Archive | Western MA Health and Medical Coordinating Coalition

RSS feed for this section

HMCC Participates in Patient Evacuation Exercise

The Western MA Health & Medical Coordinating Coalition participated in a tabletop exercise on April 25th testing the MA Dept. of Public Health’s new Patient Placement Coordination Plan. Following federal requirements, the Department had to practice moving at least 20% of western Mass’ hospital patients from sending hospitals to receiving hospitals. The scenario involved flooding that required Cooley Dickinson Hospital and Baystate Medical Center evacuating all of their patients and sending them to the remaining eight hospitals in the region.

Staff from the MA Dept. of Public Health Office of Preparedness and Emergency Management test out the State’s new Patient Placement Coordination Plan

Exercise facilitators from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health look on as Mary Clark, former MA Dept. of Public Health’s director of the Office of Preparedness and Emergency Management tests the statewide plan to handle hospital evacuations

A moment of laughter amid the chaos of practicing the movement of over 1,100 patients from two hospitals to the other eight in western MA.

Hmmmm…are you sure about that Michael? Michael Nelson, regional public health coordinator for the MA Dept. of Public Health’s Office of Preparedness and Emergency Management and Montague selectman,helps determine how many beds are available to handle incoming hospital patients.

Summer Reading: FRCOG 2016 Annual Reports are available online

FRCOG’s Annual Reports for 2016 are online and available!

Click here to see the full regional report.

Click here to find  your town’s appendix. These appendices include just the town-specific work done, and were distributed to each town bound into the back of the full Regional Report.

COG staff member Bob Dean’s photo of Zerah Fiske Road in Shelburne – a location used in the movie The Judge

The Town of Montague’s new skate park at Unity Park

W MA HMCC Full Coalition Meeting Registration Open

Spring 2017 HMCC Full Coalition Invite

The HMCC will hold its second full Coalition meeting this year, open to any and all health and medical
stakeholders. We will update the membership on the region’s progress towards greater health and medical preparedness/response collaboration, and host a keynote by Chad Priest, Chief Executive Officer – American Red Cross Indiana Region.

Chad Priest, MSN, JD, BSN, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Indiana Region American Red Cross. Priorto joining the Red Cross, Mr. Priest served as Indiana Universities’ School of Nursing’s Assistant Dean for Operations and Community Partnerships.

Mr. Priest also currently serves as Senior Executive Advisor to the MESH Coalition, a non-profit, public/private partnership that coordinates, supports and strengthens healthcare and related entities to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from the effects of emergency and crisis events and incidents. Mr. Priest formerly served as the MESH Coalition’s Chief Executive Officer for 4 years.

Mr. Priest will present “Towards Community Resilience: The Role of Healthcare Coalitions” from his perspective as a healthcare provider in multiple professions: as a military nurse, a healthcare lawyer, and as the CEO of a non-profit crisis management organization. Through these experiences, he has come to believe that in order to maintain individual and community health you have to mix it up – both the professions, and the interactions. In our April coalition meeting, Mr. Priest will discuss the role of community health and health equity in emergency preparedness and response coordination, including its effect on patient surge, and demonstrate that not only do we all play a role in keeping people healthy, but also that by ensuring the health of all members of our community, we emerge more resilient in times of crisis.

Please RSVP at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15xwFz9EaqRvb8eJ-s0TeZBOzQzEVWe4du69LqP1l8vA/edit

New Webinar: How to Start a Respiratory Protection Program

Registration is now opened for a new webinar developed by DelValle How to Start a Respiratory Protection Program to be delivered on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 11:00am-12:00pm. The target audience for this webinar includes Healthcare Facilities, Emergency Medical Services, Public Health.

The registration link for the webinar is: https://delvalle.bphc.org/rpp_webinar. Registration instructions are below.

————————–

How to register:

  1. Visit the DelValle Institute Learning Center at https://delvalle.bphc.org/rpp_webinar Select the “Login to Register” button and enter your credentials. You will be redirected back to the course page.
  2. Next, select the “Register Now” button and fill-out the registration form to complete your registration.

