FAQ #51:  February 4, 2020 – Containing Answers from February 2nd   

Answers to Staff Questions on Vaccination, Supplies and PPE, and Patient Care 

      The following FAQs were adapted from questions submitted by VNSNY staff for the CEO       Conference Call hosted by  Dan Savitt  on  Tuesday, February 2nd.      

Vaccination 

Q. What would the home health aides do if they hadn’t had a chance to receive the vaccination? 

A. So there is a hotline that can be called.  That’s the easiest way to make an appointment.  And that number is 212-609-4126.  You can also submit an online request form in the Partners in Care Resource Center, but I would encourage our home health aides to call the number to get scheduled.  That’s a good way to do it.  

Q. Can a home health aide who works for another agency besides Partners in Care, sign up on our wait list?  They are serving our vulnerable patient population, but many agencies are not assisting in vaccinations.

A. And I believe the answer is, at this point, we are not vaccinating those outside of our workforce.  But I’ll ask Andria to make sure that that’s correct and to clarify. 

Andria Castellanos: Yes, that’s correct, Dan.  At this point, we are offering vaccines to Partners in Care and VNSNY employees who meet the State definition in terms of priority categories, which is direct field staff or over the age of 65.   

Q. After we have received the second dose of the vaccine, what are the regulations if we travel out of State?  How long do we quarantine?  When do we get a COVID test, and is rapid testing acceptable? Do we have a resource center for folks to get answers for all these things? 

A. Andria Castellanos:  So after you receive the second dose of vaccine, none of the regulations change for you in terms of travel outside of State, in terms of how long you need to quarantine, in terms of the type of PPE you need to wear, in terms of the protocols you follow, both in work and outside of work, to keep you safe.  And so, nothing changes for you.  

In terms of next question when do we get a COVID test? — there would be no need to get a COVID test, unless you had symptoms after the second vaccine, or unless you work in a nursing home or assisted living facility, which requires proof of COVID testing.  

Is the rapid test acceptable?  Most nursing homes and assisted living facilities, if you work in those areas for Visiting Nurse Service of New York or Partners in Care, do not accept the rapid test, they want a PCR test. 

Anthony Dawson, Vice President for Quality and Customer Experience: The only thing we just need to just confirm is, with regards to folks who have gotten vaccinated, to make sure that they do not have to get rapid tests when they come back from travel, because the State has not eased up that requirement yet, but we will watch that very, very closely, as more people get vaccinated.  

But for now, you’re correct.  We have to follow all the protocols that are still in place.  So we’ll watch that very, very closely as we move forward, especially in the next couple of weeks as more people get vaccinated.   

Michael Bernstein, Chief Experience Officer: In answer to the question: Is all this information available for people to read and otherwise get the answers? — the answer is yes. And we want to remind everybody that we have on our intranet, for those that have access to it, we have the COVID-19 hub and we have the vaccinate VNSNY hub.  And for these conference calls, a full and complete transcript of the questions and the answers is posted on the COVID-19 hub on our intranet.  

For the conference calls that Andria hosts on Mondays that are specific to the vaccinate VNSNY program, those transcripts are fully posted on the vaccinate VNSNY hub.  But in addition, you will find a lot of information in both of those locations, specifically with respect to these questions on the vaccinate VNSNY if you go to that banner, click on that banner, and scroll down and look for the various subject matter headings that are there.  

All of the transcripts for these calls are also for all the Partners in Care home health aides, in the Partners in Care section Frontline VNSNY, which you can access from any browser on your phone or through a computer.  So all of the transcripts and all of the information related to the vaccination program, is accessible to the home health aides as well.   

So I hope that helps folks know where to go to get answers to their questions, in addition to this conference call.   

Supplies, Masks and PPE 

Q. How can I order more PPE supplies?  

A. Andria Castellanos, Chief of Provider Services: So if a home health aide needs more PPE, there are three ways they can get it: 

1. Send an email to [email protected]  requesting supplies. This mailbox is monitored for messages. Make sure you specify your name, your Partners in Care ID number, and list specifically the items that you need. 

  OR  

2. Call your supervisor to request supplies. 

OR 

3. Pick up supplies at 220 East 42nd street.  

Patient  Care and  Clinical      

Q. On behalf of Rosemarie Namisato.  She would like to, and I would join her in this, give a shout out to our field staff who worked through the snowstorm.   

A. And I should have said that at the beginning of the call, what a tremendous effort our staff does every single day, and a snowstorm notwithstanding.  And so, we went and saw patients and I didn’t get mail, because apparently the post office no longer is rain, snow, sleet, or whatever the case may be.  They took the day off.  So thank you very much for that reminder, and a big thank you to everybody 

Q. Increasingly, patients are requesting aides who have been vaccinated.  Please advise as to what should the approved response be to patients’ requests, since being vaccinated is voluntary and should be HIPAA protected.  

A. Andria Castellanos: Yes.  So, this is a great question.  Patients are requesting aides who have been vaccinated.  And how should the aide or the nurses respond to this question?  This was similar, Tony, to the question of patients saying, have you been tested, right? A lot of patients wanted to know if you’ve been tested.  And so, Tony, what did we recommend the response to that question be?  I know you and your team had worked on that.  

Anthony Dawson: So, Andria, yes, great, great question.  And we’re actually working through this as we speak.  We actually were talking about this, this morning, with regard to what our sense would be about telling patients that we’re either vaccinated or not. 

So, regardless of whether you’re vaccinated or not, you still have to wear the appropriate PPE, because we still don’t know, even if you’re vaccinated, that you could still spread the virus to another person, or they could spread it to you.  

So for now, we have to stay with our protocols and things, but we will come up with an answer with regard to what you tell a patient, if you’re vaccinated or not.  As you said in your email, it is not a requirement that you get vaccinated.  So we have to be careful about how we respond to this.  And we’ll come back to you with a more definitive answer on this.   

Employee Health and Safety    

Q. How many days do we need to quarantine on return from out of State travel?   

A. Note: These rules change frequently. The guidelines for New York State as of Thursday, Feb 4th, are as follows: 

For any traveler to New York State from a noncontiguous state, US territory or CDC level 2 and higher country, the new guidelines for travelers to test-out of the mandatory 10-day quarantine are below: 

• For travelers who were out-of-state  for  more than 24 hours: 

• • Travelers must obtain a test within three days of departure, prior to arrival in New York. 
  • The traveler must, upon arrival in New York, quarantine for three days. 
  • On day 4 of their quarantine, the traveler must obtain another COVID test. If both tests comes back negative, the traveler may exit quarantine early upon receipt of the second negative diagnostic test.

• For travelers who were out-of-state for less than 24 hours: 
  • The traveler does not need a test prior to their departure from the other state, and does not need to quarantine upon arrival in New York State. 
  • However, the traveler must fill out our traveler form upon entry into New York State, and take a COVID diagnostic test 4 days after their arrival in New York.