Bulletin Board
Relias Access:
They are offering free, unlimited access to relevant resources to help healthcare professionals and individuals prepare and prevent the spread of infection. State of Michigan:
Michigan's Safe Start Plan to reintegrate into society. Great Start:
Detroit/Wayne County resources to search by topic. City of Detroit:
Detroit Health Departent updates, information, and tips. |
World Health Organization :
WHO is working 24/7 to analyse data, provide advice, coordinate with partners, help countries prepare, increase supplies and manage expert networks. Councilman for Detroit:
Coronavirus resources from Councleman James Tate. Blue Cross Blue Shield:
No-cost health resources. Henry Ford Health System:
Coronavirus updates and resource center. Includes virtual options, restrictions, and safety. |
Center for Disease Control
The CDC provides resources for how to protect yourself, what to do if you are sick, and ways to keep yourself busy while at home. WIN Network:
Coronavirus resources for Detroiters. DWIHN:
Various resources for you, for your consumers, and tips on navigating social distancing. |
Quarantine and Me Resource List | |
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Updates from Development Centers
April 14, 2020
COVID Hotline Number for our community – 313-286-0169 M-F 9am to 4 pm
The Health Center is accepting telemedicine patients – please have consumers give them a call if they are wanting a physical health visit. Phone number is 313-279-6100.
The Career Center is now working on Unemployment Applications and they can be reached at 313-962-WORK (9675)
May 5, 2020
“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” Oprah Winfrey.
We are truly grateful for the strength and fortitude DC staff have demonstrated during this difficult time. We know that many of us have experienced a great deal of struggles over these last several weeks and have dealt with a lot of hardship, pain and illness. We are hopeful that as our community begins the process of healing that we are able to emerge stronger with the ability to meet the challenges ahead of us.
Over the next several weeks, we anticipate that as restrictions are lifted in our community, consumers and staff will feel more comfortable coming into our building, while maintaining safe social distancing and sanitation guidelines. Having a more robust workforce will better serve our community, especially as we expect a significant increased need for services related to mental health, employment and basic needs. As we look to reopen sites and expand the number of staff who report to work, we have formed a COVID-19 Task Force that includes a combination of Administrative and Program Staff with the guidance of health and facility experts. Preparing for this will take some time as we are going through each building and program while also participating in education and training. We will use all of this data to inform our decisions on how to more fully reintegrate our staff and consumers into our programs and facilities.
Your safety and the safety of the persons we serve is of the upmost importance and our plan will address how to provide programming that best serves our consumers, while maintaining everyone’s safety. Our current planning includes an expected “expansion of our on-site workforce” to begin June 1st, while also relying on the Governor’s executive orders and guidelines from the CDC, MDHHS, OSHA and our funders. We will take a phased approach to opening. Staffing plans will be determined by programs and staff may alternate days worked in the building to help facilitate a safer social-distance environment. Components of the plan will also include limiting program meetings to video conferences and detailed protocols for our cleaning and sanitation. Telehealth for many of our consumers will be a longer-term treatment modality, increasing telephone calls to touch base and helping secure concrete needs will be critical. Information related to specific program and staff schedules and operational changes will be coming over the next several weeks.
We will be having an All Staff Webinar next Monday afternoon – please mark your calendars for 1 pm. This is a mandatory meeting. Details will be sent out later this week on how to participate in the meeting. We are asking you to send questions you may have to Ashley Pugh in HR [email protected] by 3pm Thursday. We will address as many of these in the webinar as possible. Due to the nature of the all-agency format, we will only be addressing questions that relate to programs and agency-wide operations. Individual questions specific to personal circumstances can be addressed directly with your Manager or with a member of the HR team.
Thank you for your commitment to help our families. We are confident in our ability to continue meeting their needs under these changing circumstances. We look forward to our meeting and updating you with information regarding the agency.
Have a good day!
On Behalf of the Executive Team,
Cathy Liesman, CEO
May 21, 2020
Hello everyone! On the eve of a long, holiday weekend, I hope this emails finds you all well. As we have done for the past 9 weeks, Development Centers is continuing to find our way through this "new normal". I am truly hopeful that the challenges we have faced will make us stronger as an agency as we know that our community has many more challenges to face in the weeks and months ahead.
The Safe Return to Work Committee, along with the Executive Team spent much of this week finalizing plans for our expanded re-opening. We have made a lot of progress on changes to our facilities, policies and protocols. As a result of our intensive strategy to ensure the safety of our staff and consumers, we will be moving our re-open date to June 8 for the expansion of staff returning to work. We will use this additional week to finalize any facility changes, ensure PPEs are pre-distributed to each building and provide staff with sufficient time to participate in the mandatory trainings related to re-engaging in the buildings and with consumers. The information learned in these trainings should also be discussed with Supervisors to help ensure we all share the same understanding of our health and safety policies.
