e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay welcome to the May 20th 2024 meeting of yth Board of Health just one note this is a hybrid uh participation meaning so you could be here which I see we have a few people people can certainly zoom in there plenty of instructions of how to do that on the town website to start with we just need attendance I'm Hillard bosy Larry you press just raise your hand say i y Charlie with that you can do it thank you okay Mary I think Mary's here remotely we see your name Mary are you present she's audio's off on her part or she she she put her microphone just love it I'm sorry I said don't you just love it what cooperation from the people that are supposed to be on the board um Eric I know he's not present he's not calling in um Mary it just yes oh great very well I've logged in from the car um at a at a a parking area so I'm going to go ahead and listen in on the way home now okay that's great I appreciate that and I'm also appreciative if you're not driving at the same time okay okay let's go then okay so the first uh item here the the agenda is a discussion on the tobacco tax warning uh letter this was to Brothers food Mar 444 Route 28 West Yarmouth um apparently on April 11 2024 a warning letter from the director of the Mass Department of Revenue went to this business um I'm not sure that the board has seen this before not this particular instance of having this occurred in town that is to the Board of Health I'm aware of right so this is not any violation or you you have no Authority just just by point of information and the owner is here to uh to give an explanation as to what exactly happened right I mean it's relevant to us because of tobacco and exactly right um ecigarettes and uh oh great someone come up please just introduce yourself yes oh have a seat just and just speak into the mic and just for everyone introduce yourself and because what happening sorry I didn't catch your name sir uh my name is uh Sunny prapti last name and I'm from owner in the brothers woodmart okay welcome happening is uh because before the one day as my sales rapper he's given to three unit for sample pieces and my employee he put in the for selling in the self and next day Department gu is coming in the his to just warning I'm not sure I followed all that J so so you perhaps know what he explained to me earlier before the meeting was that a sample was given by the distributor right so it isn't marked properly as far as it is not for sale it was a sample and as it turns out even those samples I don't believe youve have you move forward as far as selling those products no that's the new newu and and mistakingly got put in as on display for sale and coincidentally Bob Co coming in the next day I believe it was the next day next day yeah next day and you know you know you know the circumstances happen he sees that and it's a violation it it didn't have the tax code on there right and um so a display got put up inadvertently and mistakenly and and and it got caught and triggered a warning by uh the state have you decided to appeal or not no no okay and what's the mechanism that um Revenue Department how do they go about you know identifying a problem Jay are you aware of it how that happens I'm not I I am not I'm I'm I'm assuming maybe you could explain to us was Bob in there it wasn't a compliance check he was in there doing a routine check for they came in every year same thing routine checking just routine checking looking for signage things of that nature yeah okay um yeah it just coincidence and yeah some bad luck mixed in there as well right so have you given this some thoughts so this doesn't happen again which would obviously be in your best interest that was I'm not never taking any more in the grocery stop in the you know any product I'm not taking sample anymore okay all right so it sounds like you've given us some thought that's great all right just look out for yourself yeah thank you any questions from board so what involvement did we have with this yeah to the chair nothing this is for information really point of information doesn't fall within your the the town's regulations or your board regulations for tobacco this was simply a point of a point of information all right okay thank you for coming in sir okay we have a full agenda tonight now um we have some presentations here um these are some Human Service Grant request applications and spreadsheet and so on that people have submitted the uh the town has basically uh been generous this year the budget for us to distribute um I think it's $60,000 is that correct but by a point of interest uh by Point historical perspective in 2014 the board had asked or well you know predates me but uh this has gone on since 2014 where uh there's funding and this is really unique for Yarmouth in frankly a credit to Yarmouth where you know this is now outside the margins of Public Health where we're doing the social determinants those other nonprofits and not for-profit agencies are funded but it strengthens and enhances the quality of life for the community and so there's a funding opportunity here this is now the 10th year and uh we have we have 12 applicants that that have put forward an application of varying sizes for applicants the the board will then hear from a 10-minute presentation and and then probably at a subsequent meeting there'll be some deliberation and adjustment as to what that funding level is okay so uh just as courtesy to other applicants uh to the health department and the board to try to reduce your you know your your time to 10 minutes for a presentation you don't need to use it all and we have many more applicants than we've ever had since 2014 which is great it gets complicated organizations are all great they provide invaluable Services um it's tough sometimes to compare um different organizations from our stand point of view that's all so we have some work to do uh let's start on the top um right now I think we have 12 applicants the first is Visiting Nurses Association of Cape Cod so uh please come up sit down the mic is yours just introduce yourself for the record okay thank you first yeah it's all yours sure thanks mate thank you great thank you thanks thank you thank you hi my name is Meg Payne I'm the director of Public Health and provider relations for the Visiting Nurse Association of Cape Cod I have been with the VNA since 2015 and I've been giving these presentations since 2015 so um thank you for having us again um although I've only been here since 2015 um our Public Health nursing contract is longstanding with the town of Yarmouth I think this is our oldest contract that we have and um from my understanding dates back about 30 years so this public health nursing contract allows us to provide much more than just nursing um it is a well-rounded Public Health offering to the town residents um so I'll do a quick overview of what we've been able to provide um this fiscal year um up to this point um so with our Maternal Child Health nursing service uh we offer prenatal care and postpartum care um to moms and newborns and their families we also have um we offer Baby clinics um in hyas at a baby Center open to all of our patients um we also offer a perinatal law support group um for all of our patients and all of our materials are translated into Spanish Portuguese and Haitian Creole um from July 1st 2023 up through today we saw 38 Yarmouth residents for prenatal um and we also made 72 postpartum home visits um so those those are duplicated numbers um our nurses are certified lactation counselors they are undergoing perinatal mental health certifications next month um we do address mental health while we're in the home both prenatally and postpartum um and what we do is try to connect these families to resources that may need leading into the birth of their baby or babies to help set them up for um positive outcomes our contract was able to support seven of these home visits so for um families without insurance or who are underinsured um our contract funding was able to support seven families we also have a town nurse and a town physical iCal therapist um that is separate from traditional VNA home care and hospice um these are home visits we delivered to Residents who don't qualify for certified home care so an example I have um of a yth resident is um this person was being seen at the Cancer Center had a new diagnosis um and was feeling overwhelmed the cancer center reached out to us um and stated that they had concerns um this person wasn't taking care of themselves they weren't eating properly they were losing weight and they appeared uh very disheveled when um attending appointments so that raised a red flag I followed up with Jay Jay gave us um the okay to um go out and see this person and provide some extra teaching and education um and some additional support when communicating back and forth with providers um and we were able to get this person in a better place and a better state of mind so that they could help uh better manage their um diagnosis another service that we provide for um the town of Yarmouth is communicable disease surveillance and followup with the state um so anytime somebody goes for testing at a provider's office um Urgent Care Emergency Department and PCP um and they test positive for a reportable disease the specimen is sent to the state lab and then the state will alert us of um someone within our jurisdiction who is tested positive for um for example bosis is a reportable tick born disease um so we get alerted to that we follow up with the individual gather information and send that back off to the state and that's how they come up with their statistics and their reports um so from July 1st 2023 up through today um we saw just under 600 reported communicable diseases in the town of Yarmouth and I know that number sounds staggering um but that's pretty common for what we see across the board um so we're also the town Public Health nurses um in um 13 excuse me 14 other towns here in barnable County and so that that is pretty consistent with what we see across the board another service we provide for Town residents is immunizations um we provide large vaccine clinics um and also homebound vaccine clinics um July 1st 2023 up through today um we provided 14 residents with homebound flu and covid vaccines um and then we also uh provided a clinic at the Maplewood um Skilled Nursing Facility uh where we were able to administer administer 28 highd does flu vaccines 13 regular regular flu vaccines and 29 covid vaccines um we're also the part of the vaccine for children program with the state we offer free vaccine for children who have recently moved here from out of the state or out of the country and need certain vaccines in order to attend school and Camp so we have relationships with School nurses for students that need to be caught up on vaccines um so um that is we were able to serve um again this fiscal year so far 11 um children who are residents of the town of Yarmouth to get them caught up on vaccines uh we do a lot of exercise programs um educational presentations so this year um we were able to provide um two presentations at the Yarmouth Senior Center one of them is called know your numbers and that's all about U Vital Signs and why they're important important and what you know appropriate ranges are another presentation we just offered um on May 13th is stroke awareness so we um brought in some of our colleagues from Cap Cod hospital to help us present on um stroke awareness to the um at the senior center we also this past Friday participated in the yarma senior center healthare uh where we provided information we did some cholesterol screenings and and it was a good time so that's just a really high level overview of what we've been able to provide this year um I also included we do offer um bereavement support groups twice a month at the senior center uh we're we're able to offer a lot with what we have um of course and I'm sure everyone else feels the same way uh you know given more funding we would be able to provide a lot more uh for example exercise programs we weren't really able to provide any this uh fiscal year just due to funding but uh there is opportunity for us to be more involved with more funding any questions questions or comments I just said one or two um if you determine someone has postpartum depression I'm kind of interested on because we have study being done over at the hospital uh what happen happens with that diagnosis what do you provide or recommend um so we provide education um and we help normalize you know what they're experiencing uh with with um terms common terms that um of symptoms like stress and things like that um so we try to normalize it with the individual we educate them but we also educate their support system in the home um if they are able to identify any changes and behavior we are connected with Cap Cod Healthcare we work very closely with the OB offices and um maternity and keep we actually um went live with the Epic um electronic medical record system as of March 1st um so that provides a lot of transparency when communicating back and forth with providers um on what's going on with an individual everyone figures it out yeah we've been doing really well it's been a it's been a smooth trans I all things considered always that the hospitals and other question I have what happens if you determine that Senior Center someone is hypertensive or hypotensive what happens then uh we would you know provide education with everything we do we provide education um have a conversation with them maybe something's going on you know beyond the hypertension um encourage them you know they're not our patients