May 21 2021 Kaweah Health Employee Huddle

Friday, May 21, 2020

Please Note: Time did not allow us to answer every submitted question, so we will get to unanswered questions at next week's KD Huddle. Submit a question now for next week by e-mailing dvolosin@kaweahhealth.org.

EMPLOYEE HUDDLE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
May 21, 2021

1. If we work in a non-clinical/patient area and have be fully vaccinated can we go without our mask? Not just within individual offices but throughout the entire work area, if it is an area where no patients are allowed? Realizing that if we do go to a clinical/patient area that we must wear our masks.

• Not yet. All health care facilities are still required to mandate mask wearing for team members by CALOSHA. Even those people not in patient care areas are regulated by CalOSHA so we cannot remove masks in these areas yet.

2. Can the leadership re-evaluate the new health benefits plan?

• When it comes to employee wages and benefits, we continuously benchmark ourselves against the market and other hospitals. We always want to be highly competitive where we can attract and retain outstanding staff members. The changes we made to our health plan were driven by these market changes. We found that our health plan was very outdated and did not offer options that were more appealing to a younger, healthier workplace—like a high-deductible, Health Savings Account plan option that allowed employees to fund a tax-deferred HSA that would stay with them for life, not the “use it or lose it” feature of our health and dependent care cafeteria plan. We also found that the pricing of our plan to our employees (premiums, co-pays, deductibles, etc.) was extremely low and that Kaweah Health, as the employer, was bearing far greater cost than other like-hospitals. This is great from an attraction and retention standpoint but increasingly unaffordable from an employer standpoint. We tried to strike a balance of keeping premiums low but increasing more out-of-pocket costs to employees but we know that it resulted in an overall increase in health benefit cost to our employees. This all said, I am listening carefully and openly to all of you and am working with our Executive Team to see what modifications can be made to the plan design and pricing that make the plan more satisfying to our employees while at the same time still remaining affordable from an employer standpoint. Any changes we make would go into effect on January 1, 2022.
• We want to encourage employees to reach out to the Benefits Team. They will walk you through any concerns you have.

3. So many, like myself, have been exposed and infected by COVID. I currently was tested and have antibodies. Do you really feel that we all need to get these shots? Also, there is rumor that this may eventually be mandatory. Is there any info about that?

• Since antibodies have been shown to decrease, I do feel the vaccination helps but I also think people should talk with their doctors. We do have the option to make the vaccine mandatory but that is not our plan at this time. We did talk about that this week but do not feel it is appropriate, especially since everyone is still wearing masks.

4. When will we be bringing free valet parking back for our visitors? Parking is an issue and the hospital is slowly reopening.

• Valet parking is currently available at the Mineral King Wing entrance from 8:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M. on weekdays and 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. on weekends. Current volume is 40 cars per day, down from 200 cars pre-COVID. As we reopen the Medical Center to visitors and now with a larger parking lot, we will reevaluate valet services. Demand will certainly increase as visitors return. But, with a larger lot, we might be able to cut back on valet services. If we ever get to the point of needing to add valet to the Acequia Wing, it would add approximately $25,000 per month in additional valet cost.

5. Is there going to be a time that those who have been vaccinated won't have to wear masks, in non-patient areas? Can we do as we have done in the past with the Flu shots, where our badges are marked and only those who have chosen to not be vaccinated are required to wear masks in the working areas, that are non-patient areas?

• I do think this is where we will end up as we move into routine COVID vaccinations like the flu process. We still have to see what happens with the virus as vaccinations spread and we move into the next season but this is looking a lot like what we do to continue to control influenza outbreaks each year.

6. Adventist Health announced that they’ll be allowing some of their employee to work permanently from home or only come as needed to offices. Would Kaweah be considering the same in the future?

• Yes, where it makes sense. Telecommuting, or working from home, works well when employees can remain highly productive and the work is measurable, don’t require constant engagement with other team members and they have the home technology and resources to perform their work. Medical record coding is a perfect example where telecommuting works in healthcare and one that we will definitely support. The Executive and Leadership Team will definitely be evaluating other areas where permanent telecommuting will effectively work for us.

7. Rumor is there is an AFL from CDPH coming out that states SNF employees who are vaccinated are no longer required to do weekly COVID surveillance nasal testing. When is this effective and how to I alert the district that I am vaccinated if I did not receive the vaccine through Kaweah?

• If you have been vaccinated outside Kaweah, you can connect with employee health and submit documentation of your vaccination to them, similar to what we do with flu vaccines outside Kaweah. I have heard they are talking about reducing frequency of vaccinated SNF team members from weekly to monthly. I do not have a date when that will happen yet and have not seen the AFL get published for it, but we will keep watching and make the change as soon as we are able.

8. With regards to the approval of the Pfizer vaccine being approved for kids ages 12 and up, will the district consider offering Pfizer anywhere again? Or having Pfizer available for employees?

• Our pharmacy and clinic teams have been discussing having the Pfizer vaccine available in the clinics. The Pfizer vaccine is very challenging for us to store at the clinic locations due to its temperature requirements. The logistics of administering the vaccine and making sure we administer it where it is delivered are all tightly controlled. The school districts are offering clinics for youth now and we are looking toward the approval of the Moderna vaccine for ages 12 and up. This is in its final stages of trial for 12 and up. When it is complete, we are ready to try and bring that to our clinics for pediatric administration.

9. Would the District be willing to install feminine hygiene dispensers in the employee restrooms? I work on the 4^th floor and haven’t seen any restroom with these items unless provided by other employees.

• I will absolutely check with our EVS team on what it would take to put dispensers in the restrooms. Thank you for the request.

10. Will we be able to go back to having water at our desks rather than keeping it in the break room?

• Food and drink cannot be in patient care areas. This is also a CalOSHA requirement regardless of COVID. If this is not a patient care area, I think you should explore the request with your supervisor or manager and see what infection prevention thinks related to your area.

11. There are staff concerns about the siren hours being inconsistent and closing early or not opening on time. Can we outsource a local coffee shop/truck to fill these inconsistencies? It is frustrating when the highlight of our afternoon is coffee and there is none.

• The Siren Grill is an outpost site of our Food & Nutritional Services Department and occasionally (maybe too frequently), the Siren Grill staff get pulled back to dietary or the cafeteria to support those very busy services when they are unexpectedly short-handed. This said, I too have been frustrated at times when they unexpectedly close early and I appreciate how important that afternoon break with coffee means. I will speak with Dianne Cox and Lawrence Headley to see how we can be more consistent.

12. When will all the ribbons be coming off the trees at all of the locations? Some are looking pretty tacky, faded, and frayed.

• It’s probably time although I really enjoy seeing them all around our campus. I will speak to our Marketing Department about removing them, at least the torn, tattered and faded ones.

13. Has any consideration been given to going back to the District Daily? Receiving one email with all of the announcements is a lot easier than having to go to another site and search for information.

• We can talk about that. Kaweah Compass is a great site, but employees have to initiate going there compared to the District Daily being pushed out automatically.