Good Morning Everyone,

You may have heard that Governor Hochul has issued a statewide mandate that masks be worn at all indoor public businesses and venues unless a vaccine mandate is in place. This goes into effect today and the order will be in place until January 15, 2022 at which time NYS will reassess the need for the mandate.  As a reminder, masking is required here at ACHIEVE so there shouldn’t be any additional impact for our employees or individuals served.

As well, I wanted to let you know that we are taking a couple of steps forward in an effort to increase our employee vaccination rates here at ACHIEVE.

Effective Monday, January 3, 2022, all new employees will be required to have their first dose of the two shot vaccination series or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by their first day of employment.  That is, no employee will be onboarded on or after January 3^rd, without having started or completed the vaccination series.

As well, the same standard will apply to all Residential Relief Workers.  This segment of our workforce will need to have received the first dose of the two shot vaccine series or one Johnson & Johnson by January 3, 2022 in order to be eligible to work at the agency.

I thank you in advance for helping us to make ACHIEVE the premier provider of services in our region, and for helping to ensure the safety of the individuals we serve, and each other.

Have a great day.

Amy

Amy G. Howard, MSW
Chief Executive Officer

Good Afternoon Everyone,

A couple of quick updates regarding my 11/12 email below.

OSHA has suspended the implementation of its vaccination requirement pending the litigation ongoing in the U.S. Court of Appeals. You can follow this story in the national news, and we are trying to understand what this will mean for ACHIEVE and the timelines noted below.  I will keep you posted if I learn anything new over the next couple of weeks.

Regarding the vaccine reward I mentioned previously, please know that I am still awaiting approval from NYS, but it is my understanding that Direct Support Professionals will be eligible for the $500 reward if they are fully vaccinated by the end of the first payroll period in December. Fully vaccinated, in this situation only, means receiving one shot of the Johnson & Johnson or two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.  The wait period after does not apply.

If you are thinking about taking the vaccine and want to be eligible for the reward, you must act now. We will be expanding this reward to ALL ACHIEVE employees.

If you need help with scheduling your appointment or finding a place to get it, please contact your supervisor or call 211 as soon as possible.

Thanks for all you do everyone.

Amy

Amy Howard, MSW
Chief Executive Officer

Good Moring Everyone,

As you may have heard, OSHA has released guidance regarding vaccination requirements for employers with 100 or more employees.  This guidance applies to us here at ACHIEVE and I am working diligently with our Executive Management Team and colleagues across NYS to develop the best plan forward for our organization and valued employees, many of whom have varying views about the COVID 19 vaccine.

We are required to develop Agency policy and procedure regarding the COVID-19 vaccine that meets the OSHA Guidelines. While protocols are still being considered, I do want to share with you that I anticipate that beginning January 4, 2022, all unvaccinated employees will be required to show proof of a negative COVID 19 test weekly.  In order to avoid the weekly testing requirement, an employee can choose to become vaccinated. Again, these are OSHA requirements, which ACHIEVE is required to comply with and our team is doing our best to develop a strategy for such, while at the same time, respecting the differing perspectives we have in our workforce. The ultimate goal here at ACHIEVE is to preserve the health and safety of the individuals we serve and our valued employees.  This has been our shared goal since the start of this pandemic and will continue to be in all the days moving forward.

I also want to let you know that I have been made aware that there is a financial incentive that is forthcoming from the federal government for DSP’s who are vaccinated.  I am awaiting guidance on this before releasing further detail, but you will want to get your COVID 19 vaccine ASAP if you are on the fence and contemplating a decision.  And if you aren’t a DSP, don’t worry, we’re looking to expand this financial reward to others in the agency too. More to come on this.

Also, voluntary submission of proof of vaccination is easy!!  It is very important to do this so that you are eligible for the financial incentive mentioned above.

Thank you everyone!

Amy

Amy G. Howard, MSW
Chief Executive Officer

Dear Supporter,

Through guidance by the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), ACHIEVE has been able to resume full operations across our organization, and we wanted to provide a summary of what this easing in restrictions means for both staff and the individuals receiving programmatic supports.

Please see the letter above from Lisa Whitney, ACHIEVE Chief Operating Officer, outlining the details of our reopening plan.

We are very excited for our programming to open back up, and will continue enforcing all cleaning and distancing guidelines as outlined by the Department of Health and OPWDD to ensure the safety of our staff and individuals receiving supports. 

We thank everyone for the continued understanding and look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Dear Supporter,

Vaccination efforts and education continue to be top priority across our agency, especially following the encouraging news from New York State that any individual with a diagnosed intellectual or developmental disability was eligible for the vaccine effective February 15^th.  This opened up the opportunity to all individuals supported across ACHIEVE, and we thank New York State for recognizing the need to prioritize this population, as well as everyone who joined us in advocating for expanding eligibility for their inclusion.

