Mask-Wearing Requirements

ServiceNet complies with the mask-wearing guidelines issued by the Governor of Massachusetts, which became effective on May 29, 2021: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-mask-requirements

Specifically, masks are still mandatory for both vaccinated and unvaccinated clients, staff, vendors and visitors in ServiceNet’s:

· Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinics

· Residential Programs

· Shelters

· Recovery Houses

· Living in Recovery Program

· Enrichment Center & Strive Clinic

In addition, ServiceNet continues to require that masks be worn when entering our administrative office buildings, and in the buildings’ common areas.

The following persons are exempt from the face coverings requirement:

· Children under 5 years old.

· Persons for whom a face mask or covering creates a health risk or is not safe because of any of the following conditions or circumstances:

o the face mask or covering affects the person’s ability to breathe safely;

o the person has a mental health or other medical diagnosis that advises against wearing a face mask or covering;

o the person has a disability that prevents them from wearing a face mask or covering; or

o the person depends on supplemental oxygen to breathe.

If you have questions or concerns about these requirements, please contact ServiceNet’s Human Resources Department at 413-387-1105.

With all masks:

• Make sure the mask is sized and/or adjusted to fit snugly over your face

• If your mask becomes wet from sneezing, coughing or breathing, remove the mask and replace it with a different one

• If you are wearing a reusable cloth mask, after use, wash the mask with detergent; it’s best to use a washing machine and dryer if available

For additional guidelines on proper use and cleaning of your cloth mask, please click on the following link to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html

Stay home if you have a fever or other flu-like symptoms

If you come to work when you are sick with these symptoms, you will be sent home.

Human Resources (HR) will verify when you may return to work, based on the following criteria:

· You have been free of fever, without the use of fever-reducing medications, and of respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath) for at least 3 days (72 hours); and

· At least 7 days have passed since your symptoms first appeared.

Practice Universal Precautions

Take care of yourself and others!

· Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds

· Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth as much as possible

· Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available

· Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve when you cough or sneeze

· Don’t share cups, eating utensils, dishes, or towels with others

· Avoid close contact with people who are sick whenever possible

· Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at work and at home, especially when someone is ill.

Click here to download a printable fact sheet for your program, and/or to share with your family and friends.

Get a Flu Shot

Getting a flu shot is more important than ever. With the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, keeping yourself from getting the flu is an action you can take to reduce your risk of dangerous complications from either one or both of these viruses.

Where can I get vaccinated in the community?

If you would like to receive the vaccine, contact a site near you and register on their website. Availability changes based on supply and demand, so check daily if you can’t get an appointment right away.

You can find a list of all vaccination sites statewide at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-vaccination-locations-for-individuals-in-eligible-groups-and-phases.

Vaccine Reporting

If you’ve had your COVID-19 vaccine at a community site (anywhere other than ServiceNet), please snap a picture of your vaccination card and send it in to covidtests@servicenet.org. Thanks!

Why take the COVID-19 vaccine?

COVID-19 vaccination will help keep you from getting COVID-19

• All COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States have been shown to be highly effective at preventing COVID-19. Learn more about the different COVID-19 vaccines.

• Experts believe that getting a COVID-19 vaccine may also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19.

• Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, particularly people at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

Can a COVID-19 vaccine make me sick with COVID-19?

No. None of the COVID-19 vaccines contain the live virus that causes COVID-19 so a COVID-19 vaccine cannot make you sick with COVID-19. Facts about COVID-19 Vaccines

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine, click on the link below to watch this video by Robert Hardy, Nurse Educator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdPmFrmrtrw

Check out this helpful reference from Genoa Healthcare, COVID-19 Vaccines: What you need to know

https://info.genoahealthcare.com/hubfs/Partner%20COVID%20Vaccine%20Update_3.1.21_v6.pdf?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=113803197&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9LyLCa_QdvoTiWK9vuFK_4Oy5S67t2wXClS6Gerbpc0uEQcTxV4uAjMRlbrcKtdzeeY8vLYVLotso2y5XgSVooaKCGxQ&utm_content=113803197&utm_source=hs_email

See these guidelines from the CDC for for people who are fully vaccinated (2 weeks past their second dose of a 2-dose vaccine or their single dose of a one-dose vaccine):

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html

A Message from ServiceNet's Medical Director, Dr. Louis Velazquez

What is a virus?

