JULY 2020 COVID-19 SPECIAL EDITION #3 Final installment
NEWSFEED
Staff responding during a pandemic
ALAMEDA COUNTY SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY • OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS & COMMUNITY RELATIONS • EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER
Editor’s Note WRITTEN BY: Sylvia Soublet,
Director of Public Affairs & Community Relations
T
he Buzz Editorial and Design team hope that you have enjoyed the Agency’s special COVID-19 editions released over the past three months. This three-part series was intended to provide our readers a snapshot of the comprehensive efforts that SSA’s executives, senior managers, and staff from all departments have taken on in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. None of us know exactly how we will respond in a crisis. Theoretically, we know how we would like to respond. We would all like to think that our actions will meet the challenge. Our decisions will be decisive, our actions measured, and our emotions held in check. What this pandemic has revealed, and what we hope we have conveyed in these pages, is how resilient we are as an Agency and, most importantly, as a professional service community. When we did not have the answers, we figured it out. This is known as RISING to the moment. That’s all you can ask of anyone.
IN THIS ISSUE 1 Editor’s Note 1 Adult & Aging Services: Prioritizing Appreciation and Working to Stay Connected 3 The Emergency Operations Center (EOC): Alameda County’s Mission Control 4 Great Plates Delivered Helps Keep Seniors Safe and Fed 4 Extending the Lifeline: AAS & Community Partners Respond to the Nutritional Needs of the County’s Older Adults
County of Alameda Social Services Agency
Adult & Aging Services: Prioritizing Appreciation and Working to Stay Connected WRITTEN BY:
Faith M. Battles, Assistant Agency Director, Department of Adult & Aging Services
W
e are in uncharted territory.
It is fair to say that living through and surviving the COVID-19 pandemic is not something any of us had ever imagined would be our reality in 2020. Just based on the uniqueness of the numerical sequence...2020...the year began with an air of mystique that had many of us looking forward to big plans, great possibilities, and good times. And then COVID-19 surfaced and changed our world in ways we couldn’t have possibly imagined. Sheltering in Place (SIP) Orders, extended school and daycare closures, face coverings in public requirements, difficulty purchasing necessities (who knew we would face a toilet paper shortage?!?), and canceling of celebrations became the new normal. We are slowly adjusting. Managing the adjustment in our personal lives is one thing and a heavy lift within our families. Consider the older adults, blind adults, and the disabled in our community who desperately depend on our department to support their healthy existence—and you can imagine the enormity of adjustments all around. Continued on page 2
A “Trunk or Treat” was hosted by clerical managers and supervisors of the In-Home Supportive Services Division to express appreciation for their team.
Continued from page 1: Adult & Aging Services While we busy ourselves with continually modifying how we do business in the department, we would be remiss to not acknowledge the impact these significant changes are having on our workforce. We recognized early on that if we are going to rely on our workforce to continue to show up for work day in and day out during this pandemic, we needed to make every effort to tend to their emotional needs and well-being. The Agency’s clerical workforce is critical to our smooth operation. They work diligently in the background supporting the work that happens in the field, and it’s easy to overlook their efforts when we are facing a crisis. Clerical managers and supervisors in our In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Division under Marcella Velasquez’s direction put their minds together and hosted a “Trunk or Treat” in the Eastmont parking lot to appreciate their clerical team. Mindful of social distancing, managers and supervisors beautifully decorated the trunks of their cars with a theme and handed out snacks.
In an effort to stay connected in light of telecommuting, calm the worries of staff, open the lines of communication, model transparency, clearly communicate the intentions of the Agency, and be a purveyor of hope that we can get through this crisis, I hosted an all-staff “Coffee Hour.” Every staff member in the department was invited to join me via Microsoft Teams with a cup of coffee or tea to discuss how they are experiencing COVID-19 in their work, hear how the County plans to keep our customers and workforce safe during the pandemic, and solicit feedback on ideas to positively impact the work experience. Staff shared resources with one another for purchasing face coverings from small businesses, got answers to their questions, and left Coffee Hour feeling heard and validated. Since our first Coffee Hour, managers in the department have implemented the practice to stay connected and nurture their teams!
