BOH discusses vaccines, Comp Plan and formula recall

The Norwood Board of Health met recently and discussed the recent recall of the baby formula brand ‘By Heart’ that was announced originally last month.

The formula was tainted by clostridium botulinum and caused a large outbreak across the country. Norwood Health Department Director Stacey Lane said the retailers in the immediate Norwood area have removed the affected products – which include formula cans and “anywhere packs” – from their shelves, but she said she wanted to keep spreading the word to parents regardless.

“Even though the inspectors have gone out and made sure it’s been pulled from stores and the stores have all been notified, sometimes somebody might have given you some, you got it free or you have it at home and might not be aware,” she said. “Just be aware of what infant formula you have at home.”

Board of Health Member Joan Jacobs asked Environmental Health Agent Angelo De Luca about what inspection procedures he and fellow Health Inspector Kyle Simpson undertook when they found out about the outbreak. He said they did a visual inspection to make sure.

“Shaw’s was carrying them, but they did remove them from their shelves,” De Luca said. “They had to fill out some paperwork from the state that I sent out to them that they returned to us listing their product and that went to the state. So the items were already off the shelf at that time, and they were sent back to the warehouse to be destroyed.”

Lane said she wanted to make sure that anyone who might have had product tucked away in their shelves or who were perhaps grandparents who keep formula for visiting infants were aware of the outbreak and that they take appropriate steps to remove the formula from their houses.

Norwood Public Health Nurse Diana Hillery later confirmed Norwood has seen no cases of botulism in infants.

In other news, Town Planner Sarah Dixon came by to discuss the Norwood Comprehensive Plan with the Board as part of the plan’s “roadshow” outreach tour with Norwood boards, committees, commissions and departments throughout Town.

The Comprehensive Plan, also known as a Master Plan, is essentially a wish list for the Town for the next 10 years. Dixon said for this meeting, she wanted to go through the items on said wish list that pertained to the department.

For instance, one of the items that garnered a lot of discussion was that of adding a social worker to the department and combining the Health Department and the Veterans Services to become the Health & Human Services Department.

Lane said it’s similar to how the Animal Control Department works under the Health Department, as well as the administrative side of the Veterans Services Department currently.

“He (Veteran Services Officer Derek Wennerstrand) operates autonomously, obviously because he’s working with the veterans and that’s not part of the Department of Health, but a Health & Human Services Department would have a social worker and a larger, more comprehensive department with more social services,” she said. “Some towns have Health & Human Services, some have Health Departments.”

Lane said it would just add that human services and would not change much else in the structure of the department.

“Public health is not just about inspections and we’re seeing this across the state,” Lane said.

The Board intimated that they weren’t against the idea, but balked at the increased costs, as a brand new salary for the Town to pay wouldn’t really fly in this climate of overrides and deficits.

“We need the people in our department right now, and we don’t want to lose anybody to hire somebody,” said Chair Kathleen Bishop. “It’s not the time, I don’t think. Maybe in five years when and if we’re more financially stable. But in these times, I can’t see offering this to people in the community and saying, ‘We’re going to hire another department head at such & such a salary while you’re getting another override on your taxes.’ That’s not going to fly. I like the idea, but the funding for it will be huge.”

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The Board agreed, and Dixon said the idea is just to get the Board to look at the future of the department. She said the process for the Health & Human Services Department would start with a study and an evaluation to make sure such a large and costly change would be worth it.

“So maybe doing that study feels right,” she said.

The Board did agree with another item on the list that centered around health emergency response and coordination; essentially how the Town would reach the most vulnerable populations during such a widespread emergency. Jacobs pointed out this was something the Town tried to do during the pandemic but she felt the result was “lackluster.” Dixon said then in the Comprehensive Plan, perhaps forming a task force to look at improving such emergency responses would be appropriate.

“Do you feel that we have the systems in place to do that well, and if not, or if you believe there is room for improvement, do you think it’s a valuable priority to set up a task force to prepare for that and come up potentially with new ideas?” Dixon asked.

“The pandemic hit us very fast and we thought we were ready; we did a great job, but I think setting up a task force to help us know what we didn’t do right and what we could have done better would be great,” said Bishop.

The Board agreed that members would look over the plan and make their recommendations accordingly. For more information on the plan and to take the residents’ survey out now, go to: https://tinyurl.com/yf8jc5tu

Also at the meeting, Hillery said they currently have measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines available to residents free of charge regardless of insurance. Folks just have to call the department and set up an appointment: 781.762.1240