SALEM — The Salem City Health District is investigating a confirmed case of Legionnaires’ Disease.

During the board of health’s August meeting Public Health Nurse Chelsea Clark said that the department had confirmed a resident within one of the city’s long-term care facilities had been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease, also known as legionella pneumonia, a rare and severe form of pneumonia caused by the legionella bacteria. Clark said that while the department was still investigating potential sources of the infection, they had confirmed it originated within the city, and at that time was isolated to only a single resident.

“We’re investigating the source of it, but the interview that I did showed that it did come from within the city. So right now, we have eight water samples out — five holding tanks, kitchen water, patient room water, and ambient air,” said Clark.

Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey asked if the air conditioner in the affected resident’s room had been tested, and Health Commissioner Kayla Crowl said that the unit had recently been serviced and cleaned so a sample couldn’t be obtained for testing. Crowl also noted that the facility had been experiencing plumbing issues including sewer backup into the affected resident’s room which had since been corrected, but still represented another possible source for infection.

Clark said that while the department was conducting the investigation in house, she had contacted the state to ensure that all appropriate procedures were being followed and to ensure the case remains isolated.

“It is something that requires further investigation, although we’re keeping it within our department because we’re handling it. I have called out to [the Ohio Department of Health’s] Infectious Disease Bureau to see if there’s anything else I need to do because anytime it’s from a long-term care facility we need to investigate and do environmental testing,” said Clark.

Other matters discussed included the department’s ongoing, and unsuccessful, attempts to fill the second contract-based part-time housing inspector position to support current part-time Housing Inspector Jarrod Richter. Dickey proposed that the board alter the position, which is funded through the Workforce Development Grant, to a full-time position, with a one-year contract term, and the possibility to be placed on city payroll on a continuing basis after the completion of the contract term if it proved to be fiscally possible and warranted. Dickey argued that the city’s inability to fill the position was due to the part-time hours, and that Richter did not want to take on the position full-time.

“We are having no good success attracting a housing inspector to help Jarrod [Richter], as a part time position, I would like to ask the board to consider creating a full-time position under the workforce development grant for one year, to possibly be brought under our employee umbrella based on the funds that are generated based on the funds that are generated from the increased fees we’re going to have,” said Dickey. “We’re doing very well on our fees this year, we could probably put it under ours’ now, but I’d like to be really conservative and have another full year with the new fee schedule before we do that, and I think we could get a candidate with a full-time position that would stay and be worth staying because when we were interviewing we had many people that were interested in coming in as a full-time position but they would not take part time.”

The board ultimately voted unanimously to modify and re-advertise the position under the new specifications.

The board also unanimously approved a request for the department to act as a $100 bronze sponsor of an activity at Kent State’s annual science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) event. Crowl said that the department would take its planting station to the event which teaches children how to grow vegetables and care for a garden after its positive reception at the department’s annual Health Resource Fair. The $100 will be drawn from the Workforce Development Grant’s outreach funding if permitted, and if not will be paid through department funding.

Crowl gave Environmental Health Director Alan Masters report on his behalf as he was unable to attend the meeting and said that the Foundry had begun addressing grease trap issues discussed in the board’s previous meeting July 24. Crowl also thanked them for responding to the issues swiftly following their discussion at that meeting.

“They have begun getting all that cleaned up and gotten on the right path to keeping it maintained and we want to thank them for their swift compliance in making sure that everything is taken care of it definitely does look better back there and smell better, so they are definitely making improvements there and we hope to keep it that way,” said Crowl.