that we can't really like take control but really encourage them to communicate with their provider and um you know if if they want our help we can help assist in in that communication great anyone else anything I would just simply want Meg is here um the board will remember when we had the communicable disease concern with the migrants uh the migrant site here the VNA was incredibly helpful to us navigating that Meg was available all hours of the day and into the evening of trying to coordinate so I just want to while you hear thank you on that we were're able to navigate that and calm some concerns and clarify some information on what is communicable and and what the risks were to the community and things of that nature so that was a tremendous resource so just I hav't really talked to you since then so thank you on that I appreciate it yeah you're welcome yeah it was kind of a unique circumstances we all learned a bit from that thanks for coming in thank you thank you okay um next organization is uh kot Council of churches Hands of Hope Outreach Center evening my name is Katherine Driscoll just you need to be closer to the mic that's all so people Catherine Driscoll great and I just wanted to give brochure you can um hopefully give them out to anyone who calls uh the tenel offices ask from a financial assistance or that's our primary goal we've been um working with the town for probably at least the nine years that you've been doing it or or more uh the Council of church is celebrating their 63rd year this year and there are multitude of problems uh excuse me programs with the council uh a baby center uh Faith Family kitchen uh overnights of hospitality for people who need a couple of nights in a motel homeless people uh we also have um support for foster families and we Hands of Hope is the uh I would say the charitable uh part of the Council of churches programs we help with emergency assistance with food and financial assistance and um most of our clients are from Dennis and Yarmouth we have been located in Dennis for 20 years and uh in 2016 we moved over the line into Westar which uh the building we were in was no longer feasible for us to rent and we wanted to stay on 28 because uh at least 30% of our uh clients take the bus uh obviously we're a 501c3 charitable organization we get support from the council members of which there are 40 plus churches and synagogues and other um uh houses of worship that are part of the Council of churches and we get support from Grants uh individuals what and we have um different uh Municipal um contributions the towns of Dennis Yarmouth and the federal government we get money from FEMA through emergency food and shelter um so our mission is to provide emergency assistance with food we do have a food pantry open 5 days a week we also have a delivery system that we work in conert with the um County food coordinator and she sets up the delivery program and we provide the food we use capabilities Community connections and volunteers to deliver the food we deliver to about 60 Yarmouth residents a month we also help with emergency assistance for eviction prevention of eviction utilities and heating oil and one of the things we want to do with the board of heal funds the the Human Service funds from the town of Dennis are just a tad bit different but because we're working with the Board of Health and Y armouth we like to use those funds for problems that come up throughout the year with people who uh have a issue with trash we've done many dumpsters we've done basement cleanouts we've done uh Chase and Merchant and nset uh disposal runs um we've done water bills uh people living with no water uh people who have no power uh living for months on end with no electricity uh people who to have no heat and are putting kerosene in which is just a real safety issue so we try to use the funds that we get from the Board of Health to cover most of that we also have another contract with the town of yarma through Community preservation and uh that is for primarily well I should say totally for eviction prevention and one of the other things that we do is to make sure that every unit we support in any way for rental assistance is registered with the town and inspected uh you know we'll contact Jay in Christine and and just to make sure that every unit we work with is registered with the town so they have an idea as well of of what's out there who the landlords are and what some of these places look like we also help with um uh providing snap applications fuel assistance applications um and we we do any number of other resources people call us all the times for things as min as and we would work with the visiting nurses actually on this uh the town nurse uh we have people call us looking for uh medication for lives they can't uh bring their children back to school and they can't afford something as uh like that so we have many personal requests as well um last year we helped um 539 people in the food pantry um including the deliveries um we helped 89 people for uh excuse me 89 households I'm going to say 539 households excuse me not individuals for food um we had 89 households received help with just this portion of the funding we receive here there's different numbers for Community preservation uh this 89 households were for eviction prevention rent not the rent that we see through the CPA where people are two and three months behind thousands of dollars this might just be where they paid what they could and they're a little behind and we can make because it's so hard we all know to find a new unit now so if we can help keep somebody in a unit and it also keeps some continuity in the schools for sure to have people moving in and out of the town and that 89 households also include utility shut offs reconnects delivery of heating oil water bills trash disposal uh we've been B bought a couple of um in the past year we've bought some stick um Yarmouth stickers not for the beach but for the dump so in total for uh the previous fiscal year we helped um 628 Yarmouth households with uh those assistances uh the town of Yarmouth makes up 38% of all the people that we help and um we also provide uh backpack assistance at the end of the summer and going into at the beginning of the school year we work with some of the schools to see what it is we could help with through the nurses and we also have families that come into the pantry that request that [Music] um most of our funding I believe I said was from um 40 20 to 40 depending on how many are currently in the council uh churches that help us we get funding from the needy fund they work with us on many uh we also work with the St F Paul on many um ways that we're have to get together to help one particular household and we get annual pledges from our um individuals that help us we get help from different golf clubs and Dennis and Yar MC men's club the board of reals and the members of multiple listing so um that's what we do good summer you're welcome uh questions on the the dumpsters and cleanouts is do you just Supply the dumpsters and have the residents do the clean outs or do you have a team that help well we've done both we have paid for the dumpster to be dropped off or we pay when it's full and we've also had a Boy Scout Troop go and help um but we've been cautioned that that could be some liabilities so we've Mo mostly just left it up to the individuals but because there's always a time limit uh and sometimes people just are not able for whatever reason they're either older or they're uh have other handicaps that we will if we have to try to find some help okay um is there uh a limit like on how much or how like if it's excessive well the last dumpster situation we had um it was $1,800 so it was 2900 fillips and um you know at that point I would call Jay and ask for an inspection I mean I some of the time when you go you know you can see that they haven't been able to go to the dump and it's a buildup of trash bags yep okay and so that that might not even fill one dumpster so it it depends on the if if it were extreme we would we would not do anything ourselves until we get some guidance guidance thank you very much for that anyone else Mary just speak up if you have something okay just tired listening to all they do it sounds great yeah okay thank you for coming in very helpful thank you okay uh Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod next up actually is it independent house independent house is ahead okay fine doesn't make any difference right they're they're virtual Independence house he's calling in yes is someone calling in from independent house yeah L okay great welcome no do we there we go okay we can see you now we right now we can't hear you yet okay how's that and that's complete yes you're fully present so just introduce yourself thank you for coming in yes uh good evening uh everyone uh my name is Letta herge putam and I'm the executive director of uh Independence house which is um an organization that provides um resources support advocacy to um victims SL we say survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence um what I want you to know about independence house is that we've been um on the cape for um a long time since 1979 founded on Cape Cod by Cape cotters and our mission back then was to provide a safe place for um at the time women who were victims of domestic violence uh because there was no no safe place for them those that couldn't be at home and that mission has remained uh pretty relevant even after over 40 years and we expanded our mission to work with survivors of sexual assault as well so what I can tell you as someone that's been around for a long time I've been the executive director for 25 years and I want to take this opportunity to really um express my thanks to the uh town of Yarmouth um Department of Health for all of the support that you've provided in terms of funding to help us to serve uh survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence so our organization really um all of our programs are designed to address the I would say Myriad of issues that come up for someone that's experienced domestic violence or sexual violence some of those programs include you know like our safe plan Court advocacy program where that's where we have staff that are actually um situated in the courthouse we have little um offices there and that's what many people may typically think of as um a restraining order so that's that's just one Continuum of the services that we provide we have a hotline that's open 247 um we serve um people from ages five I would up to 80 I'd say across the lifespan so we work with children um who have been exposed to domestic violence at home and the reason for that is because it does have a traumatic impact on many uh children who may have trouble in the classroom concentrating um and we also work with um children from about the ages of 5 to 12 where there might be a report of um sexual abuse as well uh we mainly work with um adults um in the age range of about say uh 30 uh and up although we do work with teens as well um one of the programs that we're very um that we've been excited about for a number of years is what we call our mentors in violence prevention program and that is with um in the Yarmouth uh school system in the high school where we teach uh students to be well strategies I should say to be active bystanders in in violence prevention and we're hoping to um move forward with that uh next fiscal year as well we're also um particularly concerned about um what we call adults in later life who are also impacted by um domestic violence they they have different needs so we want to make sure that we're able to address those needs um for some people who are younger they may decide to go into to say um we have a shelter program we have a housing program for older adults um really we have to assess with them what what's right for them um most most older adults are not going to leave their homes to go into shelter go into housing but they might call our a hotline for support or we may work with them at the senior center um just depends on the particular um individual uh so last year for um the town of Yarmouth we served um over 1,000 clients these are um duplicated numbers um capewide we serve about 8,000 and annually it that varies it could be anywhere from six to 10 it just depends on the year and our request to the town of Yarmouth is for uh $12,000 um $99,500 of that is for what we would call quote unquote um General domestic or sexual violence services and the remainder we would like to dedicate to our MVP program and our adult in later Life program so I guess I would um provide Clarity by saying we're a comprehensive organization that my term that you some of you have heard me say before it's from Soup To Nuts it doesn't mean that we're trying to fix everything for all the survivors we work with but what we do want to do is to be able to provide a comprehensive array of um responses for um you know survivors so um I did put my timer on so I'm going to stop there and ask for questions if there are any anyone yes uh Barry lewi assistant director question for you do you work just with female survivors or do you work with male survivors also we actually work with male and female survivors um also did forget to say I should give a shout out we do collaborate with the um Yarmouth Police Department as well and Annie who is the um domestic violence advocate there's a former employee of Independence house and we still work closely together but um I will say to answer the question even more specifically we've this is why we do not identify we don't say we work with women a lot of women are impacted by domestic violence