DHHS Communications, Nov. 14, 2013

Dennis Streets, director of the Division of Aging and Adult Services, encouraged an audience at the Healthcare Faith Summit in Greensboro Nov. 14 to keep the healthcare needs of older citizens and the families who provide their care high on their planning lists.

“Already one in five North Carolinians is age 60 and older. By 2032, it will be one in four,” Streets said. “While today 59 of our 100 counties have more persons age 60 and older than 17 and younger, it is projected that by 2025, 89 of our counties will have more older adults than those 17 and younger…”

The summit, a collaboration of local nonprofits including the faith community, focused on the challenges of caregiving and the plight of the mentally ill. Theme for this year’s summit was: We Are All in This Together. It was held at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Greensboro. Streets was among speakers representing several layers of government, the faith community and medical professionals.

Streets suggested that despite Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and other health and social supports, too many seniors face challenges of poverty and near poverty in North Carolina, with one in 10 living below poverty and nearly one in three of those who are age 75 and older living near poverty.

He asked the audience to consider themes that are important to the future of all who grow old in North Carolina:

People must get ready – When Social Security passed in 1935, average life expectancy was 58 for men and 62 for women. Today our life expectancy in North Carolina is 78 and those who are age 60 today can expect to live, on average, an additional 23 years. Because aging is lifelong, it is never too late to adjust our course for the benefit of our physical and mental health, and our financial well-being. He suggested that the faith community could sponsor health promotion programs.

People helping people – Government cannot today or in the future serve all who need assistance. Statewide we have more than 16,000 elderly waiting for home and community services such as home-delivered meals and in-home aide services. There is no shortage of opportunities for people to help people.

Investing in families – Most long-term care is provided informally by families and friends, many of whom are balancing child care, elder care and work. About one in five North Carolinians care for someone suffering from a prolonged illness or disability. Nearly half of these care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia. Many of those caregivers need respite, or short-term relief from caregiving. Those who do not receive a respite break are more likely to place their loved one in a long-term care facility.

“Now is currently the time to plan for the aging of our population,” he said.

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BY JIM JONES, DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

Bowls hand-crafted by residents of the J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center will be among the ‘goodies’ distributed to winners of the Governor’s Award for Excellence at a ceremony on Nov. 19.

A Department of Health and Human Services employee is among this year’s winners of the North Carolina Governor’s Awards for Excellence, the highest honor a state employee may receive. Heather Lewis, a Recreational Therapist at the O’Berry Neuro-Medical Treatment Center in Goldsboro, won the award in the category of customer service.

She is among 20 nominees submitted to DHHS for consideration. The 11 individuals and three teams from across state government receiving the Governor’s Awards for Excellence this year will be honored Nov. 19 during an awards program to be held at the N.C. Museum of History auditorium. The week is set aside as Excellence in State Government week in honor of all nominees for the awards. 

The program is designed to acknowledge and express appreciation for outstanding accomplishments that do not fall entirely within the scope of normal duties, but are in the nature of a major contribution reflecting credit on the person and state service. The meritorious service or accomplishment is so singularly outstanding that special recognition is justified.

Lewis went above and beyond her assigned duties when she volunteered to keep an aquatics therapy program running for 30 residents of the Center after it had been closed due to two unexpected staff vacancies and the closing of the facility’s 35-year-old pool. She makes arrangements to schedule time for each resident at a nearby Family Y pool and is there to meet the individualized therapeutic needs of each resident.

In the nomination for Lewis’ award, she is described as modeling the ancient ‘customer service’ teachings of the Greek philosopher Aristotle as summarized by Will Durant: We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not a single act, but a habit.

Lewis, will receive three days of special leave from DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos, and the 19 other nominees will each receive a full day of special leave from Secretary Wos. All 20 employees will also receive a letter and certificate from the Secretary.

The other nominees and the categories they were nominated for are:

• Customer Service - Doris Alicea, Murdoch Developmental Center; Mary-Allison Bunch, Disability Determination Services; Dorothy Chapin, Cherry Hospital; Dr. Timothy Crawford, J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center; Madge Marie Gupton, Central Regional Hospital; and Jean Parrish, Office of the Secretary.
  
  
• Outstanding State Government Service – Connie Barnette, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services; David Burton, Central Regional Hospital; Bryan Scott Elliott, Murdoch Developmental Center; Alice Jones, Disability Determination Services; Carolyn McClanahan, Division of Medical Assistance; Belinda Pettiford, Division of Public Health; Sharon Wilder, Division of Aging and Adult Services; and Priscilla Wortham, Murdoch Developmental Center.
  