A virus is a package of DNA or RNA (the genetic alphabet codes for every form of living thing on earth) with programmed instructions for reproducing itself. A virion is the complete, infective form of the virus outside a host cell, with a core of RNA or DNA. Since a virus can only live inside the cell of an organism, the virion doesn’t become a virus until it enters a cell and hijacks the cell’s machinery of doing whatever it was supposed to do. By redirecting the cell’s energy towards manufacturing more virus, the infected cell then becomes a veritable virus factory.

As multi-cellular organisms, we are composed of numerous types of cells. We have brain, muscle, skin, and organ cells, all of which have different vulnerabilities to different types of viruses. All cells are susceptible to infection by a virus.

The warts you may get on any part of your body are caused by a collection of viruses called Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV). These viruses are also the most common cause of cervical cancer (70%). For the last two decades, we have been vaccinating children and early teens against HPV. Warts are unpleasant, especially in sensitive places, so there is little argument on whether or not to vaccinate children against these warts. The same goes for polio, tetanus, pertussis, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, and other diseases that used to pose serious health risks and sometimes claim children’s lives.

How does the flu or COVID-19 virus hurt me?

Flu and COVID-19, two families of respiratory-acquired viruses, are genetically coded to provoke your respiratory organs – including your lungs and the mucosa cells that line your wind-pipe – and they cause you to produce mucous and coughing so that you do the virus’s bidding. As you cough, you seed the virus’s DNA or RNA to other people and perpetuate the virus’s mission: to reproduce itself at the cost of any host. As a host, your function is to be the farm or factory for the virus.

The COVID-19 virus is much more infective and lethal than the usual flu virus. COVID-19 can also take command of other cells in your body, causing you to lose your senses of taste and smell. It may also cause people to develop blood clots – the bullets from within that cause strokes and heart attacks.

How does the vaccine work?

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines (with the “m” standing for messenger). In a laboratory, the small piece of mRNA the virus uses to code its outer coat is removed and used to produce the vaccine. Once inside our bodies, this little piece of virus code is shown to our white blood cells so they can learn how to quickly identify the virus intruder and destroy it before it can wreak havoc.

• The COVID-19 vaccine does NOT contain the virus.

• The vaccine does not interact with our DNA in any way.

• The mRNA from the vaccine does not enter the nucleus of our DNA. (The cell nucleus is the place where our DNA keeps its code for cells to do what they are supposed to do).

• One type of our many types of white blood cells is tasked with catching and breaking down the mRNA of the virus.

• The vaccine has absolutely no bearing on fertility.

• This new generation of mRNA vaccines is cutting-edge and it is far safer than the generation of vaccines that actually put a little bit of virus into your body – such as the smallpox vaccine that most people over age 50 received as children (on the up side, that vaccine resulted in eradication of smallpox around the world). By contrast, though, the COVID-19 vaccine does not put the virus into your body.

What should I feel after a vaccination?

In a typical year of flu vaccinations:

• 33.4% experience pain at the site of the injection. This is normal.

• 18.1% experience redness. This is normal.

• 17.7% have muscle pain throughout their bodies.

• 17% have fatigue.

• 15.2% have a low-grade fever

These effects occur within 24 hours in 70.6% of people who are vaccinated. And they show that the vaccine is working!

There is one rare side effect – anaphylaxis – that can occur with any vaccination or medication, including aspirin or the penicillin we give our children for an ear infection. It can also happen in people who are severely allergic to peanuts, bee stings, or any other substance. When someone is in anaphylaxis, their windpipe shuts down and they cannot breathe. Fortunately, we have treatments to quickly and effectively reverse this process, and everyone who administers vaccines has this medication on hand.

If anaphylaxis is going to happen, it will happen within the first 15 minutes after the shot has been given, which is why you’re asked to wait for 15 minutes afterwards.

So, how rare is anaphylaxis with the COVID-19 vaccine? The rate is 11 people per million vaccines given. And what would happen if you were one of those 11 people? You’d receive immediate treatment and get over it.

Though vaccines can be scary to think about, the alternatives are worse

In a major study from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, involving 3,600 patients who had been hospitalized for COVID-19, the death rate was 18.5%. By contrast, the death rate for people who had been hospitalized with regular flu was 5.3%.

According to a British study, you are five times more likely to die from COVID than from the regular flu.

While no vaccine for any illness is 100% effective, the COVID-19 vaccines used in the United States are 95% effective. And even if you were to be in that 5%, your chance of becoming seriously ill with the virus would be substantially reduced.

