06/12/2020

Today's COVID-19 Report: Friday, June 12, 2020

Friday, June 12, 2020

Here are the latest need-to-know updates for Friday, June 12 regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Amy Acton Steps Down as Director of Ohio Department of Health

Announced during yesterday's press briefing, Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton has resigned, effective immediately. Governor Mike DeWine announced the measure amid pressure from state officials, but also announced that Dr. Acton will stay on as the governor's Chief Health Advisor. 

"She will continue to be able to serve the people of the state of Ohio in a very, very meaningful way, and continue to help me in a very meaningful way," stated Governor DeWine. 

ODH General Counsel Lance Himes has been elevated to interim director, a role he has held in the past. 

Ohio Department of Health (ODH): Zone 2 Volunteer Facilities Needed

As reported last Thursday (“ODH Gives Providers Chance to Volunteer for Testing”), the state is requesting volunteer facilities to help roll out its plans to test the staff of all nursing homes in Ohio for COVID-19 with support from the Ohio National Guard.

ODH is seeking volunteer nursing homes from Zone 2 for employee and resident testing next week (week of 6/15). Zone 2 (Zone 2 is shown on page 3 of this 4-page link) encompasses most of Central Ohio, as well as Southeast and portions of Eastern Ohio. Volunteers can contact CCURT@odh.ohio.gov. 

BELTSS Rule Review

The Board of Executives of Long-Term Services and Supports (BELTSS) is required by the Ohio Revised Code to review its rules no later than every five years.

BELTSS is conducting early stakeholder outreach on the following rules: 4751-1-01 Notice of adoption, amendment, or rescission of rules; 4751-1-05 Pre-admission requirements, 4751-1-05.1 (New Rule) CORE of Knowledge; and 4751-1-06 Subjects for examination. 

The complete list of rules and the proposed changes may be found on the Board’s website, www.BELTSS.ohio.gov under the link “News and Events”.  Comments, questions, or suggestions are due to Deborah Veley at dveley@age.ohio.gov no later than July 1, 2020.

Activities Professionals Network: Spread the Word

Yesterday, activity professionals within the LeadingAge Ohio membership came together to continue to offer support, share ideas, and discuss resources in the midst of current COVID-19 restrictions. Topics ranged from infection control surveys and protocol to visitation guidelines, as well as tools to be added to the Activities Professionals resources page on the LeadingAge Ohio website.

This group has grown in the past few weeks and is planning to meet bi-weekly through a Zoom platform hosted by Kendal at Oberlin Director of Creative Arts Therapy/Dementia Specialist Michele Tarsitano-Amato.

The next call is scheduled for Thursday, June 25, at 12:30 PM. 

Zoom Fellowship Meeting for Activity Professionals
Thursday, June 25 from 12:30 PM – 1:15 PM
Host: CreativeArtsKendal@gmail.com is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. 
Join the Zoom Meeting online.
Meeting ID: 979 1175 8968

Please contact Jen Taylor at jtaylor@leadingageohio.org to ensure your activities staff are receiving information on this and other LeadingAge Ohio activities events. 

Economic Relief Funding: Expense-Tracking Tool Webinar from CliftonLarsonAllen 

The economic relief funding from Congress contains very specific rules for how the funds can be used by health care organizations. Tracking and monitoring is critical and can be very complicated, especially when funding is received from multiple sources (e.g. CARES Act and PPP Loans, to name a few).

LeadingAge Ohio partner CliftonLarsonAllen LLP (CLA) has created an expense-tracking tool that creates the foundation to organize and track expenditures in accordance with compliance and reporting initiatives.  LeadingAge has worked with CLA to provide and promote the use of this tool to assist members around the country. The tool continues to be updated to reflect the most recent funding and source requirements and reporting; CLA has just released version 6.0.

LeadingAge Ohio has arranged for CLA to introduce members to the tracking tool on Thursday, June 18 at 10:30AM. The 45-minute call will begin with background info on why CLA created this tool, including key information on the HHS Provider Relief Funds; this will be followed by a brief demo on how the expense-tracking tool actually works; the last portion of the call will include some frequently asked questions.

While the webinar is free, registration via Zoom is required to participate. Registrants will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Guidance on Using Facebook Targeted Ads

In an effort to assist members with social media marketing efforts, LeadingAge Ohio has released a guide to using the targeted advertising feature available to businesses on Facebook. 

"Boosting a post" allows the creation of targeted advertisements from posts on an organization's Facebook Page. Boosting a post may engage more people to react, share and comment on the post, and can be a helpful, cost-effective form of advertising. Boosting a post may also reach new people who are likely interested in your Page or business, but don't currently follow you.

Ad buys can be as small as $10 and still reach hundreds of individuals in your target audience. For questions on this feature, reach out to Patrick Schwartz at pschwartz@leadingageohio.org. 

LeadingAge Action Alert: Act for Older Lives!

LeadingAge sent an action alert to all members asking them to take part in the Act For Older Lives campaign. This action alert is asking members to virtually meet with their elected members of Congress - call, email and share the campaign with their networks. Talking points for the meetings are provided here. 

Letter to VP Pence on PPE  

LeadingAge President/CEO Katie Smith Sloan sent a letter to Vice President Pence requesting that he personally investigate mounting evidence that FEMA shipments of PPE are deeply delayed, frequently stocked with useless and expired supplies, and delivered in quantities radically insufficient to help protect older Americans from the coronavirus. 

Further, nursing homes across the country have not received clear and helpful communications about what to expect and when to expect it. The letter asks that he address these issues seriously and thoroughly, and take swift action to ensure Americans can trust the federal government to serve their interests.

LeadingAge Shares Op-ed Template to Promote Needs of Providers

LeadingAge has shared a second op-ed template that members can use for placement in newspapers. This timely message aligns with the news cycle around reopenings and potential infection resurgence, and what our field needs from state and federal policymakers.

A note to LeadingAge Ohio members: This is designed to be a guide for your unique localized message. To maximize the impact and the likelihood of getting this placed in your key outlets, be sure to customize as much as possible. In addition to several placeholders for local statistics, details and stories, an optional section on the problems with FEMA PPE shipments allows the opportunity to speak to any significant issues your organization has had acquiring PPE. Please contact Patrick Schwartz at pschwartz@leadingageohio.org for assistance with this initiative.

LeadingAge Need to Know: COVID-19 – June 12, 2020

LeadingAge shares the latest coronavirus news and resources with members twice each weekday. This morning's update includes a media survey, information on today's update call, which features a conversation with FEMA on PPE, and more. 

Check out the full report here. 

Questions

Please send all questions to COVID19@leadingageohio.org. Additionally, members are encouraged to visit the LeadingAge Ohio COVID-19 Working Group facebook group to pose questions to peers and share best practices. LeadingAge is continuing its daily calls for all members.  To participate in these daily online updates, members should register at here.