One trunk was decorated in a “Happy New Year!” theme for 2020 and offered a ceremonial toast for a 2020 do-over! Cheers to that! Another trunk was decorated in a “Happy Birthday!” theme and offered staff yummy cupcakes with a lit birthday candle to blow out just in case their birthday plans were canceled due to COVID-19. Very clever! The work that happens in Alicia Morales’ Division of Aging & Adult Protection (DAAP) can be heavy, with staff dealing with death, chronic and untreated mental health issues, lingering physical illness, serious poverty, and abuse and neglect of older adults. Alicia and her program managers curated cute goodie bags for every staff in the division filled with chocolates, stress balls, pens with “Thank You” on them, and a handwritten note that said, “We appreciate you!” on each one. Sometimes a bite of chocolate and squeeze of a stress ball can get us over that last hump of the day, right?
All these efforts to show appreciation to staff were fantastic ideas, and we have a good opportunity to embed this value into our culture in the department. Being mindful of how each of us is experiencing COVID-19 is a good start! That means doing our best to be flexible, offering each other grace, and assuming positive intent. We all will get through this...together!
“While we busy
ourselves with continually modifying how we do business in the department, we would be remiss to not acknowledge the impact these significant changes are having on our workforce.
I was a little over 30 days into my new appointment as the Assistant Agency Director (AAD) for the department when COVID-19 hit Alameda County. My days became filled with accelerating my learning, making quick decisions, and responding to countless inquiries from within the department, the Agency and County leadership. My mind was swirling with the flurry of activity in the department and the County, and I assessed that staff in my department were having the same experience.
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The Emergency Operations Center (EOC): Alameda County’s Mission Control
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WRITTEN BY: Sylvia Soublet, Director of Public Affairs & Community Relations
id you know that some of your colleagues have been “stationed at the EOC” due to the COVID-19 emergency. But what is the EOC? Where is it? And what is everyone doing there? An Emergency Operations Center (EOC) serves as the coordination hub for incident command and response, such as an earthquake, wildfire, or in this instance, a global pandemic. There are many such facilities throughout the country, identified by many names (command center, command post, war room, etc.) For a small town, the EOC may be one conference room. But Alameda County’s EOC in Dublin is a comprehensive mission control facility that provides a central intelligence arena for decision makers and response team personnel to gather critical information, coordinate response activities, and manage personnel as the emergency situation dictates.
• Established five emergency hotels in close
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A safe location equipped with effective technology and other command resources allows for Countywide communication with staff, response teams, local governments, outside contractors, mutual aid and volunteer organizations, and, of course, the public.
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SSA is responsible for the Care and Shelter branch of the EOC. The Care & Shelter branch is responsible for emergency food, emergency shelter management, and emergency child care. Here are some of SSA’s accomplishments through onsite and offsite staff:
coordination with Health Care Services Agency called Project RoomKey for unsheltered COVID-19 positive or at-risk older adults that are medically fragile; Operationalized two emergency food distribution sites (Zhone Way, Oakland and Pleasanton Fair Grounds); In coordination with Adult and Aging Services (AAS), implemented the Great Plates Delivered Program a home food delivery program for older adults; Developed a comprehensive Testing and Resource map that is available on the County’s website; and Coordinated Emergency Child Care Resources and Referralsfor essential workers in Alameda County, in collaboration with General Services Agency (GSA), Alameda County Office of Education, First 5, AC Public Health, and resource and referral agencies.
But even our state-of-the-art location, stocked with equipment and technology, would not have been enough to coordinate these responses. EOC staff must be thoroughly trained, drilled in the correct methods and procedures, and educated about their specific roles and responsibilities. And that depends on...you! So the next time you see that announcement from TACT for shelter training, sign up so that you will be prepared to assist your EOC in your role as a Disaster Service Worker (DSW).
