Placer County District 3 Newsletter

July 2020

211 Placer is here! Connect with the services and resources you need... free, confidential, multilingual information line and website. Take a look!

It has been heartening to see so many examples during the past four months of people all over the world coming together to help one another in the face of this pandemic. From the nightly celebrations for first responders and frontline medical workers to social media pages dedicated to helping people in need get groceries, baby formula and of course, toilet paper. But I am most pleased by an example of teamwork that happened right here in Placer County, when our Health and Human Services staff stepped in to help their colleagues in Public Health who were overwhelmed by calls for help from the public as COVID 19 cases began to appear in Placer County. As the coordinators of the program that tracks infectious diseases in Placer County, Public Health Nurses staff the county’s infectious disease hotline. In early March calls began to come in regarding a group of Placer County residents who had been on a cruise ship where multiple individuals tested positive for COVID 19, and as cases continued to rise in Placer County the Public Health Nurses' work tracking new infections and tracing contacts increased. At the same time, county residents were calling the infectious disease hotline with questions the nurses struggled to find time to answer given their greatly increased workload as a result of COVID 19. People were calling to find out where they could get help with rent, if it was safe to open a package Amazon had delivered, if they were allowed to go out to buy a car…all valid questions, but not topics the Public Health Nurses would typically handle.  And as people began to need more help with finances, getting food and taking care of loved ones the workload only got heavier.

The first call center staff, pre-COVID 19 social distancing requirements. From left to right Adam Wilson, Lisa Terry, Lupe Gamez and Nikki Horne.

At a meeting on March 9^th Health and Human Services staff heard about the struggle the nurses were faced with and by March 12^th  a Pop Up Call Center was up and running, fielding all the calls regarding COVID 19 that did not relate to specific cases.  The call center line greeted callers with a phone tree that announced a general message and allowed people to choose options for assistance, including an option for business owners to be connected to staff in the Small Business Resource Center. Healthcare providers were routed to Public Health nurses and information line, schools and administrators were routed to a voicemail where messages were returned by Children’s System of Care staff, and all other questions coming into the general phone line and the homeless services phone line  were fielded, answered, tracked and logged by Human Services staff.

Between early March and late May staff from the Human Services division fielded approximately 2527 calls, alleviating the strain put on the Public Health Nurses, who were able to focus on their efforts to track and curb the spread of COVID 19. The call center team worked daily, through weekends and even on Easter Sunday to staff the call center.

In addition to the hard work of Health and Human Services staff, this project’s great success is also a result of the hard work of Dieter Wittenberg, Telecommunications Division Manager, Luyen Le, Information Technology Manager, and Hillory Courtney, a Business Process Analyst with the CEO’s office, who were responsible for developing the technology to accommodate staff’s vision for the special call center. Their work allowed callers to be directed to the appropriate staff or resources and tracked where calls were coming from and categorized the calls by topic. This information continues to help Placer County provide services and resources where they are most needed.

From left to right, Alison Poroshin, Helene Nakamura, Karolin Miller and Robert Hyland practice social distancing outside the call center.

 The vital role this call center played in serving the people of Placer County highlighted the value of a 211 system to serve Placer County, which has been in the works for some time. Although it was not up and running back in March, I am happy to share that 211 Placer has gone live as of today (July 1^st)! 211 Placer provides referrals to community and health services including food, transportation, senior care, employment services, housing assistance, mental health supports and much more 24 hours a day. Although 211 Placer had not been officially launched, at the end of May the call center’s duties and all of the data that had been collected were shifted over to our 211 operator, Connecting Point. This shift allowed Human Services staff to return to their regular duties, and provided a great opportunity for 211 Placer operators to begin assisting Placer County callers ahead of going live with this system.

I am once again humbled by the incredible work Placer County staff do every day and their ability to come together in a time of need. I want to give a special Thank You! to the staff listed below, who made helping their coworkers and their community a priority during a difficult time.

Amanda Sharp
Mary Barker 
Lisa Soto 
Adam Wilson 
Alexis Richardson
Alison Poroshin
Ellen Walker
Eric Hauke
Erika Kish
Francisco Castro
Helene Nakamura
Karolin Miller
Katie Kenoyer
Krista Shalley
Leticia Rios
Lisa Terry
Lupe Gamez
Nikki Horne
Patty Cortez
Robert Hyland
Sarah Perry
Katie Combs-Prichard
Raúl Martínez
Jennifer Cook
Dieter Wittenberg
Hillory Courtney
Luyen Le

Warm Regards,
Supervisor Jim Holmes
           

Questions or Comments?
Email District 3 Director, Beverly Roberts at: broberts@placer.ca.gov               

www.placer.ca.gov