but we have um obviously for you you would know that we have um you know male survivors of sexual assault but also um people who might be in um same-sex relationships s man so um we serve with surv we work with victims or survivors we don't like the word victims so we use it interchangeably with survivors all right thank you very much you're welcome anyone else John Larry okay thank you again thank very helpful for the board okay thank you for the opportunity okay be well okay we're up to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape conon if someone's here tonight virtual as well you can see yes Jr J.R Mel he's he's okay there's the name all right there we go okay we can see you and we just need audio I think just need to hear you can you hear me yes perfect right thank you everybody apologies I had planned to be in person um and the best laid plans sometimes just don't happen so uh thank you to the town of Yarmouth for giving us a few minutes to talk about Big Brothers Big Sisters and the work we do on the C and Islands but in in particular for the Youth of Yarmouth uh Big Brothers Big Sisters I like to say does one thing and we do one thing well uh we're a onetoone youth mentoring program that provides youth from the community between the ages of seven and generally around 18 with a a thoroughly screened caring adult mentor to meet with them in several different program models um specific to Yarmouth we run three different program models uh in which we serve youth our first is what everybody thinks of when they think of Big Brothers Big Sisters are what we call our community- based mentoring program it's a Big Brother Big Sister little brother little sister spending a few hours two to three times a month out in the community doing activities that they would enjoy doing anyways our program really focuses on the core of Social and emotional learning for kids um and no matter what our program model each kid is evidence-based to show gains um in what we measure calling uh what we measure for social emotional learning calling the succees uh our second program that we run in Yarmouth is in partnership with uh me small Elementary School uh it's called a Lunch Buddies program this program partners with various Employers in the region uh for example Cape Cod 5 Cape Air shley Wood Products just to name a few um and the employers allow their employees an additional half hour on their lunch break to be a mentor to a kid in the school this program model helps us to serve some of the highest need kids whose family potentially couldn't uh partner with a big or has just too much going on to meet the requirements of the communitybased program so in this partnership with me small Elementary it allows uh once the parents given permission it allows the school uh to take the coordination with us as well as the big brother or big sister for those meetings that take place at the school uh those meetings are once a week during the school year over the lunch and recess block same focus on social and emotional learning our last program model we run in Yarmouth um is part of our K9 Sergeant Shan M Ganon bigs with badges program Sean Ganon was a three and a halfe big brother at the time of his death and we've renamed our program in honor of him uh through this through uh Sean's program we recruit officers from various police departments including Yarmouth uh to spend time two to three times a month or in the Lunch Buddies program once a week uh being a mentor to a child who could benefit from that additional adult guidance I've been with the agency as the director for the past eight and a half years uh we've been fortunate enough that the town of Yarmouth has been a strong supporter of our programming in my eight and a half years here we've matched 78 kids from the town of Yarmouth with a big brother or big sister and currently we're serving 36 kids in the town of Yarmouth uh in what we call an active match so they're still active participants of our program they haved graduated out and are still seeing each other uh on a weekly or bonly basis GNA pause there any any questions anyone it was very succinct yeah sounds like great work thank you well thank you um you know the the Board of Health has been a strong partner with us from my and a half years and from the record that I've seen for for much longer than that so I appre appreciate all that you do and I would have to fire myself I if I didn't encourage anybody listening who might want to be a big brother or big sister to check out our website it's our biggest need right now so thank you glad we could provide that just now good okay thank you Mr chairman if I could I just want to introduce uh the newest member of the Board of Health has joined us Monique Dy and uh she's she's taking over uh was Erica polites position and but the Board of Health and you get a chance to meet them in person but just want the Board of Health to recognize that this is the newest member of our our staff at the Board of Health welcome welcome start week three week three so Mo thanks for being here um contact me anytime you got some questions or anything okay thank you okay okay we're up to the Family Table collaborative thank you my name is Harry a family table collaborative local nonprofit here in yanis we are all of four years old about this month we started during Co and our mission is to provide healthy prepared meals for people who need them uh so we uh have this is the first time before uh this board and for this application and I filled it out um at the suggestion of the uh the senior center here I'm a senior center so in the course of the past 12 months we've provided about 35,000 meals across the cape these are prepared meals uh think of them just like take out you would from a restaurant and people take their our meals are already cooked and prepared bring them home heal them up up and they're good to go um in specifically in the town of Yarmouth we've uh in the past 12 months we provided uh 1815 meals in the town of yarma to both the yarma senior center and in the arm with housing authority offices so we reach out to them every week to find out who needs meals and how many they need and we prepare them and then deliver them um we do some open um distribution where we have people text us and we give them a time and date and location to pick them up and uh that's across the cape in various towns but specifically for Yar it's 1815 meals and so my calculation um was based on looking for a little bit of support out of this Human Services fund to offset about $3 meal so that's the $ 5,445 i' I've asked for here it cost us about $ cost out of pocket to get a meal out so we're looking for a partial partial help in terms of what we do we operate out of the old Riverway Lobster House we are a volunteer little organization we've got about 500 volunteers we take in donations to food but that doesn't cover everything it it takes to put a meal out on on the uh into people's hands um we do a good job of getting donations on produce and veggies and starch no be donates protein uh so that's where the dollars go in terms of buying buying food we need to produce the produce the meals um any given move are producing between 700 and a th000 dinners um and the donations we get don't cover producing that many meals so we're buying a lot of food um we're also buying packaging um that's another part of the cost of of producing meals you got to put them in a package in order people to take them home and heat them up and you got to operate the got to operate the operation utility company doesn't really care that we're a nonprofit feeding people um they send us a bill and so with a number of BS and stoves we have and walking coolers there's a there's a big utility bill so those are the kinds of costs we have we are not um our funding comes mostly from Individual donations from a few grants we don't get any federal money um we do operate um different Food Services out of the Riverway we do catering we do events and those are Revenue generating to help us pay for the mission of the of the collaborative so um that's who we are um like I said it's volunteer based it's throughout the cape we provide meals from bouth Sandwich all the way up to um right now up to East H and wle and serve um basically every town on the cape um our meals go into not only Senior Center just like H or Housing Authority we do a couple of other housing authorities um but group homes veter home some shelters uh so those are the people that tend to to to meet the dinners that we provide you can buy any meals directly to people's homes where they're not able we do not deliver to homes okay we deliver to for a couple of reasons number one it takes a a bigger Army than we have um but also um what we found over time is that often the people who in need of a meal also need of their services we're not a Social Service Agency we provide meals and so it's better that we put the meals in the hands of the folks that are closest to the people into the the shelter or the group home or the senior center whatever and they know the clients better than we ever will and so it's better that that they do that are there any opportunities where you can get food from off Cape or from Boston that can be sent to you um well we do purchase um off from off Cape the big uh Food Distributors we per we purchase from yes and all that has to be paid for oh yeah yeah but the donations we get um typically the the biggest donations we get of food um are from Whole Foods Market um stop and shop here in Yarmouth and capabilities Farm barnable organic farm and shadam Bar in farm we take in about two tons of food a week uh wow and yeah um so it take takes that kind of an arm and you got to sort through it you got to figure out what you can use you got to figure out what you have turn right back we have Partnerships with missions and churches and all um so they can take care of the families if we have stuff we have to turn around quick and Ju Just for example I walked in the kitchen um two weeks ago and there were 14 cases of bananas there now we don't make that much banana bread I don't know what you else you do with bananas I don't know who else who out there bought 14 cases more than they could sell but we wound up with that kind of a a product and so we're able to call a couple of churches and Ministries and say hey we got bananas can you get them out to your folks and we can distribute them out that way but you know the typical thing is um uh rice potatoes uh pasta that we can put into a meal we'll buy the chicken we'll buy the pork whatever um and then of course especially in the summer we get all the produce from the Farms we'll get cases and cases of produce but um the big challenge for us and for anybody that would take in food like this is you have to first go through it you know that little spot on an apple can't be sold in a store but we can cut it out we can chop it up we can use it for something um then you gotta youve got to cool it right so we got double walk-in refrigerator we got a walk-in freezer so we have people that go ahead and process that food put it into the coolers and then the chefs can figure out how we're going to use it to dinners later so it's a big mini beart moving operation and like I said just specifically for the T Yarmouth um um we go to the senior center every week with meals and we go to the Housing Authority I think twice a month with meals and like I said to the total of um over 1,00 meals last in the past 12 months if people from the community want to donate food what's the best way for them to do that on our website there there there's a place to donate food there's a place to donate money um surprisingly uh there's a place to volunteer um different tabs hit it and and the website is people are listening ah wwwf family collaborative.org okay any questions anyone yes um I I know you said you're not a Social Services Agency but I think I've read about um sessions that you've had there at the old Riverside House restaurant that where you you had um agencies come in from the community and gave out inform information on the resources that they can provide yes yeah we partner with with a number of different agencies and they'll hold hold um um different nights some sometimes they're holding a coffee or like an appetizer event or just an information SE session but as you I think most people know the the size of this place is pretty big it's one of the bigger um facilities around so you can fit a couple hundred people in there it's a good um it's a good way for for the community to um to come together and if I could just one side note we we rent that facility that is owned by the U the person that still U ran the Riverway and one of the things he told us when he decided to close the restaurant was he could sell that building and others would come in some would come in and probably run a restaurant but he thought the building itself had a bigger Community purpose and may didn't sell it he wanted to see it go to some Community purpose and so luckily we found each other and were able do that there so um just to what you just said ma'am um you know we have a great space that the community can use and we do use it for a lot of different um service organizations in the community great okay thank you thank you thanks for coming in thank you okay we're up to Behavior Health innovators anyone here from the organization anyone calling in there she is Stephanie okay it's Stephanie yes can you hear me very well welcome uh thank you this is um my debut appearance before the Yarmouth Human Services committee so I really appreciate it and I guess it's the Department of Health we're addressing right now um just excuse me I hate