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Great Plates Delivered Helps Keep Seniors Safe and Fed
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WRITTEN BY: Andrea Wong, Program Specialist, Office of Public Affairs & Community Relations
lameda County’s older adults in need of food assistance during the COVID-19 crisis are now able to receive nutritious meals through the Great Plates Delivered (GPD) program. GPD is a Federal, State and County-funded program designed to provide home-based delivery of food from area restaurants and vendors for older adults at high risk of COVID-19. Eligible County residents can contact the program: E-mail: ACGreatPlates@acgov.org; voicemail: (925) 803-7943 or online: https://acgreatplates.acgov.org/
one of the team members who helped design and operationalize the GPD program: “It was a pleasure to collaborate with a wide range of County staff, from ITD, GSA, Public Health, and Adult & Aging, to local organizations like 211, restaurants, food vendors, and food distribution and delivery providers.” To participate in the program Alameda County residents must be ages 65+ or 60-64 at high risk for COVID-19, and meet the following requirements:
Alameda County GPD launched May 29, 2020. The program provides a minimum of two nutritious meals a day (Monday through Friday) to qualified County residents. The County is serving older adults eligible for the program during the current shelter in place. GoGoGrandparent is the program administrator that coordinates with food providers to deliver the meals, if possible, within a ten-mile radius of the older adult’s residence. Its parent company, GoGo Technologies Inc., was founded in 2016 to help older adults without smartphones use rideshare services and now serves over a million individuals throughout the U.S. with meal requests, groceries, prescriptions, and mobility. Cerise Grice, Management Analyst with SSA’s Department of Children and Family Services, was
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Unable to shop and prep meals independently (due to physical isolation); Living alone or with another eligible person, Not already participating in nutrition programs, and Annual household income within this range:
Household size
Minimum
Maximum
1 person
$24,980
$74,940
2 people
$33,821
$101,460
The County’s program does not include City of Oakland residents, who may access the Oakland-specific GPD program online: https://www.oaklandca.gov/resources/ great-plates-delivered-city-of-oakland; voicemail: (510) 238-FOOD (3663); e-mail: GreatPlates@oaklandca.gov. Households with less than the minimum annual income are not eligible for GPD but may be eligible for CalFresh/ SNAP Benefits and Older American Act Home Delivered and Congregate Meals.
Extending the Lifeline: AAS and Community Partners Respond to the Nutritional Needs of the County’s Older Adults
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WRITTEN BY: Kim Fogel, Administrative Specialist II, Office of Public Affairs & Community Relations meet the increased demand for grocery bags. In addition, MBB and congregate meal sites augmented their services to include grocery deliveries and meal pick-ups, which expanded their ability to assist more older adults affected by COVID-19.
n this issue, we told you about the new “Great Plates Delivered” food delivery program for vulnerable older adults in need. But that is just one of the multiple nutritional programs that Adult and Aging Services (AAS) and their community partners have worked to implement to meet the burgeoning nutritional needs of the County’s older adult population. Since the March 16 Shelter in Place order was issued by the County in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults have been identified as a high at-risk population required to remain at home. Nutrition programs throughout the County such as Mercy Brown Bag (MBB), Meals on Wheels, Nutrition Solutions (City of Berkeley), and other community programs became even more vital to older adults by continuing meals and brown bag deliveries as an essential service.
“Thankfully, we received $984,042 in emergency COVID Families First funding that the County’s Board of Supervisors moved swiftly to authorize our Agency Director, Lori Cox to accept. That effort allowed us to distribute funding amongst our senior nutrition programs that have met the moment urgency of the moment,” said Faith M. Battles, Assistant Agency Director for the Department of Adult and Aging Services. “Without a doubt, we would not have been able to extend this lifeline to our seniors without the dedication and resourcefulness of our staff and community partners.”
But just when those services were needed most, meeting the need was more challenging than ever. For example, MBB, whose motto is “seniors helping seniors,” found their volunteer pool reduced to nearly zero because most of their volunteers are older adults. But MBB continued to
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