North Cook News

The City of Park Ridge Community Health Commission met Thursday, Aug. 25.

"Consists of 11 members. Commission seeks to improve residents’ quality of life by leading local efforts to address public health problems. The Commission works with community volunteers and health care professionals to facilitate practical services and provide resource information, including blood drives and blood pressure checks, substance abuse awareness and recovery events, emergency/disaster preparedness awareness and education, and more."

Here are the meeting minutes as provided by the Park Ridge Community Health Commission:

COMMUNITY HEALTH COMMISSION

SECOND FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM 505 BUTLER PLACE, PARK RIDGE, IL 60068

DRAFT

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2016 7:00 p.m.

Members Present: P. Collins, C. Cycon, K. Grunschel, M.Hulting, E. Manning, T. Milburn, T. Schmidt

City Council:

Others Present:

Staff Present: Recording Secretary I. Feiereisel, Officer B. Peterson

Absent: A. Plewa-Rusiecki, T. Williams, M. Maloney, A. Cline

Meeting called to order at 7:10 p.m.

I. Roll Call

Roll taken.

II. Approval of Minutes (July 28, 2016)

T. Schmidt asked for motion to approve the July 28, 2016 draft mintues, and M. Hulting seconded the motion. Unanimous approval.

III. Citizens Present Wishing to be Heard on a Non-Agenda Item

None.

IV. Action Items

V. Discussion Items

A. Introduction of School, Park District administrators and LGH representatives

Letters were sent out to key contacts for each group regarding the commission and information on attending meetings.

B. Events, project and activities updates for each focus area

Outreach to Special Populations - P. Collins provided an update on the StoryCorps project scheduled for the end of September. He has sent information to Acting Mayor Maloney and communicated with the VFW. He will also contact School District 64. Participation information will also be posted on the Community Network Calendar (library), and on the monitor at City Hall.

Disease Education and Prevention – C. Cycon presented the information she provided for the commission’s webpage. T. Schmidt suggested adding information regarding concussions. C. Cycon also pointed out that she found very few local, (Park Ridge) resources for cancer support groups. She will continue to look for these resources and provide updated information.

Karen Grunschel asked if supporting an organization such as JDRF is appropriate. T. Schimdt asked if information or a presentation on obtaining healthcare and managing insurance bills would be helpful. C. Cycon will add a category of related services to the information for the webpage. In addition, T. Schmidt and C. Cycon will draft an article with information related to researching illnesses, finding related resources and help navigating and understanding medical insurance. This article can be published upon completion.

C.Cycon will forward information for Making Strides Event and Walk for the Spokesmen and the webpage.

Environmental Health and Sustainability - A letter was sent to Acting City Mayor, regarding what this focus area would like to do for the Greenist Region Compact. They will also be involved in the upcoming City’s strategic planning meetings.

Questions came up regarding bike lanes, signage and use of alleys. M. Hulting stated the Bike Task force has been created and will move forward.

M. Hulting is also working on a Green Business Program with the Chamber. She will contact municipalities that have this program in place and present the program to the Chamber of Commerce, emphasizing that there a many simple things a business can do to qualify.

Emergency Preparedness and Resiliency – T.Schmidt asked for feedback on doing more related to emergency preparedness and provided an example of what is currently being done in Germany. C. Cycon suggested starting out with small helpful ideas such as emergency exit plans and then build off of that. A written monthly feature was suggested for publications in local papers and the Spokesmen with a different related topic each month.

C. Mission statements and web page

I. Feiereisel presented a draft of the webpage. Each focus area will finalize their information and all links will be tested.

D. Ideas for communication to the community Covered under each focus area above.

VI. Administration Report

A. City Staff None.

B. School Administrators

None

C. Other Community Entities

None.

VII. New Business

None.

VIII. Adjournment

T. Schmidt made motion to adjourn the meeting, E. Manning seconded. Meeting adjourned at 8:27 p.m.