according so we have a okay this is May 15 this is the Board of Health we have three participants which is a quorum me Katherine Hilton Arlene Reed and whim LaVine um noren may or may not be joining us and um Garrett probably not because he is in his is meant to be in the emergency management team meeting which for reasons that are not clear to me has been called for 6:30 on the third Wednesday so he's going to address the scheduling issue when uh or at the meeting so um the only business that I think we have to do we have a discussion we have to have but the only business that we need to do is to catch up on the minute we had our regular meeting of April 17th and then we had an additional meeting of April 24th and um then we did not have a meeting on May 1 so we have not approved the minutes for April 17 or 24 and I have an addendum for the April 24th meeting minute which I sent you then that is simply that I neglected to add Frank mcginn's name to um to the list of participants and he did I confirmed with him that he did zoom in he because I was sharing screen and he didn't speak I didn't I didn't register it so that is the only change that I would like to propose well I I read these minutes when I get them um and if I see anything am Miss I speak then by now I can't remember about the minutes but I know remember that there was a meeting but I know that I had no I I felt no need to respond make an addition so okay on that I do likewise yes okay so um I'd like to move that I'd make a motion that we accept the minutes of both the 17th and the 24th of April seconded okay all in favor Arlene yes whim yes C yes norine's connecting now but uh yeah we won't we won't hold that vote for her um so best of my knowledge that's the only only business we have to do and I'm going to give noren her full name oh and by the way whim congratulations on your reelection and and to you thanks I know it was a it was a tough battle Yeah exhausted by the campaign you broke up a little there whim for me anyway well oh now I hear you again oh sorry no one was speaking but you had broken up there a little bit but we hear you fine now I hear you fine now we should all just start moving our mouths like we're like we're talking hi Norine how are those knees they're they're good I just completely forgot about the meeting and here I am I completely forgot to send out the reminder so you know I almost reminded you to do that I wish you had I've been I've been kind of spacy recently I finally finally made some uh flyers for Sarah's walking program so we just accepted the minutes of the last two meetings that we had and's not joining us because Lenny went and called a emergency management team meeting for 6:30 tonight duh um but I talked with him about the the um the meeting business the meeting format business so I know his his opinion on that um does do we have before we get to that are there any updates that anybody wants to to make I noticed norin that Carolyn didn't get reelected to the select board I was uh just going to mention that yeah it was a tight race she lost by 47 votes um yeah anyway she had lots of comments to make about it but I'm sorry who are we talking about NES oh Deerfield members of the select board are also members of the uh Board of Health oh no kidding yes is that how it is I just I thought it was just fluky in her particular no no no no by being off the select board she's also off the Board of Health correct and in the 12 years I've been working with her in the 12 years I've been working with her she's the only one I've seen really taken interest or have much knowledge of Public Health so dear oh dear interesting moving forward well yeah that's kind of a loss I me she's she's such a Powerhouse well an Institutional memory and uh you know knows everybody in town and knows every program and she was really The Advocate both for public health and for agriculture so she was their expert in both of those areas which are huge for South Deerfield or Deerfield wow interesting well um I've been I just had a CH chat with Sarah Fisk today and you probably saw in your email that she's changed her hours for the summer she did that like two weeks ago and we got confused and I failed to to uh put it out so she hasn't had much much company there um she has she has ideas for um programs that she wants to do she wants to do another Narcan training this one in shuberry she wants to have a um a tick a tick information SE session possibly with Andrew lover who's like you know number one tick Guy and um she's starting this walking program where people can just sign up and if they don't have an app on their phone or whatever they can get a pedometer from her count their steps and then report them um so she's got she wants to have some she's she's got to get some kind of blood sugar thing and then she's going to have um little Wellness checks that people can come in for so um I am I correct that she's changed her hours to increase them to add more hours or is that she's shifting from one day to another she has shifted from only Tuesday to Monday and Wednesday 9 to2 I and a change of days of the week okay yeah yeah okay so she's got she's got plans taking a little while for her to get her you know her feet under her but she's got plans and stuff she wants to do expanding her hours does that reflect does that reflect a level of busyness that she has se or I mean I don't think so because she doesn't she I don't think there's been a lot of um of traffic but she's still hoping but um yeah I think I think the idea is to make her more available okay yeah I think I mentioned that that we had learned this in the uh collaborative meeting and she has more time during the summer I'm not quite sure why so she had asked to to increase her hours during the summer so it may just be the next three months or so and then she she may go back I'm not certain and there was plenty of money in the grant to do that and um you know everybody seems to be she's doing some other things for the collaborative in terms of um doing some research and helping them plan new programs so good yeah and can I have sort of a question that could have been for Sarah or I'll ask our two nurse practitioners um have you read anything or what is your thinking on um should we be getting additional um covid shots now should we wait till the fall and see what uh variance and uh what changes there might be in the um the chemical makeup of the uh of the shot I haven't seen any new advice come out but then again I've been traveling so I it's possible that I missed no I don't think there is any new recommendation for a a booster right now well that's what I thought and I thought last year they were encouraging us to get our flu shot and get our Co update at the same time but I've had several people asking me and you know I know some seniors have been getting their boosters every six months so I wondered what your opinions were on that or if there was any new advice I don't think there's any new advice but you know know a couple months ago um they we got basically permission for people over 65 to get the same fall shot again and I know a lot of people did I did um yeah there was an article in the times about um about the new variant and so they're they're on that that new variant and they'll probably that will probably be included with the new vaccine um any ideas of when that new vaccine might be available are we looking at September or uh later do we know anything I don't know I don't know on the tick front though I read an article that