Health & Hospitals Committee

Meeting called to order at 9:30am. There is currently no quorum as there are only four board members present so the meeting has been recessed until the chair can make calls and find three more people who can connect at least by phone.

In the meantime, here is the agenda for the meeting: https://t.co/ZEKfSBA1cl

There is now a quorum. Commissioner present include: Commissioners Deer (Chair), Aguilar, Anaya, Daley, Gainer, Johnson, Lowrie, Kevin Morrison, Sean Morrison, Moore, Miller, Degnen, Sims, Arroyo (Vice Chair), Suffredin, and Britton

There is now a quorum. Asked for speakers. Hospital representative elected to present during the next meeting and left. No other speaker so will move on to agenda. Item 1 Minutes Passed.

Dr. Hasbrook, COO, Cook Co Dept of Public Health presented on Item 2. A new COVID-19 customized booster available for 12 & over that will protect against original & omicron variant. Younger children encouraged to get Pfizer booster until the other is available for a younger age.

Vaccinations for COVID-19 are currently over 1 million in Chicago. Spread is low. It has been low to medium for several months. Hospitalizations are also down. Contact tracing has been utilized in outbreaks in July & Aug. Public health officials continue to work to control them.

The dept of public health is working to get information out about the Monkey Pox Virus. There is a special website. Information about the virus and immunization can be found here: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/cdph/supp_info/health-protection/get-the-facts-monkeypox.html

There have been two FB live events, weekly seminars at schools, including last Fri., presentations during market days.

Forty percent of those with Monkey Pox are Hispanic/Latinex, 26 percent are African American. Those are the communities being targeted the heaviest to disseminate information about the virus and immunization.

Case counts of Monkey Pox: June 25th first cases; a quick rise in July; since then 1-2 cases a day in Chicago. There have been about 1100 cases in Il & about 900 in Chi. 2300 vaccines allocated for suburban Cook Country. 1100 have been reallocated. No motion made to vote on item.

Dr. Hasbrook presented on next item, 3rd Quarter Report for CCDPH. He said the main priority to underscore was the Building Healthy Community Initiative. This includes the goal of advancing racial health equity & supporting evidence based programs.

Dr. Hasbrook stated that the initiative combines four grants amounting to $10.8 Million. There were 66 applications. Those from resource poor communities were prioritized. 44 applications were scored, 41 received funds ranging from about $50k to half a million dollars.

Of those requesting funds for strategies related to COVID-19, most requested was Mental Health. Long term goals involve grant recipients teaching each other through a network. A concern raised was sustainability. Dr. Hasbrook said will teach recipients to write grants themselves.

Motion made to approve item. It was unanimously approved. For more information about this grant opportunity: https://cookcountyhealth.org/press_releases/president-preckwinkle-announces-12-million-investment-to-launch-building-healthy-communities-initiative/

Final Agenda Item presented by Dr. Joshi from CCDPH on Sustaining the Mental Health Hotline for Suburban Residents. The funds requested were $1.4 million with $60,000 allocated for 2022. He also discussed the Good Food Purchasing Program with a $4.5 million budget.

Before the vote on these items, all the commissioners present asked to be put as co-sponsors of these initiatives. The vote was called for and the item was passed unanimously. More information on the Good Food Purchasing program here: https://cookcountypublichealth.org/chronic-diseases/good-food-purchasing-program/

As there were no other items, the Chair called for a motion to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 10:20am.

Related information:
Monkey Pox in Illinois: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/illinois-hits-1000-monkeypox-cases-but-theres-cautious-optimism-as-new-cases-slow-in-chicago-and-other-cities/
Monkey Pox from CCPDH https://cookcountypublichealth.org/communicable-diseases/monkeypox/
NAMI Chicago: https://www.namichicago.org/
Chicago’s Mental Health Equity Plan: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/7/30/23274756/211-number-chicago-cook-county-mental-health-care-department-public-health
Building Healthy Communities rfp https://cookcountypublichealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/BHC-RFP-27-at-a-glance-0401522_final.pdf

This concludes coverage of the Health & Hospitals Committee Meeting (Cook County Board of Commissioners). The next meeting has not been scheduled yet. For more meeting coverage, check out http://documenters.org.