The revised re-open expansion date of June 8th will mostly impact staff in the behavioral health programs. However, we are in continuous communication with DESC for the Career Center who will have specific return to work dates. For Early Childhood Programs – Early On, BQI and Head Start, once the stay at home order is lifted, there will be an update for the ECFS staff for return to work dates.
Next week, each Manager will be reaching out to all staff on their team to finalize a schedule that brings staff into the buildings on a rotation beginning June 8. If there is an allowed and documented issue that prevents you from returning to work beginning June 8 (such as those described in the FFCRA), please contact your Manager and HR immediately.
I look forward to seeing most of you virtually over the next couple of weeks as I join in on staff meetings.
Enjoy the warm, holiday weekend!
Cathy
Cathy Liesman, Ph.D.
CEO
Development Centers
6/12/2020
Good Afternoon everyone –
As we end this first week of more staff in the building, racial unrest and the COVID continued crisis, we wanted to give you a few updates. This is a lengthy email but please read in its entirety because there is a lot of important information.
We are planning for a moment of reflection next Friday, June 19th at noon via zoom. Although we are physically separated we want to take a moment to unify and be in solidarity with one another. To reflect on racial injustice, grieve for the black lives and people of color who we have lost to systematic racism, and consider our individual and collective action opportunities to achieve racial justice.
We will send out a zoom link early next week for this moment of reflection.
We also wanted to thank everyone who helped to make staff welcomed over this last week and let you know of the many things that have been done as an agency over these many weeks to support you and our persons served so that we remain a viable organization into the future. We have listed some of these things below:
· The addition of telehealth services, providing staff the ability to work remotely including a home office
Thank you for reading this and we all hope you have a good and safe weekend
On behalf of the Leadership team
Cathy
7/8/2020
Dear Staff:
“We are stronger when we listen and smarter when we share.” R. Al-Abdullah
Hello everyone – in response to suggestions from the COVID 19 survey, we will be sending a weekly communication to all staff every Wednesday.
We will also place this on the intranet in a “Communication Corner”. In the analysis of the comments from the survey, communication ranked #1. These weekly emails will come from the leadership team and provide information and updates on agency business and may often contain important information that impacts our work and our consumers. Please read them completely and discuss any questions with your manager. In the event of an immediate need for communication, you may see an occasional additional email, but our intent is to stick to a once-weekly schedule.
A few reminders for this week –
1. Take the time to review the COVID 19 survey results which were shared on Monday via email and they are also on the Intranet.
2. A note was sent yesterday about the Health Equity and Social Justice Survey that begins next week – If you have questions, please reach out to Erik Burris at [email protected]
3. We also would like to continue the Support groups for staff and DC Wellness also sent an email on Monday – your input is needed so I hope you took the time to respond.
Some announcements for the week –
· New Directions Clubhouse opened this week to members – Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
· Detroit Hope Skills opened at North Central
· The School Based Virtual Summer Camp started last week – there are three camps - elementary, middle and high school camps
· The Head Start and Early Head Start Programs are preparing to have children attend classes on a limited basis later this month
· If you received cloth masks that do not fit properly – please ask your manager for a replacement – we do have different sizes!
· Gleaners Food Distribution at McKenny is this Friday, July 10 from 9-11 am –
· The new IPOS Training with PCE begins today for all of the Behavioral Health Staff
We hope this gives you some key information for the week.
Thank you for reading.
On behalf of the Leadership Team
Cathy Liesman
- When providing telehealth services, staff must use Google Voice and doxy.me – this allows for texting, receiving messages and video services. Consumers will receive a robocall reminder, but staff must also notify their consumers in advance of the scheduled appointment. If a consumer doesn’t answer their phone for the appointment, staff must immediately send a text message in an effort to connect. If you are still unable to connect, document all attempts. Work time spent during “no shows” should be spent reaching out to other consumers to either schedule or confirm future appointments. In order to maintain current staffing levels, there is a minimum 2 hours of daily billable services required for each staff person. If you haven’t been trained on Google Voice or Doxy.me, please reach out to your Manager immediately.
- A detailed email on telehealth was sent out to Behavioral Health Managers in March with special instructions and we will resend as a follow up to this email
- We have received a grant for the upgraded version of Doxy.me. We anticipate rolling out this upgraded service next week.
- There are three options for voicemail:
- Have all of your phone calls forwarded to your cell phone. When someone connects to your extension, the phone is automatically redirected to your cellphone number without any notice to the caller. This is done through the Shoretel system and instructions are attached. Please note, you must be in the office to set up this option. If you are not going into the office, please have your Manager set it up for you when he/she is in the office or select a different option.