to interrupt just introduce yourself to your name so people at home can know who you are by your name that's so sure sure I'm Stephanie briy I am the um CEO of Behavioral Health innovators it's a nonprofit that's been uh on the cape since 2015 and we're we work to um address the gaps in services for the 13 to 24 year old population especially as regards uh substance use challenges and related mental health issues so it's a pleasure uh to see you or meet all of you uh and I want to tell you a little bit about uh Behavioral Health innovators and then address the specific uh program that we are seeking funding for um so the the organization is um working to create a Continuum of supports four young people uh particularly that age group the 13 to 24 population but primarily the the students in our schools and in this case Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School um our very first grant was a $500 Grant from the it was a philanthropy class an 11th grade elective at Dy High School who um which students were very concerned about their friends and the substance whose uh problems that had really were plaguing their their friend group and their schools and um out of a 100 organizations they selected ours because they said that we were working to create safe supportive spaces where teenagers could gather uh build awareness around their substance use and and find the tools to address um you know a more uh positive plan or Pathway to Wellness um through the through those tools schs so um I don't know if you've heard of recovery high schools but we have five in Massachusetts and that is a model of a a school where students who are substance dependent can um get their academics done at the same time getting recovery supports and um Cap Cod has none of does not have a recovery high school but more importantly the Gap in services for teenagers either um with a substance use issue or coming back from treatment from a substance um uh Treatment Center uh there's no supports on Cape once they come back uh onto the Cape so we partnered with Dennis Yarmouth Regional High School back in uh 2017 and started an alternative peer Group which is a program you may have heard heard of and is um supported you know by the towns uh capewide and that's a program a six-month program we partner with Duffy Health Center in that program um to it's there's a site in Dennis and in Falmouth and students come after school two days a week for counseling um recovery coach support peer mentor support and it's remarkable how many young people um can find recovery in their teen years so these are young people that are on a path um really hitting for for a full-blown addiction and um can really you know address that in a safe and supportive space uh that we've created the program that I want to talk about today is uh another Pro program called the past program so as you can imagine um students facing suspension and sent home from school for substance use or or other um behavioral problems um don't usually get better as a result of the the suspension and the time alone at home home so this is a program that actually was launched on the NorthShore back in 2017 um that we learned about at a conference and it's a brief intervention and referral to services for uh teenagers uh students facing suspension um and it is now open to students not only facing suspension but students who need substance use support and mental health support and the program um last year year served uh 100 and this current year 2023 to 24 served 120 students and the prior year it served 92 students so over 200 students have gone through the past program stands for positive alternative to scho to school suspension um and we are poised to open a middle school Pass Program Dy high school and Dy middle school Intermediate School are um partners in this endeavor and were the ones that came to us and asked us to create something uh that would supplement the social emotional uh tools and programs they had inside of school but to particularly address the harmful effects that that suspension has on this young population so just briefly the metrics from those 20000 students 70% when they come into the past program they are assessed by a licensed clinician 70% have a severe mental health or substance use diagnosis um of that 70% only 30% are getting services so the program it's usually a 5day um stay at the past program it's held in Centerville which is you know located you know in a kind of in the middle of the cape so most schools can uh get the transportation that we provide to program um so it it's a referral a brief intervention and referral to services on the Cape there's at least a 3 to six month wait for a young person to get in to see an individual counselor outside of school um and the one of the things that we've learned in the in in in the practice of the program is that students are much more likely to self-identify concerns outside of school than inside of school so for example one of the adjustment counselors at Dy said we've you know we've known for since this student was in seventh and eighth grade that they had um likely had a substance issue but they would never open up and identify it and when they came to the Past program speaking to the counselor there and being with other peers from other schools they were very open and ready to share what their struggles were and to um get some support so there's a re-entry meeting back into school when they complete the 5 days that pass and they have um you know strategies and plans and more importantly they're referred to services so some of them with the substance use issue can go to the alternative peer group program that I mentioned others are plugged into Services um individual counseling services and families are supported because many of the issues are you know family issues that we have uncovered and when we get the family the support need then there is um you know you see the wellness uh you know show up in this in the young person so most of the students who fill out the survey after um pass and we do a survey with the school um 30 days out and three months out to see how they're doing most of them um will say they want to go back to pass they wish school was like the past program they do get their homework uh and schoolwork done in real time there's a tutor there and it's really kind of tape cod's version of a recovery high school if you will and I'll take some questions if there are any that was great presentation thank you uh anyone questions anyone at home Mary we're in the car no question you're good okay thank you with just a little bit of time left may I just add there we've served 20 students from um 20 Yarmouth resident students from Dy so from the town of Yarmouth in the last um year and a half that we've been open and um we've also kind of shown that the cost of the program is over $2,300 per student so um you know it's not an inexpensive uh Endeavor but if we are ever going to get ahead of the addiction crisis on the cape um we need to start with our middle schoolers and our high schoolers thank you for time sorry I just have one question what is of your volunteers looks like they're 25 of them what do the majority of them do in the organization Vol that would that would be fundraising events um in order to raise funds for the programs we get a lot of funds from towns human service departments in the towns um but also we for example we have a pickle ball tournament coming up on June 1st if anybody's interested um so they run a lot of the fundraisers and support um support the program by you know getting out into the community and and talking about it as you can imagine not a lot of people are very forthcoming about their um child's substance use or their own substance use on K Cod for sure okay thank you thank you okay uh we're up to Harbor Health Services if someone's here evening am is online anybody up there yep Harbor Health looks like Amy is okay it was Amy now I hi um can you hear me very okay great it doesn't look like uh my camera is working at the moment um so apologies um not sure what's going on are you able to see me or is it just hearing just we just hear you we you all right well apologies that you can't see me um I'm not sure sure why um but first of all I just want to introduce myself I'm Amy Bowen I am the vice president of marketing and Community engagement at Harbor Health um some of the areas that I oversee include our grant funding and community relations which is why I have the honor of of being here tonight again my apologies not only can you not see me but I'm not in person I was scheduled to um to work out of our matapan office today so not able to join in person um tonight I wanted to talk a little bit about our dental assistance training program this is a healthc care Workforce on the job training program that we're very proud of um at Harbor um just by way of a little background about Harbor um we're we are registered 501c3 organization and also a federally qualified Health Center um that means we serve everyone regardless of their ability to pay or their insurance status and one of our primary focuses is really providing access to health care and social support services for underserved populations we have two locations on Cap Cod Harbor Community Health Center in hyana and our Ellen Jones Community Dental Center in South Dennis um between the two locations we um provided care for about 2400 individuals from Yarmouth um in 2023 um and very interestingly um and particularly important for this program we're one of a very limited number of dental care providers that take Mass health which is Medicaid for adults and children on Cape Cod um our proposal is um for $10,000 to support dental assistance trainee at one of our Cape Cod Dental locations for a training cycle which lasts about four months um just as a little bit of background about our dental assistance training program right now you may have heard this that there is a nationwide shortage of dental assistance it's particularly challenging um for Harbor um on Cap Cod to find um qualified dental assistants we um are competing against private practices and we just are not able to compete with the salary for um for for this in really in demand position where there just not that many people who are qualified dental assistants and one of the big reasons that they're not a lot of um qualified dental assistants is because the cost of the classes and licensure really create a lot of barriers per for prospective dental assistance oftentimes people are looking at trading off um a paid job to go to school um to get classes and then pay for a lure um which is is just not very accessible for a lot of people who otherwise would be terrific and are very interested in pursuing a a a career in in dentistry um some background about Harbor when we first opened Ellen Jones um Community Dental Center in 2000 we originally located at Cape Cod Technical High School um we there was literally a classroom inside the practice where students who were in The um the high school's dental assisting program would would go to class and then they would come outside of the classroom and do on the job training like literally put the things that they were learning just that morning um to to use and in practice at the the dental clinic and we were there for many years until the high school moved locations and then when we moved to when Ellen Jones moved to its new location in South Dennis we decided to um really build on that knowledge that we had about on the job training for dental assistants and create a program that was open to the community that would really create that access um for people who would be interested in becoming a dental assistant because again it is an in demand um profession there's a nationwide shortage so there there is a lot of demand for this um particular position this way we were really addressing a very chronic Workforce challenge for us head on it promotes an opportunity for year- round employment within our community and it really would Aid Us in providing access to dental care services for underserved patients just the reality is no matter how good a dentist is sometimes there are just procedures where you need four hands you can't just do it with two and when we don't have enough dental assistant to help dentists with their procedures they just are not able to see as many patients so this this program the dental assistance training program really helps address all of those things the access to care the access to year round employment and and access um to to a new um source of Staffing for us and one of the interesting things is if you compare um Harbor Health um the cost of our program we provide we cover all the additional courses that are required like the basic life support training um a radiology course we cover the fees for those classes while somebody is receiving on the job training usually when someone's hired within a week they're contributing to clinical needs and they are paid while they are doing their on the job training and typically we aim to have somebody complete um the dental assistance training program within about four months and at the end of that four months they're taking the dental assistance license you could compare that say with be School of Dentistry where it costs several thousand doll um in order to take a dental assistance training program and complete the lure you're not paid while you're doing it you're not employed um and and same for some of the online um programs that you could take there's still a lot of costs associated with that um since we started um piloting the program first did Ellen Jones and then we expanded to um hyanis and then have slowly expanded at