Do it for yourself, your family and friends, your community

• When you get vaccinated, you’ll be safer, and you can help inspire others to get vaccinated, too;

• the more people that are vaccinated, the sooner we’ll get to “herd immunity” and will be able to put this COVID-19 chapter behind us;

• the sooner we reach herd immunity, the sooner our economy can bounce back; and

• the sooner we reach herd immunity, the less likely the virus will be to mutate and become an even meaner opponent to fight.

Let’s all get vaccinated and get back to our regular lives as quickly as possible!

Louis Velazquez, MD

Whether someone in your household recently tested positive for COVID-19; or you have been to a gathering where someone tested positive; have traveled to a high-risk country, state, or city; or have otherwise been exposed to someone with COVID-19, please observe the following quarantine process and guidelines if you have not yet been fully vaccinated and are at least two weeks past your final dose:

• Have a conversation with your manager about your situation, and plan to remain at home in quarantine until you have been tested and have received a negative result confirming that you do not have COVID-19.

• Wait at least 72 hours/3 days from the time of exposure before you are tested.

• If your test result is positive, you will need to remain in quarantine for at least 10 days from the time of exposure—more if you are continuing to have symptoms—and limit your contact with other people.

• Final decisions about when you may safely return to work following quarantine are made by ServiceNet’s Nursing team in consultation with your Vice President.

• While you are in quarantine:

o do not take public transportation, taxis, or ride-shares;

o avoid crowded places, such as shopping centers and social events;

o when you are in contact with others, wear a mask and stay at least 6 feet apart;

o take your temperature with a thermometer two times a day to monitor for fever, and also watch for cough or trouble breathing;

o if you become ill, call your primary care provider to ask for their guidance and recommendations.

• Discuss your situation with your manager before returning to work.

• When completing your time sheet for the quarantine period, whether you are using benefit time or are taking unpaid leave, please write #CV19 in the Justification box so we will have a record that this absence is related to COVID-19.

Isolation and Recovery Sites

The Commonwealth’s COVID-19 Command Center and MEMA have set up regional isolation and recovery sites in hotels across the state for people who cannot safely quarantine at home. To access Isolation & Recovery Sites, call (617) 367-5150 between 7am and 7pm. For more information, go to: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-isolation-and-recovery-sites

Unless you are fully vaccinated – and at least two weeks past your final vaccine dose – we strongly recommend that staff refrain from international travel and domestic travel to areas where the COVID-19 rate of infection is high.

Before traveling, please have a conversation with your division’s nurse director about the appropriate measures to take.

If you do travel to a high-risk area for a longer period, please plan to self-quarantine when you return before getting a test for COVID-19 (see the Quarantine section on this page for more details). To be tested, either stop by ServiceNet headquarters at 21 Olander Drive, Northampton, Monday-Friday from 9am to 4pm, or contact your health care provider for referral to a testing site near you.

You may return to work once you have received a negative result confirming that you do not have COVID-19. If you receive a positive result, you will need to remain in quarantine for at least 10 days from the time of exposure.

Travel and quarantine guidelines related to COVID-19 continue to change as high-risk areas are identified across the country and around the world. For updated travel advisories and information, go to:

States currently at LOW risk for COVID-19 transmission https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-travel-order#lower-risk-states-

Centers for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html

U.S. Department of State: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/ea/covid-19-information.html

Sick time is available for your use if you are sick. If you run out of sick time, you may use other benefit time with the approval of your supervisor. If you are not sick but need to be out for quarantine or other reasons related to COVID-19, you may use vacation, holiday and/or personal time.

If you have no remaining benefit time and still must be out due to COVID-19, you may choose to apply to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for unemployment. The state will determine if you are eligible; and if you are, they will pay 60% of your usual earnings. For more information about how unemployment works, please contact Noreen Hayes, Assistant Director of Human Services for ServiceNet, at 413-387-1102 or nhayes@servicenet.org; or go to www.mass.gov/unemployment.

To recruit for open positions throughout the agency, Human Resources (HR) is continuing to place want ads and forward resumes to program managers for their review.

All initial interviews are being conducted by phone or video conferencing (e.g. Zoom, FaceTime).

For a limited number of applicants who do not have access to printers, scanners, and other technology, HR is also accepting drop-in applications/new hire paperwork.