- Set up your voicemail system to notify you via email anytime a voicemail is left. This is done through the Shoretel system and instructions are attached. Please note, you must be in the office to set up this option. If you are not going into the office, please have your Manager set it up for you when he/she is in the office or select a different option.
- Manually check your agency phone for voicemail messages at least twice per day. This should be done one time at the beginning of the day and again later in the afternoon.
- We would like all staff to maintain the 37.5 hours of work per week. Work- Life balance is important now more than ever so please limit your hours to 37.5 per week.
- We also realize that due to the nature of some positions, some staff are struggling to fulfill the scheduled 37.5 hours per week. Please work with your Manager to help address this issue. There are a number of non-billable tasks that can be completed during this time, including paperwork, phone calls, trainings, and supervision.
- When filling out timesheets, the following policies are in effect:
- Whether working in the office or remotely, you are still expected to work your regularly scheduled hours.
- Indicate your time as Telecommute on timesheet if you working remotely
- If you take personal time off it should be entered as PTO. Do not use "COVID" for personal time off
- Contact HR for instruction If you are sick with COVID, if you are caring for someone with COVID or if you miss work because of childcare issues related to COVID
- If you do not receive approval from HR the time will be considered PTO.
COVID Hotline Number for our community – 313-286-0169 M-F 9am to 4 pm
The Health Center is accepting telemedicine patients – please have consumers give them a call if they are wanting a physical health visit. Phone number is 313-279-6100.
The Career Center is now working on Unemployment Applications and they can be reached at 313-962-WORK (9675)
May 5, 2020
“Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.” Oprah Winfrey.
We are truly grateful for the strength and fortitude DC staff have demonstrated during this difficult time. We know that many of us have experienced a great deal of struggles over these last several weeks and have dealt with a lot of hardship, pain and illness. We are hopeful that as our community begins the process of healing that we are able to emerge stronger with the ability to meet the challenges ahead of us.
Over the next several weeks, we anticipate that as restrictions are lifted in our community, consumers and staff will feel more comfortable coming into our building, while maintaining safe social distancing and sanitation guidelines. Having a more robust workforce will better serve our community, especially as we expect a significant increased need for services related to mental health, employment and basic needs. As we look to reopen sites and expand the number of staff who report to work, we have formed a COVID-19 Task Force that includes a combination of Administrative and Program Staff with the guidance of health and facility experts. Preparing for this will take some time as we are going through each building and program while also participating in education and training. We will use all of this data to inform our decisions on how to more fully reintegrate our staff and consumers into our programs and facilities.
Your safety and the safety of the persons we serve is of the upmost importance and our plan will address how to provide programming that best serves our consumers, while maintaining everyone’s safety. Our current planning includes an expected “expansion of our on-site workforce” to begin June 1st, while also relying on the Governor’s executive orders and guidelines from the CDC, MDHHS, OSHA and our funders. We will take a phased approach to opening. Staffing plans will be determined by programs and staff may alternate days worked in the building to help facilitate a safer social-distance environment. Components of the plan will also include limiting program meetings to video conferences and detailed protocols for our cleaning and sanitation. Telehealth for many of our consumers will be a longer-term treatment modality, increasing telephone calls to touch base and helping secure concrete needs will be critical. Information related to specific program and staff schedules and operational changes will be coming over the next several weeks.
We will be having an All Staff Webinar next Monday afternoon – please mark your calendars for 1 pm. This is a mandatory meeting. Details will be sent out later this week on how to participate in the meeting. We are asking you to send questions you may have to Ashley Pugh in HR [email protected] by 3pm Thursday. We will address as many of these in the webinar as possible. Due to the nature of the all-agency format, we will only be addressing questions that relate to programs and agency-wide operations. Individual questions specific to personal circumstances can be addressed directly with your Manager or with a member of the HR team.
Thank you for your commitment to help our families. We are confident in our ability to continue meeting their needs under these changing circumstances. We look forward to our meeting and updating you with information regarding the agency.
Have a good day!
On Behalf of the Executive Team,
Cathy Liesman, CEO
May 21, 2020
Hello everyone! On the eve of a long, holiday weekend, I hope this emails finds you all well. As we have done for the past 9 weeks, Development Centers is continuing to find our way through this "new normal". I am truly hopeful that the challenges we have faced will make us stronger as an agency as we know that our community has many more challenges to face in the weeks and months ahead.
