Right Now in Quality Health
April 2021 – Issue 2
Newsletter Content Menu (click to jump to any section)
- A Message from the CEO
- We Can Do This
- Vaccinate with Confidence
- Don’t Forget about Seasonal Vaccines
- New Affinity Group Focuses on Self-Measured Blood Pressure Programs
- COVID-19 Vaccines and Visiting Nursing Home Residents: What You Need to Know
- Project Firstline, a CDC Infection Control Program, Sees Record Webinar Attendance
- Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Welcomes New Board Members
- Guam Diabetes Control Coalition Sponsors American Diabetes Association Diabetes Alert Day Presentation
- Southwest Montana Healthcare Community Coalition Helps Assisted Living Facility Achieve Level One Certification
- Welcome LaDawn Whiteside, AARP Montana Caregiving Consultant
A Message from the CEO
Greetings!
Here is a look at how our region breaks down when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine and the percentage of our population who has received at least one dose:
- Alaska: 40.2%
- Montana: 38.8%
- Hawaii: 47.1%
- Wyoming: 32.8%
- Guam: 43.3%
- American Samoa: 36.5%
- Northern Mariana Islands: 36.6%
I encourage you to take advantage of the resources shared in this newsletter to increase vaccination confidence and continue striving for high vaccine rates in your community.
Stay safe and well,
Sara Medley
Mountain-Pacific Quality Health CEO
We Can Do This
Mountain-Pacific is a partner in the COVID-19 public education campaign from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and you can be a partner too!
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a COVID-19 public education campaign to increase public confidence and administration of COVID-19 vaccines. The campaign explains how Americans can protect themselves from COVID-19 and provides public education around slowing the spread and how to build vaccine confidence using fact-based, scientific information about vaccine development, safety and effectiveness.
Resources and toolkits from this campaign include podcasts, infographics, social media posts, print ads and more. Resources are available in English and Spanish. View more information.
Vaccinate with Confidence
A vaccine confidence-building strategy from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Does your clinic, hospital or nursing home have a strategy in place to build confidence around the COVID-19 vaccines? If not, or if want to improve your strategy, this resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will help you. Building confidence around the COVID-19 vaccine includes educating providers and other health care professionals on how to talk about the vaccine with patients and their families, being comfortable answering questions about side effects and much more.
Visit the CDC website to access a vaccine confidence-building strategy, helpful resources to hand out and quick tips to implement right away. View more.
Don’t Forget about Seasonal Vaccines
The importance of pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations during a pandemic
While a lot of focus and attention are on the COVID-19 vaccine, it is important to remember to provide education around seasonal vaccines, including influenza and pneumococcal.
Looking for resources talking about pneumococcal vaccines? Check out these resources from the CDC:
- Materials about pneumococcal disease
- Information about pneumococcal disease for clinicians
- Vaccination education for pneumococcal disease
Looking for influenza vaccine resources? View this recent episode of Healthy Living for Life to learn from experts about why the influenza vaccine is still important to receive during a pandemic.
Join fellow regional community coalition leaders and members during upcoming open office hours to learn more about COVID-19, influenza and pneumococcal vaccines. The first session is on April 28, 2021, at 4:00 PM MDT, 2:00 PM AKDT and 12:00 PM HST. View more information, more upcoming dates and register here.
New Affinity Group Focuses on Self-Measured Blood Pressure (SMBP) Programs
Sign-ups are now available to join a new affinity group focusing on the implementation of self-measured blood pressure (SMBP) programs! The goal of the SMBP affinity group is to increase the number of health systems providing SMBP monitoring programs in our region.
As a participant of the SMBP affinity group, you will receive information, resources and access to subject matter experts to step through the implementation of a SMBP program.
The SMBP affinity group will begin mid-May and consist of four one-hour sessions. For more information or to sign-up, contact Kristen Schuster at kschuster@mpqhf.org.
Regional Chronic Disease Collaborative partners include: Alaska Primary Care Association, Alaska Department of Health, American Heart Association, Hawaii Department of Health, Mountain-Pacific Quality Health, Montana Department of Health, Montana Primary Care Association, Wyoming Department of Health
COVID-19 Vaccines and Visiting Nursing Home Residents: What You Need to Know
It is so great your mom, dad or other loved ones have received their COVID-19 vaccine. This is an important step towards protecting their health, achieving herd immunity and returning to normal life.
Both the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the CDC recognize the importance of visiting your relatives as part of staying healthy. You can now visit your loved ones inside when the COVID-19 positivity rate in your nursing home’s county is less than 10 percent. If the positivity rate in your nursing home’s county is more than 10 percent and less than 70 percent of residents in the facility are fully vaccinated, then only residents who are fully vaccinated should receive visitors. Keep reading about this topic.
Still have questions about infection prevention in health care settings? Learn more in this handout.
Project Firstline, a CDC Infection Control Program, Sees Record Webinar Attendance
The CDC has rolled out Project Firstline, a comprehensive infection control program designed to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases in U.S. health care settings. Mountain-Pacific Quality Health is excited to announce our partnership with the CDC and the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) as we launch Project Firstline in Wyoming.
Join the network for “Yours, Mine, and Ours: COVID-19 and the Changing Culture of Infection Prevention.” Held alternating Thursdays at 12:00 PM MDT via Zoom, March 25 through July 29, 2021. To learn more, email wycoa@uwyo.edu. Case consultation, networking and continuing education are available!
Mountain-Pacific Quality Health Welcomes New Board Members
Join us in welcoming three new board members! Each of our new directors has a strong desire to improve patients’ health care experience and develop solutions to provide better health outcomes for their communities.
The board is composed of directors from Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Wyoming. Board membership represents academia, business, consumer representatives, health information, law, medicine, payors and rural health. Meet our new board members.
Guam Diabetes Control Coalition Sponsors American Diabetes Association (ADA) Diabetes Alert Day Presentation
The Guam Diabetes Control Coalition sponsored the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Diabetes Alert Day presentation on March 22, 2021. View the recording.
Southwest Montana Healthcare Community Coalition Helps Assisted Living Facility Achieve Level One Certification
The Southwest Montana Healthcare Community Coalition (Bozeman, Montana) is currently working with an assisted living facility (ALF) on their level-one certification to become part of the Age-Friendly Health System (AFHS), making them the first ALF in the nation to achieve this under the AFHS work.
Welcome LaDawn Whiteside, AARP Montana Caregiving Consultant
Join us in welcoming new powerful partner LaDawn Whiteside, an AARP Montana Caregiving Consultant. Throughout her career, LaDawn has been passionate about seniors. LaDawn’s professional career began as an assistant activity director in a nursing home in 1983. She has worked in health care regulation, the home and community-based waiver program and was an advocate in a domestic violence program called Abuse in Late Life. She is a certified mediator with elder designation, president-elect of the Montana Mediation Association, an Eldercaring coordinator, guardian and now an AARP Montana Caregiving Consultant. LaDawn is the mother of twin daughters and has four grandchildren, all living in Helena. She loves people, crafting and providing service to others.