our other locations off the cape imp plth and in Boston um on the keep for example we've had 13 um dentalist assistants participate typically we try and run it twice a year um around the fall and late spring and summer so we currently have um a session running right now we try to train between one and two dental assistants at a time just to that's just a way with Staffing and making sure they have enough support um while um they are receiving training and on the cape so far since we have intro reintroduced the program in 2021 we've had about 13 participants um um participate in the training program and we have about a 92% completion rate people opt out of the program for a variety of reasons oftentimes it's um personal circumstances that they're not able to complete the program we've received really positive feedback not only from the dental assistance trainees who just never thought they would have the opportunity to enter the healthcare Workforce without um to get this kind of on the job training without having to make some sacrifices financially on their end so this was really uh a profound opportunity for them and it's really you know inspired our staff too who gets to be part of training people um for this new career and have them be part of the team almost from day one so it's been really um beneficial both from this growing the healthcare Workforce standpoint and and also um for our staff just feeling motivated and inspired and really feeling like they're giving back to the community Beyond just um providing dental care and services which is important but just just goes a little bit further um so I'm happy to take questions um we really really appreciate all the support um the Board of Health has given us in the past um with funding for both of our health centers on the cape um and hope you'll consider this proposal as well questions anyone yes how many of the 13 that you have trained and graduated have been retained as staff members for for you um I'd have to double check my colleague um Ain molini who is the practice manager at Ellen Jones wasn't um available to come tonight um due to something previously scheduled so I I would have to check with her my understanding is that um the retention piece has been challenging for us um we are able to um keep somebody um keep the traine um at least for a few months after they are trained um and then we often find that um we have losing them to um Private Practice where they just they they earn more money so you we can't really blame them for that we feel fortunate they were able to help them on their their career but that kind of speaks to why having this continuous training and option um for people to bring them into this Workforce to give them the training and try and Inspire them to be a part of a community health center um is so important to us we this program through a variety of Grants um this is something that we we try to keep going and we try to um offer to a variety of people um often who don't really have any experience and sometimes in in some cases no degrees so this really is um a true entry level on the job kind pathway forward for a lot of people so we certainly understand if they are opting to go to a practice that just offers more money um but it does overall help with the workforce in the community this this is um the shortage of dental assistance impacts all Dental Care everywhere it's not it's not just at Harbor or or public health or federally quality qu federally qualified Health Centers it's everywhere so still giving back to access for Dental Care thank you that was very clear thank you sure any yeah uh Bar L assistant Health director what is one of your biggest obstacles in getting or recruiting new students and recruiting new students um I think helping them we we definitely have had a good um response whenever we've done recruiting for this particular opportunity um we usually don't have a a shortage of people applying for the dental assistance training program it's the qualify dental assistance that we have the shortage of people are just so e excited to see that they can get paid to get on the job training to get a lot of their um fees and classes and even their their licensing exam fee paid for and they get all sorts of support to take um to take the the exam so so it's not the dentalist it's in trainees that we have um many challenges recruiting it's really we we have to keep the program small that's due to our staffing um and just making sure that people are getting um the attention um that they that patients and the dental assistant trainees are getting the the attention they need to really learn and get that on the job training um so it's it's intentionally small um but it's it it still remains that the recruiting issues for dental assistance once they've gone through the training program is is re is really challenging and again that just goes back to for Harbor anyway we just we we are we're we're a public health agency um we we serve um underserved populations we just can't offer the same level of salary is a private practice so that's our biggest challenge for for dental assistance so thank you okay thank you thank you okay next up here is Dan Gates looks like Aid support group of Cape Cod thanks thank you so much hey good evening everyone my name is Heather Murphy and I'm the chief programs officer for Aid support group of Cape Cod thank you so much for allowing us to present to you this evening thought I would go ahead and start with our mission the aid support group of Cape Cod saves lives through prevention education and life sustaining services that address Public Health crisis to build Healthy Communities across the Capen Islands asgcc is now the only Aid Service organization on the Capen Islands providing services to ensure that our clients have access to a Continuum of Care that meets their needs we provide three types of services Direct Services to people living with HIV prevention and screening services for HIV and other STI and Har reduction services to address the substance use crisis on the Capen Islands services are available at our brick and mortar sites in Provincetown hyanis and Martha's Vineyard and through our two mobile Outreach FS one is a large van that houses two confidential offices and offers all of our services and is based primarily in Falmouth and the second is a smaller van which offers mostly harm reduction Services that's based in hyanis and serves all of the mid and upper Cape our services are always free and the available to all including residents of the town of Yarmouth examples of some of the services that we provide include medical case management for individuals living with HIV those Services include ensuring continuous access to comprehensive medical and prescription health coverage helping to maintain engagement and retention in medical care and HIV prescriptions assisting and applying for appropriate Financial benefits providing access to food resources and referrals including SNAP benefits local food pantries and our monthly asgcc food boxes assisting with transportation services to medical dental and Behavioral Health appointments and providing housing assistance including help with housing searches advocacy with landlords referrals to Temporary housing support to complete housing applications and assistance with renewals for our harm reduction Services we have syringe Exchange program we offer fenel test strips for individuals that may want to test their substance to determine if fenel is in the substance Sexual Health screenings short-term Health navigation which is meeting with individuals and helping to determine if they need additional resources and services and connecting them with those Services we provide Naran trainings and Naran distribution and education to individuals as well I've included in your packet information about the data for those Services um we pulled a comparative analysis for FY 23 and FY 24 up to date um so for example in the town of Yarmouth we collected in FY 23 7,350 syringes and to date we've collected 6,570 syringes fenel test strip distribution has increased significantly as we know that fentanyl um is sort of an emerg emerging issue and we want to make sure that people have the information that they about fenel um so that is increased to 143 fenel test strips and for our um Case Management Services in FY 24 so far we have um provided case management to 21 individuals in herit and Housing search and advocacy services to three individuals so far I also included some information about um overdose deaths in Yarmouth and then in Barnstable County we know that um overdose opioid related overdose um is a significant concern and that's um you know directly related to a lot of our services including Naran Education and Training does anyone have any questions uh you're lising noran encounters what qualify something to be an encounter so meeting directly with the individual to provide them education and distribution yeah you're welcome any other questions everyone good thank you thank you for your time appreciate you coming in thank okay uh capabilities is so Mr chairman unfortunately a scheduling conflict um you have their application but they they weren't able to be here tonight to present they apologize but just because the scheduling conflict of their own they couldn't be here okay so we certainly can discuss that when we talk about the whole thing okay you have that package so uh it's TI Law Services here on the list okay not really good you thank you okay thanks great thank you so my name is my name is Rhonda Garen and I am the executive director of site L Services we are a nonprofit organization that supports folks on Cape Cod who are blind and visually impaired uh we are located in South Dennis but we do serve the entire cape and we are also starting to Branch out a little bit into the islands so unfortunately the chairman of our board couldn't be here tonight um he's sort of our um our funding guy he secures the funding I spend the funding so I will talk to you about what a little bit about what I spend the funding on um and since he wrote the grant we've also expanded a little bit of our programming so I think he mentioned seven areas and we now have eight um the first one is our information and referral Network and that's just the way it sounds somebody calls the office with a question and uh we hook them up with whatever um service they might need based on their question second one is education and awareness uh this includes our quarterly newsletter and it also includes things such as um Health faires and I had the pleasure of attending the yarm of health fair or the wellness Fair they the good health and wellness Fair on Friday um and I spoke to several folks lots of folks actually and um uh we have a few new members of our support group um that are going to be attending the next meeting which is tomorrow um the next um the next area that I want wanted to talk a little bit about is the um office visits and adaptive AIDS um people can come into the office in South D they spend about an hour with us and we go over all sorts of things um we start with things like lights lights are the first thing we talk about and anybody who comes into the office for an office visit leaves with some sort of a light either mini light like this or we have some larger ones they also go home with some sort of a tint that is appropriate for their eye condition um in the case of Immaculate degeneration patients it's yellow usually um and then we have um tents that are appropriate for gloma patients for diabetic retinopathy um there're just a a bunch of different tents and what I like to tell people is it's like your hair you come on in and I'll help you find your color and then we'll get you a set of frames that suit you and then everybody leaves with a magnifying glass a lighted handheld magnifying glass um they are a little um higher than what you get at CVS or Ocean State Job Lot um and um we're really proud and really happy to send everybody who comes into our office home with one of these and then uh our Home Independence visits I actually just did one for a y resident very recently we'll go into someone's home we'll look for tripping hazards we will help them put touch dots on their appliances we will put down duct tape fluorescent tape on Steel doorways um I will bring with me lights tints and magnifiers and if they tell me the things that they're struggling with in their home then I will um pull things out of the office that might be helpful for instance if they're telling me they're having difficulty making phone calls I may bring a large button telephone with me um one lady was having difficulty with her laundry and she didn't want to put pods into her washing machine this was actually a Yarmouth resident and um um we came up with a system where her daughter would come over once a month and put detergent in a round container and bleach in a square container pre-portion so she just felt the shape of the container uh thre in what she need to throw in and with her touch dots new which button to press on a washing machine and therefore was independently doing her laundry and then the three very most important things that we do I'm sort of going to hook together it's going to be our outreaching activity ities and our self self-help support groups Outreach we call every single solitary one of our clients each and every month and tell them about their support meaning here in Yarmouth there are three support groups Yarmouth is actually the largest um population that we serve um there is one at the Yarmouth Senior Center there is one at thurwood place there is one at Heywood we tried to get one going at Maplewood it didn't work out so