  
• Human Relations – Robin Cohen, Central Regional Hospital; and Kay Daughtry, O’Berry Neuro-Medical Treatment Center.
  
  
• Efficiency & Innovation – Kandra Cook, J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center; and Thomas Jones, O’Berry Neuro-Medical Treatment Center.

Other award categories are Public Service, Safety and Heroism, and Spirit of North Carolina.

Employees are nominated for the award by other state employees including their supervisors, co-workers and subordinates. Nominees must be permanent state employees, including managers and administrators, who are subject to the State Personnel Act.  State agency educators may also be nominated.  

Congratulations to our DHHS winner and nominees!

Ed Bristol, Marketing Director, NCDVRS

Not that long ago, Graham resident Chris Simpson would shy away from shaking your hand, making eye contact or going out in public. Chris has social anxiety plus obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Last year, Chris’s life was at a particularly low point. With no work experience, he felt “terrified, afraid of getting older, of going through another day without a job.” 

He’d lost his mother a few years before. After an accident, he’d lost his driver’s license. His emotional state resulted in “a lot” of drinking, he recalls.

His brother’s girlfriend urged him to contact the Burlington office of the state Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (or “VR”). The agency assists people with disabilities — like Chris’s OCD and a range of others — with finding jobs.    

In May 2012, Chris became a VR client. He tested well in the evaluations but was still apprehensive about his prospects. His counselor, Ashley McKenna, was more optimistic.

“Ashley gave me an immediate boost of confidence.” Chris remembers. She took the time to talk at length with me via email, telephone and in person. She got to know who I am, my likes, dislikes and what I enjoyed doing in my private life. Every time I’d get down, she’d tell me: ‘I’m giving you 24 hours to get over this. Then it’s back to work.’”

Over the next nine months, Chris and Ashley would talk or e-mail weekly. There were plenty of disappointments. Jobs fell through that seemed like sure things. Then Chris’s fortunes took a turn. 

“I was watching a movie at home, feeling really in the pits. Ashley calls and says ‘Do you want to work this week?’”

A company that produces a variety of imprinted items, Van’s Advertising in Burlington, had previously hired two VR referrals and were interested in Chris.

Ashley had arranged for the company to offer him a position through VR’s on-the-job training program. He immediately accepted and started work in February.

Al and Maxene Van Handel have come to rely on Chris more and more for handling customers. Recently Maxene was swamped and    called Chris on his day off to come in and help. “He was so excited!”

“The people VR referred have filled a big gap in our business,” Maxene    offers. “No company should miss out on the opportunity VR provides.”

“What happened after Chris’s first few weeks of work was amazing,” Ashley recalls. “In May, I ran into him at a networking event. He was speaking to everyone in the room — and shaking their hands!”

“Ashley kept my eye on the ball,” says Chris. “Thanks to people like Ashley, VR helps us believe in ourselves.”

By Lori Walston

Staff from 77 county departments of social services gathered Oct. 23-25 in Hickory for the 91st Social Services Institute. This year’s Institute was themed “Extreme Makeover,” in reference to significant changes to the service delivery model at the local level.

DHHS employees from across the department participated in the Institute, providing updates and training on programs ranging from child welfare, economic services and adult services to mental health, NC FAST and the state’s Work Support Strategies Initiative.

Secretary Aldona Wos spoke to participants at the Best Practice Awards luncheon, where several counties were saluted for outstanding work over the past year. More than 300 county staff were honored for service anniversaries exceeding 20 years, while 200 employees were recognized for their retirements over the past year.

The Institute, sponsored by the North Carolina Association of County Directors of Social Services (NCACDSS), the North Carolina Association of County Boards of Social Services and the North Carolina Social Services Association, provides professionals involved in the human/social services field a time to come together for educational, networking and professional development opportunities.

By Chris Pfitzer

On Thursday, October 24, 2013, representatives from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services met with the CEO and leaders at Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Lumberton to have a frank discussion about the mental illness and substance abuse challenges facing North Carolina hospitals.

Dr. Robin Cummings, Deputy Secretary for Health Services and Acting State Health Director, led the DHHS delegation and was joined by Dave Richard, Director of the DHHS Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services along with Alan Dellapenna, Jr., the Injury and Violence Prevention Branch Head within the DHHS Division of Public Health.