When a manager has chosen a candidate, HR will complete their usual process to finalize the hiring and will notify the manager when the person has been cleared to begin working. Please be aware that this may take a bit longer than average, given the general system delays we are all experiencing.

Note to Managers: Every new hire needs to log into E3 (Datis) and accept their badge in order to be able to swipe. Please be sure to cover this at the program on the employee’s first day.

The following classes, which had been on hold since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are now being offered again:

CPR & First Aid and CPR & First Aid Recertification

CPR and First Aid classes are being held in ServiceNet’s large conference room at 21 Olander Drive in Northampton.

To meet social distancing and other safety guidelines, class sizes are limited to 8. Participants will have their temperature checked upon entering the building through the front door, and they must wear a mask throughout the training.

Human Resources (HR) will reach out to managers to let them know who needs to be trained and will schedule times that work best for the staff and the program. HR will schedule all relief staff who need the training.

MAP Recertification

MAP Recertification trainings are now being offered via Zoom.

HR will reach out to managers to let them know who needs to be trained and will schedule staff at times that work best for them and the program. Staff will then receive a calendar invitation in their ServiceNet email, which they will need to accept in order to participate; this invitation will also contain important instructions for the day of the training.

The trainers recommend logging in 15 minutes prior to the start of the session so that any technical difficulties can be worked out ahead of time. Those who log into the session more than 5 minutes late will need to be rescheduled.

The trainer will also ask each participant to show their ServiceNet ID at the start of the session.

The following trainings are continuing to be suspended until further notice:

§ Orientation

§ Full MAP training

§ Proactive Approaches to Behavioral Challenges (PABC)

Managers’ trainings

Flex Time

If you need to flex your usual working hours due to changing circumstances caused by COVID-19, speak with your manager about ways to do so within your program. For instance, if you cannot cover your daytime shift, but could work evenings or weekends, let your manager know what you can do.

If there is limited work available in your own program, and if you would be willing to flex into another program, please feel free to speak with your manager or HR about other opportunities within the agency.

Working Remotely

Staff who can do their work remotely may do so with their supervisor’s guidance and approval.

Administration Offices at 21 Olander Drive, Northampton

There is a drop box outside the front door for postal and interoffice mail – to help reduce the number of people coming into and out of the building. Courier service remains active for interoffice deliveries.

Day Programs & Services

Updated 3.30.21

• The Enrichment Center in Chicopee is now open, and also continues to hold remote programming for individuals who are not yet ready to come back for a full day program. The EC's new Strive Clinic is offering 1:1 appointments for physical and occupational therapy services.

• The MHRS Recovery Zones remain closed until further notice.

• The PREP Program will not be holding milieu hours at their office site in Holyoke until further notice.

• Prospect Meadow Farm, the Farm Store, and the Rooster Café have all reopened.

• The Berkshire Vocational Services program is providing job-coaching services for individuals in community employment, and their day programs have reopened.

• The Living in Recovery Program at 81 Linden Street in Pittsfield is open on a limited basis.

Outpatient Clinics

Updated 3.31.21

Outpatient therapists are providing teletherapy (video and audio) to established and new clients via ServiceNet’s confidential phone lines. All insurance companies are reimbursing for this service.

Psychiatrists & Advanced Practice RNs are providing telehealth sessions (video and audio) for their established clients and are seeing new clients in-person (e.g. hospital discharges; clients new to the medication clinic, and clients with involuntary movement disorders.)

Nursing Staff are at the clinics full-time to support the psychiatrists, answer client phone calls, order labs and help fill prescriptions, and provide hands-on care during clients’ in-person visits for injectable medications.

• Greenfield Injection Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 1pm to 4:30pm

• Northampton Injection Hours: Monday – Friday, 9am to 1pm

HCP Order forms should be sent to Nursing via eHana and we will have them signed and returned quickly.

Our TMS Service remains open at both the Northampton and Greenfield outpatient clinics from 9am to 5pm, Monday - Friday.

Client Registration is connecting clients to clinicians and assigning hospital discharge clients to psychiatry and therapy.

Front Desk staff are answering telephones in the clinics and managing doctors’ appointments and schedules.

Medical Records continues to operate as usual.

Please direct any questions about the clinics to Karen Franklin (413-588-4611) Ann Augustine (413-219-7916), Ann DuBois-Tabb (413-320-2832) or Skip Soper (413-297-0958)

• HNE Coronavirus (COVID-19) Coverage and Business Continuity Planning

• Information on Teledoc

• Click here to open the resources page.