great but I do go visit Maplewood once in a while um the support groups are a place where people can exchange information and ideas occasionally there's a guest speaker um all of our support groups are led by somebody who's blind or visually appeared um and they're open to anybody who is legally blind or visually impaired and their family members you do not qualify for for um services from the state of Massachusetts unless you're legally blind and that means your vision is 2200 or worse in your better eye with correction and not many people meet that threshold and so for us it doesn't matter if you need the threshold or not we there to fill that Gap until you are legally blind um but the state of Massachusetts only reimburses us for the legally blind folks so that is where we find funding for the the visual imp folks from all the different towns on the cape and some private grants that we receive so Outreach and activities are really really important to us because vision loss can bring a level of isolation and depression that um that can be really really heartbreaking so we try to get people out and about not only to their support grou meetings but to different activities such as uh we took a trip to the symphony the C Cod Symphony we have art classes um coming up next week we have a partnership with um uh an organization in the Bedford that's going to come to a whales em motion program at our office where a live musician is going to play music while the participants get to hold a whale sculpture that's going to be moving the music is going to mimic all the movements of the whale um one of the things that we have been doing is we've been scouring the CA newletters and the local library newsletters and we find an event or an activity that our folks might be interested in and then we arranged for a ride for them to be able to go and um we're hoping with little bit of more fun from yth that we may be able to expand that program a little bit more and we'll be find a few more Yarmouth activities for the Yarmouth folks um we have enjoyed a wonderful I believe 20 plus year partnership with you we're hoping to continue that um in uh calend year 2023 we served 287 Yarmouth residents and uh unduplicated Yarmouth residents we offered them um well we provided them a total of 1883 units of service um the other big thing that we are starting to get into is a little bit of um Family Support there was a request for family support group so we were trying to get that off the ground and the other area that we're sort of dabbling in I mentioned that I attended the good health and wellness Fair on Friday a lot of people come by and they'll say oh start my services I'm not there yet my vision is perfectly fine so we are also starting some healthy Vision awareness um programs May is healthy Vision awareness month so at the health F on Friday I was giving away sunglasses and eye healthy recipes and that sort of thing um so with that and I can talk about Site Services forever I kind of put it in a nutshell for you but are there any questions anyone um the tell us something a little bit about transportation for these people so for the support group at the COA the COA um is very very um generous with their van so we can call and we can say you know um this person this person this person needs a ride and usually they're able to accommodate if they are not able to if they're short a driver that say or whatnot um or if so these activities usually happen outside of the Town town of yarmi which obviously the COA cannot provide the transportation so we use a company called habilitation assistance um they are based in PL but they have an office in here in yarith over by Stop and Shop you'll probably um for Stop and Shop in Long Pond Road you probably see all the habilitation bands all lined up in the parking lot we use them um and then they also have a pretty serious driver shortage so when they can accommodate us we use prime Medical Transportation a lot um that's also a new program that we have we've partnered with elder Services uh we received a grant from them to provide medically assisted transportation to folks who are 60 or older that need to get to cataract surgery or things um procedures that where they're going to be under anesthesia and they need somebody to be responsible for them and they don't have family here um so we will arrange a ride to cataract surgery for them with the medical trans Transportation Company you're find any assistance of what people can do at home on computers well you can't be released they won't release you from OCB and sandwich without somebody respons before you and to to leave the building once you know once you get home you're fine but they won't let you out of the building without somebody being responsible for you so that's where the medical transportation company comes in maybe I didn't follow that what I was really asking you about at home and the use of computer um is there anything that's provided for someone in order they can see a screen so most of our clients I can count on my hands how many clients are under the age of like 80 probably so most of our clients are very technology resistant um but if somebody were to ask for that we would help them to secure that mentioned newsletter how do our residents find you so we do have a website www.s.org um um we actually did receive a grant recently to upgrade it so please if you look at it now come back again another day but you can go to the website pop us an email and contact us uh page and and let us know you'd like to receive the newsletter it comes out quarterly great okay thank you you're welcome thank you for having me okay the arm with food pantry evening um my name is Susan Martin I am the executive director of the Yarmouth food pantry and I'm accompanied by Kathleen mcllin and you can see we have support from our board members some executive and board members seated behind me um ordinarily when I come in here I give you a report hoping that our business diminishes last month we had we well first we've started the Pantry in September of 2010 so for 14 years we've been operating and helping people with food insecurity last month was was our busiest month ever we served 736 people from Yarmouth 24% of those were children and they came from almost 200 households over the last 14 years we've been averaging in Yarmouth about 20% um of children participating at our p and last year it grew to 24 now last month we saw 26 so what we're seeing is larger families with children that have trouble making ends meet and rely on us to come and help with that problem and unfortunately it's getting worse we bring in 5,000 pounds a week from the Greater Boston food bank we buy food also and we purchase meat from Dennis Public Market every week for our meal of the month program some of you may have heard about that because I've been here before but our meal of the month program is similar to Blue Apron does everybody know what that is it's a it's an everything you need in a bag with the spices the recipe everything that's there to make it we change that every month so that it helps our clients use food that we Supply to make a healthy meal at home so that's quite the accomplishment I think and and also it changes so this month we're doing spaghetti they get the ground beef the pasta the recipe the spices diced tomatoes and everything in an onion and the recipe and we also have it translated into Spanish and Portuguese just in case um we have a language differential but this I brought you may thought I brought you a gift um this is a children's snack B it's we give it out to children ages 3 to 11 and the reason we started doing it was because five years or so ago we went over to Swan Pond Village the kids over there during the summer were getting lunch Monday through Friday but we worried about the weekends so we started bringing these over on Friday and did it all summer and one little boy held up this bag and looked at us and said what did I do to deserve this gift so we just cannot give up the project we the price of the bags have doubled due to inflation but every child ages 3 to 11 gets a healthy snack bag when they come in it's our effort to help them choose raisins or a sugar-free fruit cup a health a granola bar that doesn't have nuts and um we put milk in there and we also put in a mac and cheese and enough milk and a little 8 O package of milk so that in case the family runs sh of food they can always make that for their child it's not the healthy option but um sometimes we'll put a can of tuna in but we we just wonder if um that's enough without the bread and everything else so we put the mac and cheese but the children walking through the pantry with these little bags all think that we gave them a gift so that just Delights us it motivates us to make them all the time we give out a couple hundred a month so um I thought I'd bring this to you you can kind of see inside but whenever that little boy asked us um if what he did to deserve the gift we just couldn't go to a Brown Sack and hand these out anymore so we we go the extra mile and make the kids feel special doing that um Kathleen is going to talk to you about our volunteers we have approximately 278 people it moves every month uh we get new volunteers but we the entire agency is run by volunteers from Susan our executive director the entire board and all of our volunteers we are unpaid um and for the number of people that we serve I think that's rather commendable and for the amount of time that the food pantry has been in existence um it's exemplary as well um our volunteers uh provide us with the opportunity to do food drives they assist us with moving food uh um from the donations that come in we every uh item that is donated needs to be inspected and need to comply with the expiration codes on all of them they need to be shelv they need to be rotated so that we're constantly aware of what's Happening that's what our volunteers are primarily doing along with the distributions that occurred throughout the week and on weekends as well for families so are uh they're very important we also have a cadry of volunteers mostly men who go and pick up food from various grocery markets and Outlets um in which they are donating food to us um so the men are bringing it in people at the pantry are sorting it and uh getting them ready for our um our clients what else can we say well there's one program I'd like to mention if you don't mind um about four years ago um an elderly lady came into the pantry she was a senior of course and I walked up to her and and she was well-dressed you could tell that um she was very educated but she had been coming to The Pantry for a couple of years and i' had gotten to know her and I walked up to her one day and I said how are you and she said sue I think I'm considering suicide and I said don't tell me this why and she said I don't think I can eat peanut butter for the last week of another month until my social security check comes in on the third of the month so of course we gave her food I told her to never do that again and please then whenever she needed that additional help I just said look around you look at all the food you don't need to live like that so it motivated many of us to decide that we want want to get the seniors into the pantry so I worked with the senior um citizens what's it called y Senior Center yeah the senior center and um they were abandoning their Brown Bag program that they gave out on the first Friday of every month so with them publishing our services in their newsletter and offering to bring housebound seniors over over to our pantry we now have two senior food distributions for just seniors and so far we have 40 about 40 coming twice a month and when we heard that from that lady we moved to give out food twice a month we were giving out a full food distribution and then allowing all of our clients to come back and just get meat because protein was the most expensive thing that they were lacking and we figured that would be a help but when this lady told us that um the board and I agreed that we should do it twice a month so now all of our clients can come in and get everything twice a month but our biggest Joy is that senior food distribution that we have the clients come in early it's almost like a um a yeah a social hour that they're not in a hurry enjoy coming and um they go home with a a full grocery cart of food so if there's any seniors out there that need help I encourage them to come and see us they'll be delighted if they do can I answer any questions you want to tell the public the location of the pantry yes we're at 8:45 Route 28 in South Yarmouth in Lighthouse landing and um You can call you can also find us at yth food pantry.org and um our phone number is 508 39888 on Facebook I have a question Susan sure um Susan we didn't get the sheet um that showed where your funding comes from can you give us just a quick overview we have an annual um golf tournament um that we do on the first Sunday of every November it's called a turkey shoot the Yarmouth police department does food two big food drives for us every year at all the major grocery stores and Peterson's and um they raised quite a bit of money for us along with um probably $7,000 worth of food every time they do it stuffer CR yeah it's called the stuffer Cruiser the Dennis the Dennis and um Yarmouth um fire departments do their homeless for the holidays that benefit our organization they raised quite a bit of cash for us and they also um bring in probably each different fireman group brings in probably about $7,000 worth of food we write grants um we have some very generous donors in in our town and also we do serve all of the cape all of