“We learned a lot about the real world problems facing hospitals and emergency departments,” said Dr. Cummings.  “This was a very informative trip and these local experts were able to articulate several potential solutions that we would like to explore further.  ”

CEO Joanne Anderson and her team of psychiatrists, behavioral health experts and emergency services physicians outlined some of the challenges faced at the Southeastern Regional Medical Center.  They also shared ideas for improving the system based upon their experiences in this community.

“The state has been aware of the issues with the mental health delivery system for some time and improving it is a priority for this Secretary and this Administration,” said Dave Richard, director of the DHHS Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services. “This trip was very beneficial because it provided us with an honest assessment of the challenges and difficulties associated with treating individuals in mental health crisis along with some potential solutions.

Leaders from DHHS have been conducting informal sessions such as this one to gather information that will inform improvements to mental health systems across the state.

• About 1 in 5 online adults, roughly 21 percent, has been a victim of either social or mobile cybercrime.1
  
  
• 1 in 10 social network users said they’d fallen victim to a scam or fake link on social network platforms. 1
  
  
• While 75 percent of people believe that cybercriminals are actively looking at exploiting information on social networks, less than half (44 percent) actually use a security solution which protects them from social network threats, and only 49 percent use the privacy settings to control what information they share, and with whom. 1
  
  
• In the first half of 2013 2:
  • 62 percent of all data breaches resulted in the exposure of real names;
  • 39 percent revealed either a person’s birth date or a government identification number (e.g. Social Security number); and
  • 32 percent involved the loss of medical records.

DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos joined Gov. Pat McCrory, State Budget Director Art Pope and Department of Public Safety Secretary Frank Perry at Second Harvest Food Bank in Charlotte on Oct. 14 to announce that $750,000 in state funds were being released to help food banks stock up.

She joined the governor’s call to Washington to resolve the disagreements that paralyzed portions of the federal government during the partial shutdown.

“This is heartbreaking,” Wos said. “My top concern is that, as the shutdown lingers, there will be hardship for those who depend on these services. The situation remains very fluid, but I am committed to doing everything in my power to minimize the impact on our most vulnerable citizens. I urge federal officials to fulfill their responsibilities.”

In the preceding week, the partial federal shutdown forced a two-day suspension of issuing new vouchers for the Women Infants and Children (WIC) food and nutrition program. During the suspension, officials from DHHS and the Office of State Budget and Management identified alternative funding sources to keep the program running through October.

Second Harvest is part of the North Carolina Association of Feeding America Food Banks and its affiliated soup kitchens, child care facilities and senior meal programs, which distributed almost 127 million pounds of nutritious food to North Carolinians in need in 2012. Approximately 170,200 different people in North Carolina receive emergency food assistance in any given week.

BY JIM JONES, DIRECTOR OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

DHHS Privacy and Security Team met Oct. 22 to discuss HIPAA, privacy and security during Cyber Security Month.

DHHS employees face Internet security challenges daily as they provide services to the citizens of North Carolina. One of the biggest challenges is related to the department’s principle role: an organization centered on health care and well-being of the state’s citizens.

“As a healthcare organization in an ever advancing society we must be interoperable, while maintaining a level of openness citizens expect from a state agency,” said Pyreddy Reddy, chief information security officer for DHHS. “Maintaining this balance is no easy task. Because no citizen, community, or organization is immune to cyber risk, there are steps we should take to minimize the chances of an incident occurring.”

Reddy reminds us that “cyber security is our shared responsibility.” He lists the following as the top tips for maintaining security:

• Lock and password-protect all personal and organization-owned devices including smart phones, laptops and tablets;
  
  
• Do not write user IDs and passwords down or store where others may have access to them, if you need assistance in keeping up with multiple accounts use a secure password management solution;
  
  
• Ensure your computer has up-to-date malware protection and is scanned regularly;
  
  
• Do not send confidential information (e.g. Personally Identifiable Information, Social Security Numbers, Internal Revenue Service data, Protected Health Information, etc.) unprotected;
  
  
• Dispose of confidential information properly;
  
  
• and Err on the side of caution; do not provide confidential information or information about your organization, including its structure, networks or applications, unless you are certain of a person’s authority to have the information.

“As we expand and diversify our technology in this digital age, we widen the way in which we become vulnerable; making it essential that each of us understands our important role in securing cyberspace,” Reddy said.

Should you become aware of an incident, report any suspected Incidents to the DHHS Privacy and Security Office.