uh they have identified the species now in Massachusetts that Harbors this Alpha gal which is uh when you're bitten by I believe it's called The Lone Star tick um that it uh it causes an allergic reaction to red meat that's a life long thing oh yeah I know somebody who has that I heard about that before yeah um I'm just looking at the CDC site right now which was updated yesterday and they are just recommending the 2320 24 covid-19 vaccines so nothing new no new versions have come through um and so I don't know about when those of us who got it last fall when we should be repeating it um well you can repeat it like four mons four months after the last one right but it it's um there aren't any new versions no yeah they say at least four months following the previous dose so you can just keep getting it well the question is is is it worth it I mean what right I don't think so they haven't formulated anything new so right that's what I was thinking right but the effectiveness does over time yeah but there's no also I don't know if there's any significant Spike right now in so transmission or illness yeah I don't think so I'll see if I can send you this Times article somebody sent it to me as a free share I don't subscribe and I'll see if I can send okay yeah yeah so so the thing that we have been asked to think about by the select board and I'm sure we all have opinions on this is how we would like to see meetings held in the future and the three possibilities would be in person um virtually and hybrid and u I'd like to hear your thoughts well I think virtual is great and I'm willing to go to hybrid if we must or you know maybe we want to set a few meetings a year where we get together and see each other face to face I don't know I don't I think that's called a party okay let's go for that then I I um I find uh Zoom meetings these virtual meetings to work very well um I I do miss in-person meetings but hybrid meetings are very flawed I think if you don't have a conference room set up for microphone and Camera um I don't know if you've attended any hybrid meetings before but it's you can't hear it if you're the person at home you can't hear the speakers you can't see who's speaking um if some if it's just somebody's laptop that's positioned somewhere in the room it's just it's very unsatisfactory I think well we have in in town hall we have a a a conference room set up we have that enormous TV screen and we've got that owl thing that's supposed to track who's speaking and I didn't know I didn't know we had those we do but they're terrible they don't work well at all and so if and I've been to several um um hybrid meetings from you know doing them zooming in from home and just as you say I can't understand what anybody is saying the Acoustics are terrible the owl thing does not work that well last time I was on one I couldn't even hear Walter Tibbits and Walter Tibbits is a really easy person to hear right so so so without the right without equipment that functioning well that they can be really um the hybrid meanings is that said I know no go ahead I know that noren is a much of the time in at your place in East Hampton right norina and I I certainly wouldn't want to make it harder for you to participate so so On th on those grounds I kind of put in a vote for continued virtual meetings but that's yeah I I would agree with that um and two things I wondered is there pressure to change from from virtual I don't think that there is um I think that we have permission from the legislature to have these virtual meetings and that goes through I think next March March of 2025 and so it's just a question of thinking about how how we're going to be organized in the future there was some talk about the legislature wanting to require all meetings to be hybrid which is can't happen because the the financial and other kinds of pressures on small towns like this would just be ridiculous because You' need a whole different setup for all these meetings we are always always having um so so I'm not sure I mean obviously it's going to be the select board's decision and I'm not sure even what the questions are but um they said they asked us to basically talk it over with our boards and have an opinion by the time we get to the the um the all boards meeting the other thing I was going to say though is I am convinced I am the least technologically savvy of all members on the committee and I have missed several meetings but just uh two weeks ago my daughter set up an alarm for me at 650 every first and third Wednesday that's great that used to be me I used to send you a text and I've gotten so lazy about it I forgot that's what it takes so I'm all set up for Zoom going forward awesome those kinds of things from your daughter though we call them Boomer help sessions right well my thought about this and I talked with Garrett about it so that I would be able to get everybody's opinion um is that basically the hybrid meetings are the worst possible option um and that the best possible option is um is virtual meetings because um we you know they work we we can have meetings even when some of us are not at home and can can zoom in and that's been really helpful and thanks to everybody who goes on vacation or goes to their winter home and and Zooms in and also we haven't had to cancel any meetings because of um inclement weather right it seems unanimous right we want to stay on Zoom now I'm guessing that they're going to want to have one policy for all the boards it'll be all in person or they'll be all Zoom or there'll be and they can't possibly have all hybrids so that won't be that won't be possible although maybe maybe they'll continue to have hybrid meetings as long as people can zoom anyway that's what we can tell them whoever whoever ends up going to the all boards meeting and you know can be as many as we want and that's an actual in-person meeting um uh we'll tell them that we want to stay virtual that's the 11th correct that is correct and I'm assuming that I'm not available for that day because I have something else on Tuesday evenings that I am available um super so I will go and but as you said as many of us as want to can go so yeah I I'm a little up in the air my first grandchild is due on the 5ifth but we know how that works so where is that going to happen Vermont Vermont I'm not too far off well great mule yes so those are the only things that I needed to talk about anybody have anything else to so our next meeting wouldn't be until when June June 5th oh the day of the day the baby is due there anything that'll make that baby come on time it'll be having a board meeting that night so um I had a question then that went right out of my head um it'll come back me a minute um oh I know I was wondering whether or not we have gotten any updates from Greg Steve regarding the demolition of his property no we haven't and I drove pass it today and I meant to send him a text and asked him what was up but I I expected to do so I mean with after the inspection that happened when Claudia said to him well just keep us posted I thought good luck right we've tried that before that's gonna work yeah right so um yeah look like any progress that been made okay it doesn't look that way but but uh I'll uh I'll see what I can find out okay all right Al righty well I propose that we adjourn by second if that was it wasn't really a motion just a suggestion but it sounds like there's no objection so let's do it all right nice see you all home soon next week oh good yeah okay good night bye bye