HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

The Department of Health and Human Services was honored with the American Heart Association's "Town with Heart" Silver Merit award for the second year in a row. This program provides Township residents with various cardiovascular disease interventions such as blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, cardiac risk assessment and various other educational programs which are integrated throughout the community. Local organizations and Township residents are encouraged to get involved in "Town with Heart" programs. For more information regarding the "Town with Heart" program, contact the program coordinator, Barbara Del Vecchio at 837-4822.

The Code Enforcement Officer kept extremely busy making sure that sidewalks were shoveled, kept free from litter and that every dog had a current rabies shot. The new "Teen Clean" program which commenced in April of 1994 was also supervised and directed by our Code Enforcement officer. Teaneck High School students cleaned municipal parking lots and parks on Saturday mornings, April through June and September through November. During July and August, the students painted over graffiti on public buildings, bridges and other property. The program will continue in 1996.

Since the fall of 1994, the department has been coordinating the Teaneck Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse (TMAASA) which provides alcohol and substance abuse prevention and education programs for residents. The Teaneck Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse is funded by the Governor's Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency. In 1995, the Alliance participated in D.A.R.E., Project Graduation, Junior Police Academy, the American Drug and Alcohol Survey, Holy Name Hospital's "Care for Kids." Night Out and July Fourth programs. Participation in the Alliance is open to all interested professionals and Township residents. Currently membership includes representatives of the Township Health Department, Police Department, Board of Education, Municipal Court's Public Defender, End D.W.I., Holy Name Hospital's C.A.R.E. program and Township residents. If you or your organization would like to be involved in the Alliance, contact the program coordinator, Barbara Del Vecchio at 837-4822.

The contract with Holy Name Hospital for Public Health Nursing Services continues to be a major success. The Child Health Conference is the first in the county to provide evening hours to participants in an effort to accommodate working parents. The new evening hours are the third Thursday of the month, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Visits to the Child Health Conference totaled 361. The clinic, which provides all aspects of well-child care, administered 556 childhood immunizations. Venous blood tests are performed on children participating in the clinic at one and two years of age. A total of 62 children were tested for lead poisoning. The clinic which is located at 725 Teaneck Road is available to Township children between the ages of six weeks and five years. Appointments, required for services of the Child Health Conference, can be made by calling 833-0275.

The Community Health Services clinic which provides hypertension screening and risk assessment is also located at 725 Teaneck Road. The clinic which includes an educational component, has recorded 687 visits in 1995, in which 59 referrals were made to private physicians. The clinic is offered twice a week and is the perfect solution for residents who must have their blood pressure checked on a regular basis. Public Health Nurses from the clinic also monitored blood pressures weekly at the Teaneck Senior Service Center in 1995. Evening hours are available one Monday a month, from 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. To receive further information of clinic dates and times, contact the health Department office at 837-4824.

As a further service to seniors and those with chronic respiratory problems, the Department of Health and Human Services conducted a flu shot clinic at the Richard Rodda center and at the Health Fair. A total of 543 residents received flu shots.

The Senior Citizens Medical Outreach program is now in its third year. The facility is located within the Townhouse at the comer of Teaneck Road and W. Forest Avenue and operates under the direction of Bergen Pines County Hospital staff. The program offers primary care medical treatment in addition to podiatry care. Hours of operation are every Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For further information or appointments, call 9674060.

The Department, in conjunction with Holy Name Hospital, has taken on exciting new programs which include its New Spring Health Fair which was held on Sunday, May 7, at Beniamin Franklin Middle School. The Department decided to add a Sunday Health Fair to accommodate residents who are unable to attend the traditional Saturday Health Fair which is held in the fall. The Department's fall Health Fair was held on October 14t' at Benjamin Franklin Middle School as well. Our spring and fall Health Fairs were enormously successful in providing over 500 residents with comprehensive prevention and screening services including a complete blood/chemistry profile (including HDL & LDL cholesterol), vision, dental, gynecology, low-cost mammography, and podiatry screenings, heart risk assessment, body fat analysis and information regarding all areas of health. In addition to these programs, our fall Health Fair provided flu shots to residents. Residents should continue to look forward to two Health Fairs, occurring in the spring and fall.

The secretarial staff processed over 2.000 licenses for dog owners, retail food establishment operations, vending machines, dry cleaners and owners of rented homes and lodging houses. Revenues generated from these licenses and other miscellaneous fees totaled $63,300.00. Animal Control services are provided through a contract with the Bergen County Animal Shelter. The Shelter responded to 252 requests for service in 1995. The service provides rabies control, rescues sick and injured animals and captures stray dogs and cats. To request the services of the shelter, residents should call the health Department weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Before and after these hours and on weekends or holidays, calls should be make to the Teaneck Police.

Free rabies immunization vouchers for participating veterinarians are available from the Health Department. Residents took advantage of this program in 1995, by having 218 dogs and 69 cats vaccinated.

Environmental health and property Maintenance Code enforcement are priorities with the Health Department. The restaurants and other food establishments come under the close scrutiny of the department inspectors on a regular basis. Food establishments received 267 satisfactory and 23 conditional inspections in 1995. The inspection placards are white for satisfactory and yellow for conditional inspections, and are required to be posted at or near the public entrance to the establishment. Inspectors investigated 60 complaints involving food establishments. Establishments in serious violation were issued 24 summonses which resulted in $490.00 in fines. Monthly samples of hazardous food and dairy products were collected and analyzed for high bacterial levels.

Tenants in multiple family dwellings, rented houses and lodging houses are served by the department through Certificate of Health inspections. These inspections are required for vacant apartments, single family rented houses and rented rooms. Certificates of health were issued for 82 apartment units in 1995.

Radon test kits were sold to 28 residents in 1995. Test kits are still available at the health Department office for $14.00. Over 400 residents have taken advantage of the program since its inception in 1989.

Consistent property maintenance code enforcement keeps the Township environmentally sound and helps keep property values high. As the primary enforcers of the code, department inspectors conducted 2,507 inspections in 1995. Violation notices were written, follow-up inspections conducted and summonses issued where necessary. A three year comparison of code enforcement activities follows: