Administrator Update
As I reflect back on 2021, I think of a couple of themes: prevention and adapting to change. First, prevention: we started the year and will be ending the year giving vaccinations for COVID-19. Our clinics offering booster doses are continuing to fill up and our partner, Homeland Health, is helping us meet people where they are by operating clinics in the community.
As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture of a young child receiving his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine brings me a lot of joy. This is why we continue to show up every day.
Another theme is adapting to change. Change continues to be something we are managing. We keep innovating, and finding new ways to doing our work, support the community, and support each other. With all the changes, both internal and external, the constant in our work is you. Your dedication, drive and focus. We have done – and continue to do – amazing things and that is because of all of you.
-- Nick
Clinical Services
Our flu shot clinics in the community have ended. Over seven weeks, Public Health provided flu shots at 33 clinics, resulting in more than 1,700 shots given. Flu shots are still available to individuals at our Tuesday immunization clinics. Jennifer Anderson with the City of Richfield sent the following note of appreciation: “We had a successful clinic yesterday so THANK YOU! I had several staff thank me for making this happen onsite and expressing how grateful they were to be vaccinated against the flu. Your staff is always a delight to work with…thank you doesn’t seem sufficient these days, but thank you!”
Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations are being given at a weekly clinic in the Public Health building. We offer forty appointments per week and traffic has been steady, especially for booster shots. Intake and Reception staff are answering questions and referring clients for COVID-19 shots and testing. We provided Moderna vaccination clinics for first responders in Bloomington and Edina, and will also do so in Richfield.
The WIC program continues to operate remotely, with the majority of staff working from home. The federal Public Health Emergency was extended to mid-January 2022. Minnesota WIC agencies have 90 days after the federal emergency expires to reopen. Ramsey County WIC has been fully open for a few months. Other local agencies are considering reopening with an initial focus on new applicants, as they would benefit greatly from an in-person visit. WIC is also excited to continue offering increased benefits for fruits and vegetables, likely through March 2022.
Communications
 Educating the public about the importance of flu shots and promoting our clinics was a focus for Communications during the last two months. Content was shared externally in the Briefing, on our website and on social media, and internally in the Insider and day-of-clinic emails. New this year was letting people know it’s okay to get both your flu shot and COVID-19 vaccine at the same time.
COVID-19 booster communications has been another priority; as more people became eligible, our communications needed to evolve, too. Each time the FDA or CDC took action, we informed various audiences through Insider articles, external news items and One Weekly reports. The tri-city PIO group recently welcomed Ann Sattler as a new vaccine champion, who is taking over for Angela Lee. Other key COVID-19 messages have included where families can find vaccines for kids ages 5-11, where to find free testing, and how to reduce risk during holiday celebrations.
Family Health
Family Health transitions continue. We said farewell to Rose Booth-Robertson, Safia Hassan and Laura Van Luven as they journey onto new chapters in careers and life. The team is coping with redefining how we work and covering job duties. Molly is working with HR on filling these vacancies. In addition, we completed the interview process for two new Community Health Worker positions. We met some outstanding candidates and look forward to introducing new staff to everyone soon. Supporting the COVID-19 response, flu shots, and Intake are added duties.
Senior Health nurses continue to process incoming referrals and support Environmental Health at hoarding visits. Ann Sattler, other City staff and community partners teamed up to provide emotional and basic needs support to a resident who didn’t have a home at the end of his life. A story about this individual’s contributions to Bloomington is in development by Communications.
Maternal Child Health staff are doing a mix of virtual and in-person home visits. Follow ups to elevated blood lead levels have been steady, especially after a recent recall by MDH on some false negative test results. Many contract agreements have been renewed to continue funding for our work. These include UCare, HealthPartners billing, Hennepin South Services Collaborative’s support for the Family Literacy School, and general support for families by Health Specialists and CHWs, Child & Teen Checkup outreach, and TANF. A MIECHV renewal is pending. Last, DocuSign is almost ready to use with clients! Thanks to all our co-workers who support this work.
Finance
COVID-19 Response and Vaccine Implementation Grant: This grant has been extended to 12/31/2023 and funding has increased by $520,000 for a total of $1,091,000. This grant and the Emergency Preparedness grants fund our COVID-19 response and vaccination work.
October 2021 Year-To-Date budget results for Public Health
| |
2021 AMENDED BUDGET |
2021 YTD ACTUAL |
% USED |
| REVENUE |
$4,290,000 |
$2,795,000 |
65% |
| EXPENSE |
$5,650,000 |
$3,417,000 |
61% |
Office Administration
Flu shot clinics were at the forefront of the Office Administration team’s focus in September and October. Julie and Nhi provided admin. support at most of the clinic sites, while Linda scheduled clinic teams, and April and Julie set up the clinics in PrepMod. Now the insurance billing process kicks into gear for Julie and Nhi. This was a change from the past way of operating flu shot clinics, when we used paper registrations. Luckily, we had the full experience of using PrepMod during our COVID vaccination clinics, even though there were a few tweaks that needed to be made for flu shot clinics.
While flu shot clinics were taking place, contracts that needed to be processed by Nancy did not stop. In fact, the amount of contracting increased with new contracts arriving from MDH and various other entities. Most of our contracts need to be approved by City Council due to the fact that they are grant funds. There were very few City Council meetings during the past few months that we did not have a contract on the Council agenda for approval.
We said goodbye to two wonderful staff members in the last month. Kim Ronayne, temporary information assistant at Reception, and Angela Lee, Intake nurse, were a fun, friendly part of our experience at Reception. We appreciated their help and so looked forward to making these weekly connections, even during our strange COVID times.
Population Health and Planning
The team has been working on a renter survey that is slated to launch in spring of 2022. This survey will be administered in Bloomington, Edina, and Richfield to begin to collect health data on the renter population in naturally occurring affordable housing. It builds on the work Regan Reeck, our AmeriCorps VISTA member, has been doing on tenant leadership development. A University of Minnesota School of Public Health graduate student has been pilot testing the survey.
Flavored tobacco products will no longer be sold in Bloomington beginning January 1, 2022. During this implementation period, staff have created a communications plan to provide cessation resources for community members looking to use this opportunity to quit or reduce their tobacco use.
We continue to support the evaluation of the Hennepin Community Health Improvement Partnership with other partners and are planning for reaccreditation in 2022. Most of the team is also supporting COVID-19 response work.
Public Health Highlights are distributed six times a year.
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