 

To sign up for a DelValle Learning Center Account:

  1. Visit the DelValle Institute Learning Center at https://delvalle.bphc.org/rpp_webinar
  2. Select “Create a Login” on the red menu bar
  3. Proceed to create a new account by entering your email address and creating a password with at least 6 characters and at least 1 non-alphanumeric number (e.g. jsmith123!).
  4. Fill-in all required fields and select “create my new account”. Follow the next step as instructed by the system.
  5. Return back to https://delvalle.bphc.org/rpp_webinar
  6. Select the “Login in to Register” button and enter your credentials. You will be redirected back to the course page.
  7. Next, select the “Register Now” button and fill-out the registration form to complete your registration

Emerging Infectious Disease Webinars Available for Viewing

The three Emerging Infectious Disease webinars put forth by the DelValle Institute for Emergency Preparedness have been archived on their webpage and are available for viewing. Stakeholders who were not able to access these webinars live can now view them at their own pace, prior to the live capstone event offered in Holyoke on September 30th.

View Webinar 1: Core Concepts

View Webinar 2: Learning From the Past

View Webinar 3: Examining the Present

Register for the Live Event on September 30th

 

 

New CMS EP Rules Released

On September 8, 2016 the Federal Register posted the final rule Emergency Preparedness Requirements for Medicare and Medicaid Participating Providers and Suppliers. The regulation goes into effect on November 16, 2016. Health care providers and suppliers affected by this rule must comply and implement all regulations one year after the effective date, on November 16, 2017.

Facilities Impacted by the Emergency Preparedness Rule include: hospitals; ambulatory surgical centers; hospices; long-term care facilities; home health agencies; rural health clinics and federal qualified health centers; dialysis facilities.  While all the above providers are impacted, requirements may differ between types.  The full rules can be found online at: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertEmergPrep/Core-EP-Rule-Elements.html

Marijuana Workshop for Municipal Leaders

Local municipal leaders need to prepare themselves to have an opinion on the upcoming legalization ballot question. Join the Communities That Care Coalition and Greenfield Health Department for a 5/19 workshop on the shifting landscape of marijuana in Franklin County/North Quabbin, and an update on what we know now about the drug and its effects on developing brains.

Click here for more information on the workshop.

RSVP for the workshop by clicking here.

 

New MA Climate Change Report

Click here to review UMass’ new Climate Change Report, filled with great data and charts to help you think about the future of our community.

Important step in using churches as shelters

Using a church to house overnight guests for an emergency, march/demonstration, athletic or educational event? Read on!

In the last few months, the Franklin County Cooperative Inspection Program has become aware that there are churches that have been using their facilities as temporary overnight shelters for various community events.  While these facilities are generally suitable to house a considerable number of overnight guests, they may or may not be considered safe.  In an effort to assure a reasonable degree of safety for such uses, The Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards has provided a legal means of permitting this use in the State Building Code.

In short, a church cannot use its facilities as an overnight shelter unless a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy is issued by the Building Official after a mutual inspection is done with the Fire Chief and Board of Health and all officials agree that the temporary use will be reasonably safe.  If you would like to apply for a permit, please feel free to call  or email James Hawkins, Building Commissioner at extension 113.

Some of the beautiful churches in our region:

TownHall&Church Baptist Church @ cemetery rte 112 Buckland--Mary Lyon Church (MHC 106) & Grange Hall (MHC 107) Advent Church in Shelburne Falls

FRCOG FY17 Budget

In January the FRCOG Council endorsed the FRCOG’s FY2017 budget.  Budget highlights budget are:

  • 6% increase to health insurance, as voted by the Hampshire Insurance Trust.
  • OPEB payment of $150,000.
  • 2% Increase to staff wages.
  • Using new revenues and with no financial impact to towns, staffing in the Finance Department increased to include a part-time Grant Fiscal Manager.
  • Minor increases to audit costs, staff training and development, and special project costs.
  • Capital expense of $11,000 to purchase a new server and associated software and equipment.

This results in a small increase to the Regional Services Assessment of 1.7%.  There is also very little change to assessments for participation in the Municipal Service Programs:  Cooperative Purchasing, Cooperative Public Health Service, Town Accounting, and the Franklin County Cooperative Inspection Program.

View the Budget and/or the Budget Development Workbook, with detailed and transparent information about the FRCOG’s finances.  FRCOG staff are always available to meet with Select Boards and/or Finance Committees and attend Town Meeting to explain the FRCOG budget.  Please contact lindad@frcog.org with questions or if you would like us to attend any of your meetings.