FAQ #39: November 16, 2020 — Containing Answers from November 10
Answers to Staff Questions on Employee Health and Safety, Supplies and PPE, and HR Policies
The following FAQs were adapted from questions submitted by VNSNY staff for the CEO Conference Calls hosted by Marki Flannery on Tuesday, November 10th.
Supplies, Masks and PPE
Q. After applying alcohol to my hands, I cough from the smell. Also alcohol dries out the skin. Is there another type of sanitizer that VNSNY can provide like a plant-based alcohol such as the GERMisept wipes that were once donated? If VNSNY would not stock an alternative, would VNSNY reimburse me for the purchase of an alternative product?
A. We are able to provide products from the donations that we received but we are not able to stock alternatives. It becomes an administrative nightmare for us to purchase alternatives and provide them to staff. So that is not an option. We do have available those solutions that meet the CDC guidelines. If you choose to purchase an alternative product, we are not able to reimburse you for that cost.
Michael, anything further that you’d like to add in terms of my response about the alternative to the alcohol solution?
Michael Bernstein, Chief Administrative Officer. Only that this has come up before, perhaps from this person or from others about the GERMisept wipes that were once donated, and I just want to be clear that we’re purchasing sanitizer that meets the CDC’s standard and those standards are fairly high as it relates to alcohol content.
The GERMisept wipes didn’t meet those standards. So it is very unfortunate that it provides a smell that causes someone to cough but what we are trying to do for protection for all staff is ensure that we are meeting the CDC guidelines. We continue to look for alternatives because we understand that concern, but we can’t consider any alternatives that don’t meet those standards.
Q. Can we wear a face shield instead of a mask? The mask is uncomfortable on my skin and it’s hard to breathe. Additionally, many communication cues are missed due to the mask whereas the face shield allows for the face to be seen and better airflow.
A.Tony Dawson, Vice President for Quality and Customer Experience: So the minimum requirement as determined by the CDC and the Department of Health is that you wear a facemask along with a face shield and/or goggles. So for your protection and for the protection of our clients, you must wear a mask. And I understand that they are uncomfortable and certainly wearing those all day is uncomfortable but that is the requirement. Unfortunately you can’t just wear a face shield.
Q. Three weeks ago I heard that facemasks were mailed to field staff. I’d like to know if home health aides were included because I have not received them.
A. So, yes. The facemasks were mailed to the home health aides. I’m sorry that you did not receive it and we will have someone follow up directly to make sure that we send another supply out to you if it hasn’t been received. Andria, can you follow up on this individual?
Andria Castellanos:Yes. I am doing that right now.
Employee Health and Safety
Q. Is it possible for VNSNY employees to get tested regularly if we have vulnerable family members at home?
A. We have rapid COVID tests that can be made available for employees at our 220 East 42nd Street location. So if you would like to come in on your own time you will be able to do that. Andria or Tony, would you like to provide information for this person? We will be providing more details in the very near future but maybe you can answer this person’s question.
Tony Dawson: Sure. I can take that. So if you come to the Motthaven room in Partners on the first floor, one of the clinical nurses there can do a rapid test for you. The test takes about 15 to 20 minutes to actually complete and it’s just a on a walk-in basis right now. You put in some paperwork, give them some information about yourself and they can do the rapid test for you.
Marki Flannery: Just to clarify, the entrance is on 41st Street so make sure you have your ID card with you. You probably will need your driver’s license as well and you can take it from there. Thank you.
Q. I know that when we go to those hotspots like California as a VNSNY employee, I have to quarantine for 14 days before coming back to work. Can it be modified? I know a friend of mine who was a health care worker too who worked in a prestigious hospital here in the city, and what they do when they go on vacation is, they get tested, and when the result is negative, they can come back to work.
A. The governor has recently changed the guidelines on quarantining. You must quarantine for 14 days if you do not receive a test three days prior to returning to the New York area if you are gone for more than 24 hours and a second test three days later. If you are classified as an essential health care worker you are exempt from some of these requirements, and I’m going to turn to Tony or Andria to explain what the process would be for staff who travel out of area in terms of the testing process.
Andria Castellanos, Chief of Provider Services: First, know that the guidance on this changes on a regular basis. It is confusing and complicated for you, and it is also for us difficult to interpret every time the new regulation comes out. So I would advise anyone who has a question about this to call the CERT team and get clarification on exactly what you should expect before you travel and what you should expect when you come back. And again, the guidance and direction and even the technology of testing continues to change very rapidly so we are trying to keep up with that.
*Please note, the guidance has changed since this conference call was held on Nov 10th, 2020. Current guidance as of Nov 16th, 2020 is as follows:
All VNSNY Provider Services staff and VNSNY Corporate staff who support Provider Services are considered essential workers. Essential workers who arrive in New York following out of state travel from a non-contiguous state or certain designated countries must get a COVID diagnostic test (either PCR or Rapid at their expense) within 72 hours prior to arrival in New York. If negative, staff may return to work immediately, and on the fourth day after returning to New York, they need to get a COVID diagnostic test (PCR at their expense or Rapid in one of our offices). If they are negative, they can resume work. Staff who elect to not get a COVID test before returning to New York must quarantine for 14 days and, unless they are authorized to work remotely, must utilize PTO if available, or not be paid their time if PTO is exhausted.
