WRFA’s Julia Ciesla-Hanley speaks with Chautauqua County Board of Health President Dr. Lillian Ney about recent changes at the County Health Department.

Dr. Lillian Ney (photo courtesy of Jamestown Community College)

Dr. Lillian Ney (photo courtesy of Jamestown Community College)

The Chautauqua County Board of Health President is expressing concern for the County Health Department with the departure of Christine Schuyler.

Schuyler’s last day as Director of the County’s Department of Health and Human Services was Tuesday, November 29 following Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel‘s decision not to renew her contract.

Health Board President Dr. Lillian Ney said she learned from local school district representatives who attended the Board of Health’s meeting Monday, November 28 that Schuyler was an incredible asset to districts in the county during the COVID-19 Pandemic, “The State Health Department was changing rules right and left, and guidelines right and left. It was very confusing. It was a dilemma. It was a tremendous dilemma. And she (Christine) had a calming and common sense of approach to it that the schools really, really appreciated. And as the time grew nearer for her leaving, they were reaching out and saying, ‘Oh my goodness. What are we to do now?'”

Ney said one of her concerns is that there are three major illnesses going on in the public health arena currently with the surge in Influenza A cases, an increase in RSV, as well as COVID still being an issue in the county, “And now we have a deficiency I say, I don’t know if that’s the right word. But we’ve lost two outstanding performers in the Health Department. One is Christine, because Christine is now gone. And Bree Agett, who was our epidemiologist, who is really outstanding as well, she’s now gone. And I just heard yesterday, much to my despair I guess I would say, that we’re losing another of our outstanding nurses.”

Ney added that it is difficult to recruit people to work for the Health Department and that she prays there isn’t another major public health problem, “You know, to recruit to the Health Department at that level in terms of Christine’s ability and Bree Agett’s ability in epidemiology, how are we going to find folks like that in the county? Thankfully, Dr. Michael Faulk, who is a great guy, is going to be chairing the department. I think it’s on an interim basis for now perhaps, but more than likely maybe more going forward.”

Wendel has said further details about the reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services with the Department of Mental Hygiene are expected in early 2023.

The Chautauqua County Board of Health, Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services, Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene, and Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office are joining forces to remind residents safe gun storage is a priority in Chautauqua County.

Many County residents are owners of firearms, so groups are coming together to share efforts and to create public education opportunities to ensure the community is well-informed of resources and best practices.

If you own a gun, it is critically important to follow these safety practices:
1. Keep all firearms unloaded and locked in a safe place, away from children and other unauthorized persons, when not in use.
2. Store ammunition under lock and key, separate from firearms, out of the reach and sight of children.
3. Keep keys and combinations hidden.
4. Teach children never to touch a gun and to immediately tell an adult if they see one.
5. Read and understand your firearm owner’s manual.
6. Follow safe gun handling practices.

Officials say parents and caregivers play a critical role in the importance of firearm safety with their children by having open and honest conversations about guns.

The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office is working with Project Child Safe to try and secure a supply of free firearm safety kits for interested community members. More information will be made available as details unfold.

In 2020, gun suicide among children ages 17 and under reached the highest rate in more than 20 years, and firearms became the leading cause of death among children in the United States.

The U.S. is the only country among its peers that has seen an increase in the rate of child firearm deaths in the last two decades. In the U.S. in 2020, 30% of child deaths by firearm were ruled suicides, 5% were unintentional, and 65% of all child firearm deaths were assault.

If you are experiencing a crisis, contact the 24/7 Chautauqua County Crisis Hotline by calling 1-800-724-0461, call/text the Suicide & Crisis Hotline at 988, or text TALK to 741741 to the Crisis Text Line.

For more information and safety tips for firearms visit: https://www.nssf.org, https://besmartforkids.org/ or https://gunsafetyrules.nra.org/.

Chautauqua County Legislature meeting – March 23, 2022

A resolution regarding a Wastewater Surveillance Pilot Program passed 16 to 2 in the Chautauqua County Legislature Wednesday night.