bville County and we have 12,000 clients on our books so I'm sad to report that we're not close to going out of business which really has been our goal we would like nothing more than to um go out of business but we're busier than ever I'm sad to report we're glad you're there thank you thank you questions any comments anyone just quick it's impressive organization what you're doing down there I've had a chance to see it um food is medicine right you're doing Public Health work at a at a community level so thank you for what you're doing I do want to recognize um probably your most recent and maybe youngest board member is here he is yeah so nor you you you'll recognize the name NOLA brage who is who nor come on up um I will recognize the name as your former colleague uh Deb Brun Charlie you would know Larry this is before your time but I have every reason to think that not only will she on the executive board someday she will sit on your board I'm I'm confident of that so you're following tremendous footsteps of of uh of your mom red brage and want just talk a little bit you did some work this weekend you want to talk in the microphone you're in hyanis um just yesterday we went to hyanis and participated in henus open streets which was a wonderful event and we were able to get the word out to many people who um needed our services who were located in barable and hyenas area so it was a really nice event that we did um and yeah I worked I worked on it for a few months and I was really proud of the outcome Nora is a Junior board member congratulations wonderful very impressive very impressive that's wonderful thanks she's a she's a nonvoting member but um it's great for us because we're older she knows social media sure and she knows Twitter and all these things that we're not really up to speed on so she's been a huge help yeah but the passion right and and the next gener ation coming up wonderful continue great work Wonderful she's gotten a lot of young people involved at the pantry that come and volunteer now invaluable congratulations great okay thanks for coming in thanks for having us thank you for your support y thank you next year I'll bring you all one okay one more one more plates this one that you had put down here yeah it should be the last one I don't know if anyone's here from that g card Bright Lights great about that good to see you thanks just the right amount thank you good evening thank you my name is Steve Albright and I am the President of Cape Cod Bright Lights uh we were founded by 10 members of the arm thority Club about four years ago we incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit uh we're 100% funded by private donations and grants uh we also are a 100% total volunteer organization and when we started the organization we wanted to involve the community in what we were doing so every board director and some of their family members are involved we have a troop of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts involved the Dy Regional High School interact club uh Red Jacket Resort employees Yarmouth rotarians and recently we brought on some employees from the bille county probation department we have a very very simple mission statement to help those in need on Cape coton the islands um we started out uh similar to another uh nonprofit here on the cape Cape Cod kids meals but we wanted to do more than just the backpack programs but that has been one of our biggest programs that we've done so what we do is we weekend backpacks and actually they're plastic bags that they put into their backpacks of nutritional food for the weekends for grade K through three uh right now we're packing 60 to 65 bags per week each bag is 15 to 16 items uh they get a minimum of two breakfasts two lunches snacks milk juice and two pieces of fresh fruit the fresh fruit being donated by Stop and Shop every week uh some of the food items that we put in the bag are large enough so they can share with others um we also provide boxes or cases of snacks for emm small and Station Avenue every month for kids who don't bring snacks in that way the student doesn't have to sit there and not have a snack while the other kids have snack time um we started a new project last year a hygiene products we learned that in the high school and the Middle School uh girls were going to school and they didn't have any feminine napkin pads so we started providing a feminine napkin pads and then we uh in addition to that we learned that uh some of the kids didn't have the items to take showers and so they're going to school uh smelly and offensive to other students but it really didn't improve their self-image so we started providing um large bottles of shampoo soap uh body lotion um deodorant toothpaste toothbrushes to the school nurses so everything we do through in our in our project we do through the social workers the guidance department and the School nurses so we provide them both to Dy Middle School Dy high school and also to Cape cot Texans we have a number of Yarmouth residents in Cape cot Tech like I said we do work directly with the social workers the guidance Department school and nurses some of the other projects we provided to the school are reusable water bottles uh students would leave their bottles at home um or they'd lose them so we provide cases of water bottles to the elementary schools for the students to re replace their missing bottles uh the high school had a need for backpacks they identified 12 or 15 students that didn't have backpacks so we provided really high quality backpacks to the students at the high school uh look into our future uh we continue to continue at the minimum of what we are currently doing providing those weekend backpacks uh providing the snacks to the schools providing the hygiene products uh we'd like to expand our Outreach to into the schools and and we're also looking to expand our Outreach to include senior population in the town and worked with the senior center to see what else those people need the other thing we do is we provide gift cards so I'll get a call from or an email from a social worker in one of the elementary schools that there's a family in need uh recently we had one where the mother was a part-time bus driver at the school the husband lost his job he was waiting for unemployment to come in they had no food in the house so uh they needed some items so we did provide them with $50 worth of gift cards also gave the information to the Yarmouth food pantry so they could go there if they needed more help the one thing about our project is we are not income driven so we as they said we allow the social workers and that to decide who needs it so we're a need-based uh group we're also uh we're very fortunate that the armouth food pantry allows us to use their space to pack our bags so we don't have any rent or any electric or anything like that to cover so all of our money that we raise basically goes towards the products that we provide to the people and the services that we provide uh we call ourselves adjus in time we're at the old Japanese manufacturing way that they used to do it so we utilize the food pantry we buy the food that day we pack the bags and it goes out the door the next morning so um that's basically what we do at the uh at bright Cape Cod Bright Lights uh like I said it's a new organization we're growing every day we started out with 15 bags we're up to 65 and when you I multiply by 15 is 16 items we're going through a thousand items uh a week so it's a lot uh you mentioned to the cape CR Cooperative or the the food place down at the old Riverway about Boston we've reached out to the Boston Food Bank probably five or six times we've Deni denied every time because they're not taking on new organizations so they say we'll put you on the waiting list but we don't wait for the L waiting list we keep on reapplying and they have a number of items that we could use which would help C you know cut our cost down and uh some of these families I just tell you that we've dealt with uh I belong to Y withth rby we have a Christmas party holiday Christmas party and uh the social workers give us all the names of the families who are really in need so uh we also provide transportation to that Christmas party for families that don't have transportation and I was always wonder was always skittish about driving through Swan Pond but I had to go pick up three families in Swan Pond and bring it back home and the stories that you hear is just unbelievable I had one family there was six people in the family the oldest one in the family was 19 it was a 19-year-old boy there was an 18-year- old girl there was a 15-year-old boy 13 11 and nine and there was two fathers involved neither one are around the mother was in a hospital in Boston getting ready to be transferred long term to Florida the 18-year-old got custody of all the rest of the children so we reach out we help them every once in a while with gift cards to get them going another story that we hear that we help is um there was a mother there with three girls no father involved the grandfather used to come and help her but he perished in the house fire recently so um and the seven-year-old is autistic so she's still in diapers and the cost of the diapers and the wipes to clean her up and all that is expensive and she just doesn't have to she works at stoping Shops so we provide her with gift cards too to help her along the way so we're there to help people we don't go looking for them they come to a based on like I said the social workers um and the guidance department and the nurses and the schools so we can always use help that's why we're here tonight and uh we appreciate anything you do for us any question yeah unfortunately impressive thank you yeah thank you thanks thank you 12 very impressive organizations that you've heard from tonight so um we have a lot to think about here um you how to distribute $60,000 um I see it's kind of complicated um so we need to to give her a lot a lot of thought um very different organization and yes I'm sorry I interrupted you go ahead I just have a question when you're done maybe I'll talk for 35 minutes what's your question um I think it's also Complicated by the fact that we really are obligated to fund the BNA at least a certain amount because they are performing required Services um by the health department correct that's true Mary yeah they they do our communicable disease tracking that's true right right yeah good point so that'll be helpful to know some numbers from you Jay um certainly I think we should have a discussion our next meeting at least start this um the organization obviously it's different Services uh the scale of the business varies tremendously as you could see the last one it's sort of a startup is is was new um the approach of what people put on their applications for requested amounts their approach are very different of what they put down um certainly you need to consider specifically how do our residence in Yarmouth benefit uh so it's we have a lot more applicants also I mean that's good in some ways for sure um and so revie you know review your notes you made today and all the information re receed and what we're going to need to do is come up with some kind of method the five of us work on to really distribute certain amounts of money to certain organizations I mean there are no rules to it um it could go to one organization you know you could divide it up among all of them that's really uh that's up to the board of how to do this um what does everyone else think well how we should move forward here my thought I mean just without really looking at all these again would be to try to distribute funds as you know as as best we can to all the the people that applied possibly we can give exactly what uh some people are asking for and others we won't be able to but try to include everyone okay that's sort of how I would approach it I mean make but I I guess maybe personally I had some more preferences than others you know certainly food um uh scarcity was was a priority in my mind so I I felt like maybe I'd rather support for I would be more AP to support those organizations as best we can and then start to filter out the others as as look look over all the the requests yeah we have to come up with with our personal feelings are priority wise what do you think Charlie right yeah well how much do we have to play with 60,000 60,000 60 okay is that something do we have to make a decision tonight no no not at all I think we have a lot of work to do to figure this out I go home and I go through what I think I'd rather spend it on and come up with $60,000 and then come back with a recommendation absolutely yes I've always uh I got to V I got together with the amth police department every Christmas for the food pantry and I've raised a lot of hell out there actually done some serious shopping for them but and I'm damn proud of that they wanted to put they wanted to put me on the strangled times one time and I told them no way I said but you know I spent some serious money in the food pantry and I think they they deserve every minute I've had for them but like he says I have some preferences and then I sure I probably have some prejudices too so you know it's something I'd like to sit down with myself and go through this yeah with the next meeting would be be possible to make a decision possible for me to make a decision okay this the spreadsheet would be a good working document to do that deliberation you have what they've requested so you can kind of work with that but knowing that you know some might be upwardly or downwardly adjusted coming to a total of of 60 if you if if it's going to be all 12 or but this