VNSNY CHOICE staff are not included in the definition of essential workers and are therefore considered non-essential workers. Non-essential workers entering New York from a non-contiguous state or certain designated countries must quarantine for 14 days unless they get a COVID diagnostic test (either PCR or Rapid at their expense) within 72 hours prior to arrival in New York, quarantine for a minimum of 3 days from the time of arrival and get a COVID diagnostic test (either PCR at their expense or Rapid at our offices) on day 4 to exit quarantine. Staff who elect to not get a COVID diagnostic test before returning to New York must quarantine for 14 days. If such staff are not authorized to work remotely, they must use available PTO for time off from work during their quarantine, or not be paid if PTO has been exhausted.
Clinical and Office-based Staff must communicate test results to the CERT team.
Staff who are visiting clients in SNF/ALF must resume regular weekly testing per the State requirement following the initial negative test.
Q. What is the number to call about travel restrictions?
A. Tony Dawson: The number for the CERT team is 212-216-9970.
Q. I wanted to inform you that I tried to get my flu shot at CVS and I was unable to do so. I was informed that the code was not going through. I printed a voucher for Walgreens and received my flu shot without any problems.
A. That may have been a CVS issue. We will follow up to see if it may have been that specific store because I know many of our employees have gotten flu shots at CVS. So hopefully that was an isolated incident, but we will continue to monitor and follow up with CVS if necessary.
Q. Since I’ve been working here at VNSNY I’ve never had to indicate if I wasn’t going to get a flu shot so I’m wondering why I need to do this now. Also isn’t it our choice to get a flu shot or not?
A. So yes, it is your choice. We’re encouraging everyone to get a flu shot but we are requiring that everyone either get a flu shot or indicate if they are declining. We are trying to make sure that we are monitoring and tracking all employees for the safety and health of all of our employees. So you have a choice. If you choose not to get a flu shot, that is your decision, but you do need to complete the declination form and submit that. Thank you.
HR Policies / Pay and PTO Policies
Q. My recent concern is regarding work behavior and communication while people are working from home, specifically with supervisor micromanagement since the pandemic struck.
A. Marian Hass, SVP Human Resources: I understand this question is from one of our certified home health aides. We very much want to follow up with you and with your supervisor in connection with the conditions and communications that you’re explaining. So we will follow up directly with you and I do have your email address here to talk more about the situation so that we can learn from it and make the experience for you much better. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Q. Please advise why it’s necessary to provide your personal email or cell phone number in order to reset your password. I did not feel comfortable providing this information.
A. Marian Hass: Yes. I have received this question as well and referred it to IT earlier this week. The personal email or cell phone number is to enable our staff to be able to use the self-service password reset feature that was just rolled out. Many of you may have seen the announcements about that that came from IT in the past week or two.
There is a work around for people who would prefer not to use their personal email. It’s meant to be something that’s easy for you to remember just like you use different identifications when you sign on to any website or service that you might use.
The work around is also to use your VNSNY cell phone number with the @vnsny.org address next to it. It’s the Verizon email. So there was further communication sent out regarding this and I will make sure that the person who asked this question gets the follow up.
Patient Care and Clinical
Q. What is the status of the NYC parking permits that expire next month?
A. We continue to work with the city to get those parking permits extended, and ideally made permanent. They wait to the last minute to make those decisions but that doesn’t mean that we wait till the last minute to ask. So right now they expire at the end of December which is about six to seven weeks from now and we are continuing to try to get them extended and made permanent. But that’s all we know at this point.
Q. A good number of my patients are not comfortable with using an oral thermometer. Is there any way we can obtain non-contact thermometers?
A. Tony Dawson: So we’ve gone back and forth on this and we talked about the use of different technology for this but for us we are still using the oral thermometer and you should leave that in the patient’s home. We have enough of those thermometers available so that if you’re using that thermometer you should be using that for one patient and leaving it in the patient’s home. And we did not go with digital thermometers at this time.
Q. For employees who are allowed to work remotely but are still conducting telephonic mental health interventions when needed within community mental health services, are we allowed to work from out of state in neighboring tri-state areas remotely and still make a home visit by driving to the client’s home in a timely manner if need be? This is especially important considering the upcoming holidays and need to coordinate testing with family and friends.
A. I remind you that depending on if we’re just talking New Jersey and Connecticut, those areas do not require the testing upon return to New York but if you are in other areas and those are areas that are on the COVID list, then you need to be able to get tested in advance and then you do the quarantining that Tony just spoke of. So I’d just remind you of that. And then I’m going to turn to my colleagues if anyone has anything further to add about this question.
Andria Castellanos: I think the question might be more, perhaps, is the person’s license covered when they’re out of state? I’m not certain if that is what they’re asking and it’s a very good question and I think it’s one I want to bring back to community mental health services, to Neil Pessin, just to confirm that the licenses are covered when somebody is out of state. So we’ll get back to this person on that question.
Marki Flannery: Okay. And we also need to address at the same time the question about where they are traveling to and from, because if they are traveling to a client’s home and they are in an area that is potentially a high–risk state, then they might need to get the COVID testing before and after. We just need to understand how they’re working remotely from another geographic area and whether or not it is useful for us to have them operating in that way. So, all of the above.
Administrative
Q. Can we have the link to attend the virtual ESPIRIT awards ceremony? I would like to support my manager.
A. So the link was sent out again this morning so you should have it in your inbox. It is there.
Q. I appreciate these weekly updates and that the administration makes time to address our concerns and communicate with us. Additionally, I’ve read the special COVID-19 edition of the VNSNY newsletter that you mail to our homes and I appreciate everyone’s sometimes unsung and unseen efforts behind the scenes to keep VNSNY going financially so we can keep our jobs and keep our field clinicians stocked with PPE.
A. Thank you for those kind words.
Good morning. I want to thank you for your daily CEO message. It’s uplifting, encouraging and it’s a good reflection to start the day.
Thank you for the nice commentary.