BY MICHAEL CIFALDI, VR REHABILITATION ENGINEER AND PHILIP WOODWARD, DHHS OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Maria DeGance is working at a comfortable height now following efforts of a Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services engineer who designed and built a six-inch high platform from which Degance, who stands 4-feet, 9-inches, can comfortably do her job as a cashier at a Target store in western North Carolina.

Standing on the floor to do her job had been causing discomfort in her shoulders when she was at the cashier station.

Michael Cifaldi, a DVRS rehabilitation engineer in Asheville, built an elevated platform to provide DeGance improved access to the scanner, bags, keyboard and other check-out features. The platform needed to be lightweight for her to assemble and disassemble, collapsible for storage, contain fall prevention safeguards, and finished with a coat of Target red paint.

Maria’s story and Target’s cooperation illustrate how providing accommodations for an employee with a disability can be simple and cost-effective. 

A simple and effective accommodation can provide an employee with equal access and the opportunity to contribute to the employer’s/company’s success. DHHS takes pride in collaborative efforts such as this one between a VR client, a VR counselor, a VR rehabilitation engineer and an employer.

The photos show:

A standard check-out counter at Target.

The platform that the rehabilitation engineer constructed.

The finished product.

DeGance using the completed installation.

Maria’s story and Target’s cooperation illustrate how providing accommodations for an employee with a disability can be simple and cost-effective. A simple and effective accommodation can provide an employee with equal access and the opportunity to contribute to the employer’s/company’s success. The Department takes pride in collaborative efforts such as this one between a VR client, a VR counselor, a VR Rehabilitation Engineer and an employer.

BY JIM JONES, DHHS OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Secretary Wos speaks to emergency responders

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos stressed the value of teamwork in an address Oct. 1 to more than 900 paramedics and emergency medical responders attending the awards banquet at the conclusion of the 40^th annual EM Today Conference in Greensboro.

“You are all essential to making this critical component of our health care system work efficiently and effectively across our state,” Wos said. “As EMS workers and volunteers, you all know and value the importance of teamwork. We at DHHS understand and appreciate our role as part of that team and I assure you that we will continue to work as partners with you to support the vital role you play.”

Winning team from Brunswick County during the competition.

Following her remarks, the top team in the 23^rd annual North Carolina Paramedic Competition was announced: the Leland Fire/Rescue team of Chris Watford and Michael Herbert repeated as champions, turning away challenges from five regional champions for the second straight year.

Regina Godette-Crawford, head of the state’s Office of Emergency medical Services, offered congratulations to all the teams involved in the competition. “All these teams are winners,” she said. “These EMS teams represent the best of the best, and we’re proud of them all. They did an outstanding job with the scenario they each faced.”

The performance of each team was timed and graded before an audience of hundreds of peers. Teams were sequestered, and each was called out to face the same mock disaster scenario: a leaking propane tank that caused an explosion at rural liquor still. The explosion severely burned its operator and resulted in burns and a compound fracture in the right arm of the operator’s grandson as the teenager tried to run from the explosion. While care was being administered to the two explosion victims, a hunter with a bow stumbled into the clearing saying he’d just killed a deer, tried to carry it out of the woods and suddenly didn’t feel well. He collapsed, the apparent victim of a heart attack. It was a busy 13 minutes for each team.

The competition provides a training opportunity not only for the competitors, but for the 400 or so paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians watching from bleachers who closely observe each team’s analysis and reaction to the scenario. Teams are judged on professionalism, communication, patient rapport, conduct, attitude, appearance and attire.

Through the Office of Emergency Medical Services, the Department of Health and Human Services works to foster emergency medical systems, trauma systems and credentialed EMS personnel to improve in providing responses to emergencies and disasters, which will result in higher quality emergency medical care being delivered to the residents and visitors of North Carolina.

In celebration of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has featured five stories of personal accomplishment and success that demonstrate how vocational rehabilitation services are making a difference in the lives of people in communities across North Carolina.

DHHS is proud of its consumers who benefit from employment services, our business partners who benefit from services to employers and the staffs at the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services and the Division of Services for the Blind who bring businesses and workers together by matching skills with job requirements.

Please take a look at the compelling stories of Tanya Rivera, Ernest Moore, Rikki Branch, Brandon Johnson and Adam Lawler.

Three veteran employees of the Office of Emergency Medical Services with more than 20 years each  years’ experience as EMTs and paramedics were eating lunch at the State Farmer’s Market recently when they suddenly burst into action and saved a life.