August 19, 2020 @ 5:00 p.m.
Every Wednesday, Dr. Sherrill Brown, Medical Director, Infection Prevention, Berenice Constant, VP, Government Relations, and Elizabeth Sepetjian, AVP, Talent Management (HR), give an update for clinic and corporate line of business leaders.

This morning, Rosanna Ortiz, Director of Human Resources Business Services, presented. You can listen to today's recording here. 
Sherrill Brown, MD
Berenice Constant
Liz Sepetjian
Questions & Communications

We welcome your questions, suggestions and input. We do review each submission and respond appropriately, so please continue to email us—click here. Know that this is a safe space and that most questions will be answered individually prior to being shared anonymously with staff.

We also encourage you to review communications, such as the Wednesday-only COVID-19 huddles and email alerts, COVID-19 resource and policy pages on Town Square, altamed.org/coronavirus, and any regular emails you receive.

FAQs posted below may not be comprehensive, so please check the FAQs in each weekly alert to be sure your questions have not already been answered.

Q & A of the Week

Q: Are the sites supposed to provide us with the correct size of PPE? Who should we contact for these?

From the COVID-19 Response Team
A: There is a designated individual at each site who is in charge of ordering supplies. You can ask if they can request different sizes, if available. Unfortunately, we are still seeing some shortages in the market, but we have sourced the PPE that we could acquire. Looking forward, we are making attempts to purchase even more stock to supply different sizes as requested, if available.
We’re Here For You, Now More Than Ever

COVID Testing
  • Dr. Brown noted that our current laboratory, Quest, has considerably improved its turnaround times (three to five days now). She restated that we are working to finalize a new agreement with another laboratory to process tests faster.

  • We are prioritizing patients with symptoms, but can test others as needed. Testing can be done at the individual clinics, or patients can be referred to the two testing sites: AltaMed Medical and Dental Group–Anaheim (1325 N. Anaheim Blvd.) and AltaMed Medical and Dental Group–Commerce, Goodrich (972 Goodrich Blvd.).

Flu Season
  • We anticipate receiving the flu vaccine towards the end of August and encourage employees to get the vaccine. The flu vaccine that we will receive is an inactivated vaccine–we cannot get the flu from the vaccine. We will keep you informed as information becomes available for the dates, times and locations for flu shots.

Screening Process
  • The screening process for employees continues. The screening kiosks at the two Camfield corporate offices are no longer being used–we are looking at other options to screen employees.
  • It is important to continue employee screenings; it is also important for employees to answer the questions honestly. Please inform your supervisor if you have exposure or any symptoms so they can report and work with Employee Health.
Remote Work Arrangement Survey

The safety and well-being of our employees are our top priorities. We are in the process of updating policies and creating new ones to respond to our current work environment, such as working remotely. Once approved, we will share these policies with you.

In the meantime, we have created a survey to collect data to assist our efforts in planning for the future. As AltaMed continues to respond to evolving patient and business needs as the result of the pandemic, please note that current work arrangements may change.

During the week of August 24, leaders and staff in administrative offices will be sent a survey regarding remote work. Should you receive this survey, we ask that you complete it by September 4. Completing the survey is mandatory. As always, thank you for your ongoing flexibility and support as we navigate through new opportunities. It's important to remember that even though we are staying apart, we continue to work together!
Help Slow the Spread!

Below are three new screen savers to remind everyone to wear a mask.

Safety protocols to help slow the spread:
  1. Wear your masks – Face masks are to be worn at all times over your nose and mouth (except when drinking or eating), and should be stored properly or discarded.
  2. Maintain hand hygiene – Staff should have easy access to hand sanitizer dispensers to clean hands frequently, and should wash hands for 20 seconds at a time.
  3. Practice physical distancing – Six feet apart from other individuals whether inside or outside.
  4. Wipe down any work surfaces you touch.
  5. Patient-facing staff, including front office, should wear a face shield or eye covering in addition to a face mask—avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
  6. Employees must wear appropriate PPE when on site.
Physical Distancing Around AltaMed

We have installed plexiglass protective shields in clinics to maintain safe distancing at reception areas. We have also placed signage as well as floor decals to remind patients to keep their physical distance.
Volunteers Needed for CMA-sponsored Free PPE Distribution

In an effort to ensure California physicians can continue to provide care to patients during the COVID-19 outbreak, the California Medical Association (CMA) is providing free medical-grade personal protective equipment (PPE) to small- and medium-sized medical practices. AltaMed will support the event, which will be held on Thursday, September 17 on the campus of California State University-Los Angeles, by gathering volunteers. If you would like to volunteer, please complete the volunteer registration form attached here.
Government Relations Reminds Us to Vote

Download the AltaMed My Vote, My Health.™ Mobile App and do your part and vote. Help protect health care access, promote voting, and stand up for social justice issues.

To learn more about the importance of voting, click here and visit our altamed.org/vote website.
Please Note: If you are contacted by the media with questions about the coronavirus outbreak or for any other reason, please email Veronica Orozco, Sr. Manager, Public Relations. The Public Relations team monitors all media coverage of AltaMed (social and traditional platforms) to uphold our reputation. If you have questions and concerns regarding media coverage, please call Veronica at (323) 482-3073. If you'd like to read news releases from AltaMed, visit our external website, AltaMed.org under Newsroom.