We’re happy to report that through efforts across our agency as part of Phase 1A, an overwhelming majority of individuals supported in our Residential programming and our Direct Support staff have now received both doses of the vaccine, and we continue to work with community partners to both educate and vaccinate all eligible staff and individuals across the organization that wish to do so. 

Dear Supporter,

We’re encouraged by New York State’s decision to include individuals in our Residential program and the staff who support them in the first wave of COVID-19 vaccinations.  This is a much-needed first step towards a safe return to normalcy for many of our individuals, and we thank everyone who joined us in advocating for their inclusion in this first round.

Alongside other provider agencies across the state, we continue to monitor vaccine distribution and staunchly advocate for both those we support and the dedicated staff providing that care to be a priority as vaccination becomes more readily available.  This is critical to ensuring the health and safety of everyone across our organization, and we will actively encourage participation in these efforts.

Dear Supporter,

As we continue to experience an upward trend in the spread of COVID-19 in our community, I want to assure everyone that we are vigorously evaluating and monitoring best practices that will keep our staff and those they support safe. 

I’m incredibly pleased with the conservative measures we’ve put in place that have resulted in limited exposures across our agency over the last eight months, and I’m confident that this approach will continue to minimize spread to ensure everyone stays healthy and safe.

Dear Family Member or Caregiver:

ACHIEVE is able to reopen day programs based on the guidance provided by OPWDD, our intended Phase 1 reopening start date is August 3rd, 2020. ACHIEVE has developed a safety plan for reopening its day programs which addresses all requirements contained in the OPWDD guidance and the Agency’s NY Forward Safety Plan. In addition, we’ve developed a “Returning to Day Habilitation” video which features some of the changes put into place at our Day Habilitation locations. While we are excited to start the return of individuals to programming, our upmost priority is the health and safety of individuals served and staff members. We thank you for your cooperation during these unprecedented times.

Dear supporters,

You’ve likely seen that Governor Cuomo and OPWDD have provided some guidance allowing visitation in the homes to begin again. We are just as excited as we’re sure you are to be able to welcome you back! We will be making personal phone calls today to each individual’s loved one to explore your interest in scheduling a visit and to talk through our visitation procedure with you. All visits will be scheduled through our Division Managers, you may contact your loved one’s residential program directly for that contact information if you don’t have it. We look forward to seeing you!

Dear supporters,

As our region continues to strategically reopen, we here at ACHIEVE are working with organizations across the state to develop a vision for what that looks like for provider agencies. While the future is uncertain, it is clear that we will need to take a new look at our congregate day services in an effort to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Dear supporters,

Since the onset of this virus reaching our state, our teams have worked diligently and proactively with the New York State Department of Health and Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, as well as The Arc New York, to ensure that we were implementing best practices and adhering to all policies and procedures that put the safety and well-being of our individuals first.

These measures included suspending all day programming, temporarily ending visitation at our supported houses, implementing a shelter-in-place model for staffing at our houses to minimize potential exposure, cancelling community outings, and implementing personal protective equipment policies across the agency.  While these measures each brought their own challenges, the primary goal was to mitigate exposure of both our staff and individuals to this virus as it spread locally, and our staff worked tirelessly to prioritize everyone’s safety.

Our teams have been aggressively tracking the spread of COVID-19 throughout our community since it reached Broome County, and we’re proud of the groundwork that was quickly laid to ensure best practices were being adhered to in the interest of everyone’s safety.

While it’s unfortunate that we’re now seeing confirmed diagnoses in both the individuals we serve and the frontline staff that are supporting them, we continue that aggressive tracking and are in constant communication with our Program Managers to monitor any and all symptoms that may be appearing in our residences.  As cases are confirmed, we’ve taken a conservative staffing approach to mitigate any chances of potential exposure and again reduce the number of staff entering our houses and interacting with our individuals.

At this time, we remain focused on the recovery of all individuals we support and any staff who are grappling with this virus, as well as remain committed to protecting against the spread of the virus.  We’re optimistic, as we’ve already begun to see healing in several of our initially diagnosed individuals, and hope for their continued recovery, and will continue to do all we can to mitigate any potential exposure in our other residences.

It cannot be emphasized enough how much we admire the heart, determination, and willingness to serve that is being shown by employees across our great organization, some offering to shelter-in-place for as long as two weeks to combat this virus.  These are really challenging times, but we’ve ensured our staff are well-equipped, trained and prepared, and we have full confidence in their ability to fight this fight, and we’ve never felt more proud of these dedicated and incredible colleagues.