spreadsheet should be a good working document for you to start I I I would like to thank you helard and Jay for making sure that these were just 10-minute presentations and that people stuck stuck to them because that was very helpful this year yeah Mary you still in the car yes but I'm at home in the par in my driveway my neighbor just tapped on the on the window to see if I was okay right hopefully the car wasn't running the whole time so no no no no right parking in your own driveway is usually a good bet okay yeah watching the sunset go we were not doing that here in the basement okay so next here on the agenda is number four that's a discussion on service animals in local restaurants and it says here definition clarification so there has this yes Mr chairman thank you so I don't know if uh anybody's recognized or noticed um recently there's been people are taking animals into restaurants and grocery stores and stuff that are not service animals it's a very sensitive subject for the employees to regulate um and staff members how to regulate what to what to say to them and stuff like this um I found this from the barn Health Department I kind of reworded it for the Yarmouth I'm just going to go ahead and read this real quick the town of Yarmouth Health provision enforces a state sanitary code and the 2013 federal food code only service dogs are that are trained to assist people with disabilities are pered at licensed food establishments which includes Outdoors patios please note emotional support animals and pets do not qualify as service dogs this is not a new regulation only when the individual's disability is not obvious a staff may ask the following two questions to determine whether an animal the service animal or not first question you can ask is is the animal a service animal required because of a disability the second question is what task or service is the animal trained to perform the law requires the staff to take the individual at their word service dogs are not required to wear vest so you have a lot of people that have bring their dogs or or cats or there's even Ducks saying they my emotion huh not cat they they say they're their emotional support um yes that that probably does create emotional support for them but under the Ada laws only dogs or small Ponies are service animals so um Baro has this has every food establishment have one of these posted on all their restaurants and grocery stores I don't know if we'd want to do that but I like I'd like to at least distribute these to all the food and restaurants to the town feel and I can get them out um I think it's good to have it posted where people come in and see because now that the season's coming up next week I I've always gotten a lot of calls from restaurant owners and establishment saying what can I do in this situation what what what is my responsibility and unfortunately it doesn't land on the customer it lands on the establishment itself for breaking the code for allowing non-service animals in the establishment um can you um is should this be a regulation from the Health Board it already is it's a state reg all right so so what is this that we have in front of us it's just a letter that um I'm going to I would like I composed and I'd like to get out to all the restaurants and food establishments grocery stores stuff like that um just have go ahead summary it's just a summary of the regulation yes ma'am it's just so they have something to go back on they have a a customer that comes in and they don't know the 17-year-old Hostess doesn't know what to do she has this as a reference of what she can what they can say and do and what it actually is allowed and what isn't allowed it is a very sensitive subject to to ask somebody um but if they have resources to get it out they might not all know the state regulation on this so and these follow the wording of the state and federal food code it's a clarification Mary this okay that what you have given us titled service dogs the wording is exactly in in sync with what is in the state sanitary code and the 20 13 Federal food code yep and those are the two questions you're allowed to ask okay is this a letter or is this something you were thinking that needs to be posted barable has I don't know if we need to make every establishment posted I I would I would like to see that personally but at least they have it accessible and if there's a question that they can have it as a reference if they if somebody brings an animal in so at least when if it's guest coming in can see it and say oh well maybe my emotional support dog is not a service animal I can't go in there so perhaps a cover letter could be sent with this are you going to distribute it a cover letter just sent saying this is being supplied to you um because there have Arisen a number of questions I'd be more than happy to do that yes ma'am yeah and then you could say you may post this if you would like but it is specifically for the information of your staff who might have to confront such a situation yes ma'am yeah I think it would be helpful to have both of them um if there are issues that uh other customers and stores can come in front of us that it would be helpful for the health department well the Board of Health also that a letter was sent here's the date uh and we provided you with um this documentation uh yeah and just put the date down at the bottom of this service dog information sheet too okay yep now this mentions outdoor patios um so example sea doogs right now they have that new outdoor patio I know you can't have animals out there either what happens to farmers markets they need a license for Foods Outdoors how's that different or what happens with with that it's a I would say it's still underneath the of a food service at retail not allowed like you can't have them in grocery stores so I would assume I'd have to look into that a little bit more I can contact my contacts at at the state level on that but that could be difficult people getting out of the car with their dog yeah for the day they're stopping off a few places Farmers Market yeah I'm I think it depends on how they Define a food establishment yeah for sure it's retail there not that's not Food Service there it's it's it's retail food there but so it so is it in supermarkets that don't have you know salad bars and things like that no and that's and they're not and they're not allowed in there so yeah I'm a big dog fan if I could take my dog everywhere with me I would love to but I have to what's the basis for this law I mean what basis do they have to not allow dogs in these Facilities San really aren't Anyan health issues sanitary code I guess sanitary C what what's unsanitary about dogs that aren't um that that makes people so sanitary well dogs do not use toilet for one that's a good point dogs bark they that dogs bark that's not a health issue that dogs would be disruptive or they could interact with each other negatively in and and up upset a facility that way they could deficate that the owner would have to be responsible for but I think it's a myth if you're going to say that the dogs are Haring some disease that are going to be an issue in a restaurant but that's not the case it's the state sanitary Co so yeah fine but but you know it might be just a old law that we need to maybe we need to look at not saying we need the bo of Health in Yarmouth has to do it but it I think it's a sort of an arbitrary rule that has other implications besides health issues because you know when you think about it your dog in your house everywhere you are and somehow we remain pretty healthy well dogs in stores though are not those are different circumstances for the dogs we don't know H how well the dog dogs are controlled and food is food for a dog so I can see a dog just grabbing something off of the shelf or you know yeah I totally agree with you Mary in that respect what the point I was making is is that there aren't really any health issues there behavioral issues with regard to dogs being in these places but it's not related okay right I mean we could Outlaw toddlers too for that point but they were diapers hope I just write scratch my head on it anywhere anytime yeah legal service do guess On's from the state police are the retired boy you talk about well trained yeah they're they're talking to me about taking one okay yeah unfortunately everybody doesn't have a wellt trained dog that's the problem as Mary pointed out you know defecating in a store or a restaurant would be offensive obviously thing about the state police dog is that once you assume responsibility for the dog in other words I take one of their dogs that dog goes with everywhere I go yeah and it's a service it's a it's a registered service dog so yeah it's allowed to anywh without it that's that's what it's allowed so and when I when they said that to me about that they want to know if I'd if I'd rescue a horse wait I don't know why it's dogs and small Ponies are the only two that are acknowledged by the Ada but that's above our perview yeah so unfortunately you didn't include small Poli in this letter or notice okay okay you're okay with it yeah discussion wise all right I'll do a cover letter and put a date on it get it distributed out to the local establishments okay yes little clarification we just make a motion that this needs to be issued everybody once he makes a letter is that um we didn't we we didn't I mean we didn't vote on anything there wasn't a formal motion the board members you think there needs to be no think it's just a recommendation we're we're agreeing with his what he with his doing it that's how I look at it yeah I I assume that's what we're doing you okay with that Charlie okay with it spread your knowledge thank you thanks for asking okay uh okay we have a final migrant update here sure um so you can see the word final uh the migrant uh program was extended to Yarmouth back in SE or September September 11th of last year for seven months migrants have been there each meeting you've received an update um and that has progressed we work uh cohesively with the community we we worked with the state and as of April uh several weeks ago uh April 23rd through the 25th April 25th being the last day that uh all the migrants were were moved out to other locations we weren't really given specifically where they went but the harici side Suites is now back to um taking reservations by the public so that that program uh has ended as of April 25th okay that's it final update you won't see it again number six here is the co update is yes sir thank you Mr chairman um Co update for last month 414 uh through 511 Yarmouth was down it's 1.59% positivity with four positive cases the county was at 3.82 and the state was at 3.48% so we were much lower last two weeks 428 through 511 Yarmouth 1.52 positivity rate with only two positive cases of covid the county was 4.47% and the state was at 3.86% which was down from our previous um and then last week there were 5'5 through 5'11 um Yarmouth had 1.56 positive rate with only one positive uh covid uh case being reported um the county is at 3.91 and the state was at 4.10 so numbers are going down which is good so would the board want to keep keep this as a uh as a continual update when the numbers are down to single digits right it's just my opinion right now I don't think we need to be doing it um part of the reason the statistics now are I don't think is helpful with all the cell phone testing um so I'm okay if we discontinu for the time being and uh Co starts you know spiking again or we have a new pandemic that's starting if we did sure I don't know how do other board members feel about it I I agree I agree too I agree three yeah I don't think we're taking advantage you know I don't think it's helpful right now so it's great okay thanks for the point J great great thank you um any new old business I would just say the new business is that your colleague Eric is on his honeymoon right now oh great oh wonderful okay I didn't know that was public I didn't say anything okay so it was he did okay I kept my mouth shut okay yeah okay we wish him well we wish him well I happen to pump into him he upstairs getting his marriage license so congratulations yeah wonderful so we'll congratulate him in person when he gets back I suppose that's an excuse for not coming tonight well you know did I did question him on that I said GE couldn't you fit this in but no it's only two hours Eric it's two hours come yeah there you go okay anything else no think just for me being new to Yarmouth I just want to say this uh this the the grant thing was very eye opening for me tonight I I just wish we had money to give everybody what they wanted and more it's it's amazing what they're doing for our community here in Yarmouth and how much support I mean people say that like even the migrants how people wen't helping Yarmouth is a very giving Community to people in need I I'm finding out it's it's great so thank you to the community on that one yeah I agree be a tough meeting I mean yes not to people money and with what they're doing I I agree with you Barry so um we just need one more motion or our first motion for the evening actually J January have June 3rd for the next meeting do you want to set that um Everybody the first Monday in June I assumed it was so go to a summer schedule I'm not sure how you're going to is it June July and August or July and August we may do that we can talk about the next meeting so it'll be the 3D June next meeting it's good that's the end of new business okay anyone make a motion to get out of Dodge okay second okay all in favor is your hand say I okay thank you everyone everybody thank you good night listen everybody