again, the highest population of 16 to 19 year olds making up 21% of our population. So we do feel like those are skewing our numbers, which does appear that we have the 42% of individuals with one vaccine. And I believe it was yesterday, it was 36% of the overall community being fully vaccinated, having two vaccines or being fully vaccinated. We continue to work with the community agencies. I know Nancy, we've had a big email going back and forth with a lot of great active community partners that are passionate about equity and getting it out there. So we have an additional new clinic that we have a flyer in multiple languages that we're going to have another clinic on Friday, July 24th, at the East Hadley Bike Station from 10 a.m. to 12. And then Cooley Dickinson is also going to be there with some of their team that speak multiple languages. So, and it'll also be where and when mobile markets is there. I've also reached out to the housing. Management in the area around the East Hadley bike station to get the word out about that clinic as well. Yeah, so I opened, I opened a box. Last week I met with Emma, getting ready for the board meeting and she had reported to me that at the last mobile clinics, there was at Olympia Oaks, there was one vaccine at the East Street one butternut farms one and East Hadley bike station for when the bus came through there were six at Colonial Village and six at South Point. And I was concerned and Emma said that for whatever reason they weren't able to advertise for the clinic. And at June 10th I talked to Isolde Bustamante and then I saw her again at the reading of Frederick Douglass and she had said she would provide translators. So I sent her an email yesterday morning. I think it was yesterday. Yeah, yesterday morning. Asking her for some help. Well, it just went all over Hampshire County and I have, I don't know, 28 responses. You've gotten them all, Emma. And there's a really nice, this one just came out from Mindy Dome that there is going to be this nice flyer in English, Spanish and Chinese. And it's going out and the library just said, I don't know, are you going to follow up on some of this, Emma? That's our published things. And so hopefully we'll get. That's our flyer. We have that flyer. Okay. So finally we're getting a flyer. There were no flyers for the last one. No, there, there were flyers, Nancy. Oh, okay. You had said you didn't advertise. So, so there's some challenges with some of the mobile markets, not in terms of mobile markets, but with the barriers with it being on private property. Oh, okay. I misunderstood. Yeah. What you said then. Okay. And, and not wanting the ones on private property to be publicized outside of their residential complex. I think because of liability. Yeah. And so will these then go to the. Apartment managers to post around mailboxes and get them out that way. They've already gone out. Great. Great. Great. So I will be there at that clinic. Mark will be there. He is. He's not bilingual. He speaks Spanish. What else can we do? This is sort of the trial. Yeah. I think that's a good point. Or, or a way to see if we can increase vaccinations in our more needy neighborhoods where they're possibly lower vaccination rates, but we don't have the data to say there is a lower vaccination right there. Yeah, I've also, I've reached out to hometown community health center to see if any of their community health workers can assist. I also reached out to CHD to family outreach to Francine. And I've also reached out to the community health center to see if they can assist workers, including Francine. That. That serve Amherst in all of the surrounding communities. So they don't have the capacity to help. Dickinson is sending translators. So they're sending translators, but in terms of getting the word out. Okay. Before the event. And. We, we have volunteers that are bilingual that we've been talking about. Okay. So that's going to put me back to health department development. Can we write in a community. Health worker that's bilingual. Bicultural 20 hours a week in our department. So there's money using federal and state money. I know the budget's gone through, but that, this money's coming through. It's coming through the federal budget. Okay. So I think we have the generous money is ending December 31. Okay. This year. I did have a discussion with Paul about that. I mean, it's always worth a try. That's part of our public health excellence grant that we also. Are trying to put forward. I want something permanent, not this excellence grant. So our budget has not been approved for that. Well, we can keep asking. All they can say is no. Has there been issues with people not getting their second dose or have you had to try to. Follow up on people. Yeah, so I mean, our, our data is pretty in line with what's experienced throughout the state. We've had individuals with some individuals not getting their second dose. It's also challenging to really know the accuracy of what's being reported. Cause if they get vaccinated out of state. It's not going to be reported in MIIS. Or even out of the country. We've had individuals that are coming in for, you know, from Columbia and had their first vaccine in Columbia. So they're getting their second Pfizer, but it'll show up as. They're getting their second Pfizer, but they're not getting their second Pfizer, but they're getting their second Pfizer vaccine. So overall, I think our, um, it was over 80% the last time I looked at it, but I haven't looked at it in the last day or two. Pretty good. You're right. It's complicated, especially here, you know, with all the movement. Yeah. Right before college was leaving. And we were starting to get all of those students. And I was opening up. That was some of their concern is how are we going to do that? I mean, they were given the second dose on the day that students had to be out of the dorm. Um, and I've got to wonder. And I'm sure the same was true around the valley. Do you have anything else? I don't think so. I just, I appreciate everyone's support for the health department. Um, I don't think there's anything else that we're getting done and acknowledgement of all the work that we still have to do. That we're all going to be able to do together, you know, I know I put you on the hot spot, but there are just a couple of things that anyway, we can move it forward. And if it gets in a public meeting, maybe some other public people will spur, um, for our needs. Um, That's just, um, It's just, um, it's just a good thing to hear from the chair. Anybody else have anything else they want to say for the good of the health, board of health and the health department. Meeting as usual in August, right? For. We've already said the next meeting, but that's next, that's August. Second. Thursday, which is. Look it up. It looks like. Well, The 12th. Yes. I have it down. She works for a lot. So thank you everyone for everything that you've been doing. And we need a motion to adjourn. We adjourned. Okay. All in favor. Maureen. Okay, Steve. Nancy. I and thank you, Emma. And I'll be there at the 24th. Please let me know if you think I need to do anything earlier to help. I'll I'm coming home for that weekend and I can come home Thursday, Friday, whatever way I can help for that clinic getting the word out. Just let me know. And I'll plan coming home and I'll stay for a few days afterwards to. And Mark will be there. One quick question and getting the word out. Are there any giveaways. For people, you know, incentives. With our board of health. No, I mean. No, I will people. I mean, especially if you have a site in, in a low income neighborhood or some, something you're targeting, you know, some, some giveaways will help, you know, for people to come and take the next. The state has five $1 million prizes, which we are all eligible for. My wife insisted that we'd register. So I would say. Okay. So we said we were going to adjourn, but. Can you contact the ambassadors because they had all those free things that they were giving out for kids at the Juneteenth thing. And maybe they can set something up that day. And then we can get the ambassadors and maybe they can get some free things to give away. Yep. Yep. They're planning on coming. Okay. So maybe we can get that out. They'll build things for kids to do. And. Handouts. So get the ambassadors. They have more money to spend on this than we do. Okay. So do we have to run again because we discussed. Okay. Well, thank you everybody. Take care. Bye. Bye.