While it felt inevitable that this virus would one day reach ACHIEVE’s door, our leadership team is confident in both the efforts that have been, and will continue to be made to minimize the spread to both our individuals and our staff, as well as our community at large, and we remain committed to, and proud of our direct support staff who are heroically defending those we serve.

Thank you and stay healthy and safe.

In partnership with the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, ACHIEVE is proud to assist the community in these difficult times and offer temporary emergency respite services across six counties for individuals who are leaving the hospital after a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment, as well as individuals who are leaving the hospital after a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment, as well as individuals who have been diagnosed as COVID-19 positive and are being diverted from hospitals because their symptoms don’t require hospitalization.

Located at ACHIEVE’s Cutler Pond Road day habilitation located in Binghamton, the 30 bed emergency respite services will be staffed 24 hours by highly trained registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and direct support professionals. All referrals will be made to the local NYS Office for People with Developmental Disabilities Regional Office, who will conduct pre-screening and make placement determinations, with an intended length of stay of two weeks or less.

As the Southern Tier’s largest provider of services to the intellectually and developmentally disabled, it’s vitally important for us to be a resource to the community and do our part to provide assistance to the disabled, their families, and our local hospitals, while maintaining the highest standards of safety and health. I’m grateful that we’ve been able to retain the dedicated and willing staff to make this program a reality and be a resource that the Southern Tier can utilize in a time of crisis.

Over the last twenty-four hours, it was identified that two individuals within our care tested positive for COVID-19. Plans are already in place to actively monitor the health and well-being of the other individuals and staff who have been in contact with them.

In consultation with the NYS Department of Health, our Residential Leadership and Nursing Teams, as well as our Direct Support Professionals, have implemented proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus.  The safety and health of our staff and individuals is the highest priority at ACHIEVE, and while we were anticipating a positive diagnosis within our agency eventually, over the past weeks our Executive Team has taken a proactive approach to minimize the risk of infection, including implementing a series of measures directed by the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and Department of Health.

These challenges are very real, and I’m so proud of our frontline staff of nurses and Direct Support Professionals who are actively implementing every precaution to ensure the safety of our most vulnerable.  I want to personally extend my own gratitude, as well as that of our Board of Directors and leadership team, to each of them for their bravery and dedication to those we serve.  Our staff are such loving and caring people, and the individuals we support need them now more than ever. I appreciate, from the bottom of my heart, all that is being sacrificed and accomplished across our agency.

We will continue to implement and enforce best practices agency-wide to prepare our staff and our facilities for the apex and the height of this pandemic, and remain committed to doing all that we can to ensure the safety of those we serve and the dedicated staff members supporting them.

These are trying times, and I’m #ACHIEVEProud of the work being done across this agency to ensure the health, safety and well-being of every individual and staff member, and look forward to the day we can all truly be together as a community.

ACHIEVE takes the care of the individual’s entrusted to us as a momentously important responsibility, and this was one of the last measures that could have been taken, and was taken with the utmost consideration and with great care. 

We want to acknowledge the Direct Support Professionals who have agreed to be a part of these extended shift models. Thank you for your willingness to continue to provide the utmost level of quality and care possible during this crisis.  Your dedication to our individuals and personal commitment to their safety are the backbones of our agency, and we cannot do any of this without you, and express our most sincere appreciation.  We are #ACHIEVEproud and #ACHIEVEstrong because of you.

Additional considerations that have been made at this time to limit community exposure for both staff and individuals:

• “Runners” have been identified in each residence to assist with last minute, urgent or sudden needs that a staff on shift may encounter. 
• Nursing staff will still be required to come in and out of the IRAs for assessment purposes. ACHIEVE is extremely lucky to have a team of skilled and experienced nurses who will continue to provide support to staff and individuals through this crisis.
• Our staff continue to reinforce ACHIEVE’s visitor management system which we put in place about a month ago. Although no outside visitors are permitted at this time, employees entering a residence will be asked the three screening questions and have their temperatures taken.

At ACHIEVE, these closures include:

• Day Habilitation Services – Suspended
• Community-Based Prevocational Services – Suspended
• Site-Based Prevocational Services – Suspended
• Residential Visitation – Suspended, unless medically or clinically necessary

These are rapidly changing developments, and we’re committed to keeping this post updated as program statuses change.  We thank everyone for their continued patience and cooperation during these challenging times.

To read the full letter from Amy Howard, CEO of ACHIEVE, regarding the suspension of these services, please click here.

This was a difficult decision to make, but one that our team feels is in the best interest of our employees, the individuals we serve, and our community as a whole.