The Safe Return to Work Committee, along with the Executive Team spent much of this week finalizing plans for our expanded re-opening. We have made a lot of progress on changes to our facilities, policies and protocols. As a result of our intensive strategy to ensure the safety of our staff and consumers, we will be moving our re-open date to June 8 for the expansion of staff returning to work. We will use this additional week to finalize any facility changes, ensure PPEs are pre-distributed to each building and provide staff with sufficient time to participate in the mandatory trainings related to re-engaging in the buildings and with consumers. The information learned in these trainings should also be discussed with Supervisors to help ensure we all share the same understanding of our health and safety policies.
The revised re-open expansion date of June 8th will mostly impact staff in the behavioral health programs. However, we are in continuous communication with DESC for the Career Center who will have specific return to work dates. For Early Childhood Programs – Early On, BQI and Head Start, once the stay at home order is lifted, there will be an update for the ECFS staff for return to work dates.
Next week, each Manager will be reaching out to all staff on their team to finalize a schedule that brings staff into the buildings on a rotation beginning June 8. If there is an allowed and documented issue that prevents you from returning to work beginning June 8 (such as those described in the FFCRA), please contact your Manager and HR immediately.
I look forward to seeing most of you virtually over the next couple of weeks as I join in on staff meetings.
Enjoy the warm, holiday weekend!
Cathy
Cathy Liesman, Ph.D.
CEO
Development Centers
6/12/2020
Good Afternoon everyone –
As we end this first week of more staff in the building, racial unrest and the COVID continued crisis, we wanted to give you a few updates. This is a lengthy email but please read in its entirety because there is a lot of important information.
We are planning for a moment of reflection next Friday, June 19th at noon via zoom. Although we are physically separated we want to take a moment to unify and be in solidarity with one another. To reflect on racial injustice, grieve for the black lives and people of color who we have lost to systematic racism, and consider our individual and collective action opportunities to achieve racial justice.
We will send out a zoom link early next week for this moment of reflection.
We also wanted to thank everyone who helped to make staff welcomed over this last week and let you know of the many things that have been done as an agency over these many weeks to support you and our persons served so that we remain a viable organization into the future. We have listed some of these things below:
· The addition of telehealth services, providing staff the ability to work remotely including a home office
- Providing technology as funding allowed including laptops, cameras, other devices and software to allow for secure communication with staff and consumers
- The development of policies and procedures, forms and electronic documents, which align with current federal, state and local guidelines
- Wellness Activities which have been staff organized and facilitated, which are highlighted on the staff Wellness Hub
- Continuation of Weight Watchers, via virtual meeting set up
- EAP- Employee Assistance Programming
- Confidential Staff Support Group Meetings
- Staff Recognition on the Development Centers Website
- Regular staff communication via email and webinar staff meeting
- Coordination with an outside organization to facilitate a staff COVID Survey to evaluate staff overall satisfaction and feelings of safety
- Opportunity for COVID Testing for direct service staff
- A Safe Workplace Committee has worked to develop a Safe Workplace Playbook to ensure smooth transition to more employees and consumers in the buildings.
- Increased Operations and Executive Team meetings
- Government advocacy to maintain funding, secure PPE and maintain telehealth
Thank you for reading this and we all hope you have a good and safe weekend
On behalf of the Leadership team
Cathy
7/8/2020
Dear Staff:
“We are stronger when we listen and smarter when we share.” R. Al-Abdullah
Hello everyone – in response to suggestions from the COVID 19 survey, we will be sending a weekly communication to all staff every Wednesday.
We will also place this on the intranet in a “Communication Corner”. In the analysis of the comments from the survey, communication ranked #1. These weekly emails will come from the leadership team and provide information and updates on agency business and may often contain important information that impacts our work and our consumers. Please read them completely and discuss any questions with your manager. In the event of an immediate need for communication, you may see an occasional additional email, but our intent is to stick to a once-weekly schedule.
A few reminders for this week –
1. Take the time to review the COVID 19 survey results which were shared on Monday via email and they are also on the Intranet.
2. A note was sent yesterday about the Health Equity and Social Justice Survey that begins next week – If you have questions, please reach out to Erik Burris at [email protected]
3. We also would like to continue the Support groups for staff and DC Wellness also sent an email on Monday – your input is needed so I hope you took the time to respond.
Some announcements for the week –
· New Directions Clubhouse opened this week to members – Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
· Detroit Hope Skills opened at North Central
· The School Based Virtual Summer Camp started last week – there are three camps - elementary, middle and high school camps
· The Head Start and Early Head Start Programs are preparing to have children attend classes on a limited basis later this month
· If you received cloth masks that do not fit properly – please ask your manager for a replacement – we do have different sizes!
· Gleaners Food Distribution at McKenny is this Friday, July 10 from 9-11 am –
· The new IPOS Training with PCE begins today for all of the Behavioral Health Staff
We hope this gives you some key information for the week.
Thank you for reading.
On behalf of the Leadership Team
Cathy Liesman
EVENTS CALENDAR
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