On December 19, the State of Minnesota launched a new telehealth test-to-treat program to ensure Minnesotans who have tested positive for COVID-19 have easy access to clinician care and therapeutic treatments that reduce their risk of serious illness or hospitalization. Beginning immediately, Minnesotans who test positive for COVID-19, either with a home test or a positive test from a lab, can download the Cue Health app and sign up to have a virtual consultation with a licensed clinician who will evaluate them to determine if therapeutic treatment is a good option. If they are a good candidate for therapeutics, the clinician can issue that prescription to the patient’s local pharmacy. In some areas of the state, those prescription medications can be delivered to the person’s home.
All services, including the consultation, medication and delivery, will come at no cost to the Minnesotans who use this service. This pilot program is available to all Minnesota residents.
For more information on how to access this program and for instructions on downloading and getting started with the Cue Health App, please visit care.cuehealth.com/mn.
MDH is offering a new therapeutics navigator service to support access to COVID-19 therapeutics in shelters. If you have a shelter guest who tests positive for COVID-19 and who may benefit from medications, you can now request the assistance of a therapeutics navigator to help you and/or the patient access medication. We encourage you to request navigation assistance if you have questions, need coordination support, or if you aren’t sure where to start!
The therapeutics navigator can support the following activities:
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Identify a healthcare provider to conduct a medical assessment and prescribe COVID-19 therapeutics
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Schedule appointments including telehealth visits where available
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Arrange transportation for medical visits and prescription pick-up or delivery
Please note that this service is in the pilot phase so as you engage with the therapeutics navigator service, please let us know what is working well and what we can do to improve moving forward! Contact the therapeutics navigator, Angela Boice (angela.boice.contractor@state.mn.us) or the COVID-19 Highly Impacted Settings Unit (Health.R-congregate@state.mn.us) if you have any questions or concerns about the therapeutics navigator service.
If your setting is in need of vaccination support, you can complete the COVID-19 Vaccination Event Request Form for Congregate Settings. This form is open to staff at congregate settings, such as shelters, transitional and supportive housing facilities, and day centers, as well as food shelves and outreach programs. Settings can request vaccine clinics for COVID-19 first shots, second shots, and boosters, as well as the annual influenza vaccine. Settings can also request to have a Harm Reduction Team available at the clinic to offer overdose prevention and response training, distribution of opioid overdose reversal kits (i.e., naloxone), distribution of safer use supplies including syringe exchange (distribution of sterile syringes, collection of used syringes), rapid HIV/Hepatitis C testing and linkage to care.
As a reminder, at the end of November Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated Guidance on Management of COVID-19 in Homeless Service Sites and in Correctional and Detention Facilities. You can review the updated CDC guidance here. During the December 7 webinar, MDH staff walked through changes in the guidance and provided an overview of resources to support you in assessing your facility’s risk and relevant layers of protection. You can find the slides and webinar recording at: https://mich.mn.gov/webinars.
Cases among people experiencing homelessness and the staff who support continues to remain steady this week. The MDH team continues to monitor cases and our team continues to plan alongside local public health and emergency management on ways to be best prepared to support people experiencing homelessness through any future surges. If you are looking for any information or resources, you can find information at https://mich.mn.gov/covid-19 or email Health.R-Congregate@state.mn.us.
As we approach the end of the year, we wanted to express our gratitude for each of you for your heart and dedication to supporting people facing homelessness. We hope you have a restful and joyful holiday season. 2023 will be a big year with the upcoming legislative session and the continued work to develop a state strategic plan focused on achieving housing, racial, and health justice for people facing homelessness. We could not imagine doing the work ahead with all of our partners across the state and are eager to continue our work together. We will continue the monthly webinars on January 4, 2023, from 1:00 -2:00 p.m. We hope you join us next month where we will have the MDH therapeutics team joining us to talk about the telehealth treatment pilot program. If you have any questions about your webinar registration, please email elizabeth.dressel@state.mn.us.
The beginning 10 minutes of each monthly webinar will be held to hear from the speakers bureau. Anyone who has lived experience of homelessness is welcome to sign-up to share through the Speakers Bureau. This is open time each month for lived experience experts to share ideas and feedback with the webinar audience. Additional details can be found on this flyer.
The next webinar Speakers Bureau will be on Wednesday, January 4 at 1:00 p.m. There is a monthly prep session held the Tuesday before the webinar. The prep session will be Tuesday, January 3 from 3:00-3:30 p.m. Follow this link to join the prep session. This is an ongoing opportunity that happens each month. Sign up is required. Please email elizabeth.dressel@state.mn.us or call/text Elizabeth at 651-248-5548 to sign up to speak or with any questions.
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The 38th Annual Homeless Memorial March and Service was held on Thursday, December 15. Every year, hundreds of community members come together for the Homeless Memorial March and Service to remember people who died while homeless. This year, they honored the memories of 268 individuals who passed away in 2022: 153 who died while experiencing homelessness, 95 who were previously homeless, and 20 who were advocates. In case you missed it, you can rewatch the memorial here.
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Yesterday, the Biden-Harris released the federal plan for ending homelessness in America, All In: The Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness. All In sets an ambitious goal to reduce homelessness 25% by 2025 and encourages state and local governments to use the plan as a blueprint for developing their own strategic plans and for setting their own ambitious goals for 2025. The plan is built around six pillars: three foundations—equity, data and evidence, and collaboration—and three solutions—housing and supports, crisis response, and prevention. Within each pillar are strategies and actions that lay the groundwork for a future when no one experiences homelessness—not even for one night.
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Through the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP), Minnesota Housing received a one-time allocation of $31,137,836 in HOME ARP funds. Minnesota Housing is beginning the development of an allocation plan for how to spend these resources. Thank you to those who joined the December webinar to share your initial thoughts on how to prioritize the HOME ARP funds. There will be additional opportunities to share your thoughts in the coming month. Learn more about the funding and sign up to receive eNews updates at https://www.mnhousing.gov/sites/multifamily/home-arp.
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Minnesota Housing is seeking your feedback on how to prioritize the use of remaining funds under the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program. During the COVID-19 pandemic, states received historic levels of federal emergency funding to meet urgent and unprecedented housing challenges. Minnesota Housing has approximately $75 million remaining in Emergency Rental Assistance funds and seeks your input on the best use of the funds to balance our state’s immediate and long-term housing needs. Please complete the survey by December 28 to share your thoughts. Complete the survey here.
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