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Home My WebLink About2013-12-19 Board of Health Agenda Packet i North Andover Board of Health Meeting Agenda Tliursda , December 1 , 2013 7:00 pan. 120 Main Street, 2°d Floor Selectmen's Meeting Room North Andover, MA 01845 1. CALL TO ORDER II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE III. PUBLIC HEARINGS IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Meeting minutes from 11/21/13 to be presented for signature. V. OLD BUSINESS VI. NEW BUSINESS A.Consideration of North Andover Public Schools Head Lice Policy. VII. COMMUNICATIONS,ANNOUNCEMENTS,AND DISCUSSION A. Update on 2014 permitting VIII. CORRESPONDENCE/NEWSLETTERS IX. ADJOURNMENT 2013 North Andover Board of Health Meeting—Meeting Agenda Page 1 of 1 Note: The Board of Health reserves the right to take items out of order and to discuss and/or vote on items that are not listed on the agenda. Board of Health Members: Thomas Trowbridge,DDS,MD,Chairman;Larry Fixler,Member/Clerk;Francis P.MacMillan,Jr., M.D.;Joseph McCarthy,Member; Edwin Pease,Member Health Department Staff:Susan Sawyer,Health Director; Debra Rillahan,Public Health Nurse;Michele Grant,Public Health Inspector;Lisa Blackburn,Health Department Assistant 1 j 1 I } TOWN OF NORTH ANDOVER PEDICULOSIS REGULATION r The North Andover Board of Health, acting in accordance with M.G.L. Chapter 111, Section 31, in order to protect the public health of the residents of the Town of North Andover, hereby establishes the following regulation to control the spread of pediculosis infection within the schools of North Andover. DEFINITIONS: 1.. Contagion-pediculosis as demonstrated by the presence of lice,nits, eggs, or egg cases. 2. Nits -the small eggs of the louse that are attached to hair with a glue-like substance that cannot be blown or washed away. They range in color from a yellowish-white to reddish- brown. 3. Pediculosis -infestation of the hairy parts of the body or of clothing with lice. 4. Treatment-an approved over-the-counter medicated shampoo or cream rinse designed to kill lice or a product prescribed by a physician;AND the followup manual nit removal process;AND the appropriate cleaning or storage of all potentially infested items. GENERAL: Henceforth, any person in any public or private school within the Town of North Andover diagnosed as being infested with head or body lice, shall,upon diagnosis by the school physician or school nurse,be considered to be carrying a contagious disease and shall be immediately excluded from admission to school. Such person shall not be re-admitted to school until a complete treatment has been carried out and the person has been nit free for 3 consecutive school days. Each such person shall be examined by the school nurse and only re-admitted to school if there are no nits found for these 3 consecutive school days, and the examination indicates that the person is free of contagion. The person shall be examined daily by the school nurse for the next two weeks. If,during the following two weeks of daily examinations,any signs of pediculosis are found,then the person shall again be denied admittance to school until another 3 consecutive school days have passed with no sign of nits.Affected children must be brought to the school by a parent or other responsible adult. This regulation was hereby adopted by a unanimous vote of the North Andover Board of Health on December 18, 1997, and effective immeoiately. Gayt zsgood, Cha' man Francis P. Ma illan,Member a r l Rizza, etk — d I 'may j8 130AIRD OF HE'A.TH ISIS rj i MINUTES fit January 25, 2001 Dr.MacMillan called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. MEMERS PRD+SENT. Francis P. MacMillan, M.D. Member; John S. Rizza D.M.D. Clerk; Sandra Starr Health ) Director; Susan Ford, Health Inspector;Debra Rillahan, Town Nurse. J� HA;D LICE REGULATIONS r Bobbi-Hedstrom, Head nurse in the school system, spoke on behalf of all the nurses regarding the head lice regulation. The North Andover school nurses would like to request that the section of the Pediculosis regulations requiring restriction from school for three consecutive days be eliminated. They find this requirement to be punitive and counterproductive. The nurses have found that it is the rare case that needs this type of restriction. Dr.. MacMillan has no qualms about eliminating this section as requested by the nurses. Both Dr. MacMillan and Dr. Rizza would like to give the nurses the liberty to deal with each case as they see fit. ! ; On a motion by Dr. Rya, seconded by Dr. MacMillan the Board voted to change � the head lice regulations to read as follows: fe , "The North Andover Board of Health, acting in accordance-with M.G.L..Chapter 111, Section 31 in order to protect the public health of the residents of the Town of North.Andover, hereby establishes the following regulation to control the spread of pediculosis infection within the ' schools of North Andover. f DEFV_,q ONS- �� l 1. Contagion—pediculosis as demonstrated by the presence of lice,nits, eggs, or egg cases. 2. Nits—the small eggs of the louse that are attached to hair with a glue-like substance that cannot be blown or washed away. They range in color from a yellowish-white to reddish-brown. 