Legislator and County Board of Health member Liz Rankin said the program is not mandated and the county had originally planned to use American Rescue Plan monies to fund doing it before the grant was received. She said the grant had already been accepted with the resolution on the agenda adopting a budget for the grant.

Rankin said she was voting yes not just to fulfill the grant obligations but also because she believed in what the grant supports, “The wastewater surveillance program is an early warning system for managing COVID and to give a community profile, give us a heads up, not to isolate and quarantine people, but to mobilize staff and resources, first responders, and long term care systems. Public health surveillance has been around for a very long time.”

Rankin added wastewater surveillance has been done for decades including being used in the 1940s for polio, in the 1980s for Hepatitis A virus and norovirus outbreaks, and in the 1990s as well, “We are not creating something new. We are folding in a technology that’s going to work for us now. This is a great opportunity for us to stay on top of public health trends. The samples are collected at publicly owned central treatment plants and not in neighborhoods and not at specific houses. We’re not targeting anyone in particular. It is planning for the community based on results.”

An amendment proposed by Legislator Tom Harmon added language that would limit the collection of wastewater samples to publicly owned wastewater treatment plants. The amendment also stated a spreadsheet report on the collections would be provided after the pilot program ended on July 31, 2022.

Legislators John Davis and Bob Scudder were the two no votes.

The legislature unanimously approved a $2 million grant from the State Department of Health to hire fellows to work with the County Health Department.

Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon said he spoke with an epidemiologist who lives in his district who worked on the creation of the fellowship program. He said the program was established six months into the pandemic when state and local counties realized they didn’t have enough health care workers to deal with the pandemic effectively, “So the concept was, how do we get more people involved in public health, trained in public health, educated in public health. So this was created as a means of encouraging people to become more educated in public health by putting them to work in fellowships working with public health departments in the counties, doing work on the ground, learning about public health.”

Chagnon said under the program, fellows will be employed by not-for-profit organizations and work for and at the direction of the County Health Department, “Not at the direction of the state at all. So, they’re there to help the county health department, public health department. And they’re there to learn and experience the public health field first hand so that they can become better educated about the practice of public health and also to encourage those who are interested in pursuing education in public health.”

Chagnon emphasized the concerns he’s heard about the fellows working for the state are misinformed.

The legislature also passed a resolution accepting a a $25,000 grant for the Chautauqua County Mental Hygiene Department‘s Mobile Crisis Unit. The grant is to be used for education and training; billing, equipment and electronic medical record expenses.

Rankin wanted to know specifically, if the county were given the option, would health officials take a position on whether or not to allow cannabis products to be sold in the county.

Health director Christine Schuyler said the board hasn’t discussed the issue yet, but that could change in the coming months, should the state move forward with legalization.

“I don’t know of conversations since county executive Wendel took office [in 2020], I know there had been conversations in the past about that. I do think it’s something that has to be revisited. For most counties, I believe, financially it will be very difficult to opt out of that but I do believe it is worth a discussion,” Schuyler said.

Schuyler also suggested to Rankin that a conversation in the county legislature also take place as more details on the proposal are rolled out.

We did ask County Executive PJ Wendel in November his position on the issue, following his winning the special election for county executive. Wendel said that despite the promise of additional revenue through new businesses opening in the county, there’s no guarantee it will be the major economic windfall touted by some legalization advocates.

“Dangling dollar signs and saying, ‘if you do this, look at the windfall.’ We don’t know that. We don’t know what the windfall is. Will we see an increase [in revenue] and will we see sales? Yes. But I guess the question we have is, if someone is smoking marijuana and it’s now legal, are we concerned whether it’s coming from a legal dispensary or or somewhere else? Those are concerns we’re going to be faced with,” Wendel said.

Wendel was also concerned about the public safety issues that could arise, particularly with driving while under the influence. And he also feels the public health aspects of marijuana use need to be looked at further.

Specific details of the marijuana legalization have not been finalized. But two years ago when the issue was brought forward, state legislators had said they wanted to give counties the option to opt out of allowing it to be sold locally if they wished. The possession of cannabis would remain legal regardless.

Tonight’s meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on the 4^th floor of the HRC Building in Mayville. It is open to the public.