The Health Department told the Health and Human Services Commission it is expanding its social-media outreach and will post health-education events and guidance on Facebook and Instagram to reach more residents. Amy Lahimi, Health Department staff, said, “We will be posting all of our health education offerings,” and asked commissioners to share the accounts.

The department reported staff training and preparedness related to tuberculosis (TB). Lahimi said the public-health nurse attended a TB symposium and described local follow-up if a case appears: the nurse would monitor patients, oversee medications and testing, and perform direct-observed therapy (watching patients take medication each day).

The department presented two years of respiratory-vaccine coverage data for the town, noting it aggregates vaccinations across providers in the community. Lahimi said the dashboard provided by the state shows seasonal respiratory illness and ER visit activity. She also updated a suicidal-ideation chart and recommended moving that measure to a less-frequent reporting cadence — likely quarterly — while bringing other reportable-disease numbers to the commission in coming months.

Lahimi explained limits of the emergency-department (ED) data the commission reviews: small monthly counts are masked when fewer than six records exist and ED coding can reflect statements made while a patient is intoxicated or otherwise not sober. Commissioners and staff agreed the ED-derived suicidal-ideation metric is imperfect but remains the most consistent indicator available locally.

On service delivery and inspections, Lahimi said food inspections are being handled by her for the foreseeable future; Shannon (last name not specified) is assisting with septic work and the two staff members are sharing building-permit responsibilities. Lahimi said filling open positions remains a priority and that interviews are expected later this month.

The department reported a state and regional approach to messaging: the state now provides monthly marketing tools for public-health departments and the regional group (Region 1) is coordinating consistent outreach.

Less critical details: pediatric flu vaccines will be offered by appointment only; the department intends to fill gaps when pediatricians’ clinics do not meet local timing needs; staff plan to bring 2024 reportable-disease numbers to the commission in the next two to three months.

The department did not provide exact counts for some items (for example, the total number of restaurants inspected this season was "not specified") and clarified that counts under six are suppressed in the ED-derived datasets.