3. Pediculosis—infestations of the hairy parts of the body or of clothing with lice. I, J J J% 4. Treatment—an approved over-the-count medicated shampoo or cream rinse designed to , Kill lice or a product prescribed by a physician;AND the follow-up manual nit �1! ; 1, removal process;AND the appropriate cleaning or storage of all potentially infested items. JJ i,i yJ r _ l Page Two g January 25 2001 ire %i GENERAL: Uri Henceforth an person in an public or private school within the Town of North Andover ` � any any P N diagnosed as being infested with head or body lice shall upon diagnosis by the school physician or school nurse, be.considered to be carrying a contagious disease and shall be:_, immediately excluded from admission to school. Such person shall not be re-admitted to r school until a complete treatment has been carried out and the person has been found nit free. Each such person shall be examined by the school nurse and only readmitted to school if there are no nits found, and the examination indicates that the person is flee of contagion. The person shall be examined daily by the school nurse for the next-two weeks. If, during the foll owing two weeks of daily examinations, any signs of pediculosis are found, then the person shall again be denied admittance to school until there is no sign of nits. Affected children must be brought to tie school by a parent or other responsible r adult. This regulation was hereby adopted by a unanimous vote of the North Andover Board of Health on December 18, 997 and amended January 25, 2001, and is effective a immediately." d�Ii `" HEALTHY COM +S Ron Beauregard and Diane Pickles spoke on behalf of Healthy Communities. Ms. Pickles i► would like to take another look at the smoking regulations in North Andover in bars and S1 ," restaurants. Ms. Pickles talked about having the Town go smoke-free in restaurants and 1 pl i bars. One of the key findings is the ventilation in bars and restaurants and the health risks, I Ms. Pickles would like to do a survey in Town about smoking in bars and restaurants. She would like to bring the data back to the Board and discuss it. The survey will go out ItN i and Ms. Pickles will appear before the Board in March, 2001 and go over the survey data. � 1�Jiff 4 The Board favored the survey. 1 APPROVAL OF MINUM On a motion by Dr. Rizza, seconded by Dr. MacMillan a motion was made to accept o ' December 14, 2000 minutes. lit nrW h r. �rY y Legal Notice I Notice is hereby given that on January 25, 2001,the NABH amended the Pediculosis Reg. to eliminate the minimum 3-day restriction from school for those students who have been diagnosed with nits. Once they are nit-free students may return to school at the discretion of the school nurses. ;3 f North Andover Public Schools The North Andover School Nurses are requesting a change in the town of North Andover's policy regarding Pediculosis Capitis,head lice. Rationale: 1. Research data does not support immediate exclusion upon the identification of the presence of live lice or nits as an effective means of controlling Pediculosis transmission. By the time a child with an active head lice mfestation'has.been identified,he or she may have had the infestation for one month or inore and,therefore,poses little additional risk of transmission to others (Frankowski &bibb"iim" 2010) 2. Head lice screening programs have nort had a significant effect on>the incidence of head lice in the school setting over time and have not proven,to be cost effective (Frankowski &Bocchini, 2010). 3. No disease is associated withheacllice. and ln-schools"transmission is considered to be rare. 4. The CDC (2010) cites the following reasons to discontinue"no nit"policies in school: a. Many nits are more than %4 inch from the scalp. Such nits are usually not viable and unhlcely to hatch to become;crawling lice;or"may in fact be empty shells, also known as casings. 'C b. Nits are cemented to'.hair shafts and-unlikely to be transferred successfully to other people C The burden of unnecessary absenteeism to the students,families and communities far outweighs the risks associated with head lice. RE FERENCES/RESOURCES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(2010).Head lice information for•schools. Retrieved from http://wivw.ede.gov/parasites/lice/head/index.html Frankowski,B.L„&Bocchini,J.A,.(2010).Clinical Report-Head Lice.Pediatrics. 126(2)392-403. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/egi/content/abstract/126/2/3 92 doi:10.1 542/peds.2010-1308 i i North Andover Public Schools Head Lice Policy The goal of the North Andover Head Lice Policy is to facilitate an accurate assessment of the i problem, contain infestation,provide appropriate health information for treatment and prevention,prevent overexposure to potentially hazardous chemicals, and minimize school absence. Head Lice Procedure f If nits are discovered on a child's head: • Inspect hair for live lice • If no live lice are seen—notify parents and hate parents re-inspect"han periodically for live lice • Provide parent with information about head liee(see attachment) • Child will be kept in school until the end of the day If live lice are found: • Notify parent/guardian of the suspected.infestation • Student will be dismissed for treatment <:; • Provide parents" h th information about head lice an methods to eliminate them(see attaclunent) • Student will be rechecked by school nurse befor e returning to class