INTRODUCTION: COVID 19 affects vulnerable populations in residential care facilities disproportionately than the general public. Crossroads Inc., a residential substance use treatment center serving the Medicaid population needed to take quick, decisive action to keep staff, residents and the academic and recovery community safe. This behavioral health Accelerating Interprofessional Practice into Community Settings grant recipient successfully mitigated sequelae of the virus, meeting the demands of the public health emergency due to the established Nexus academic-community partnership.
METHODS: The Executive, Maintenance, Kitchen, Compliance, Finance, Operations and Integrated Care Officers “accelerated” the trust founded by the earlier grant work via weekly COVID 19 update meetings to address organizational communication protocols, roles and responsibilities across the leadership team and the organization. New policy, procedures and care delivery practices were developed. The team was aligned in the aim to keep residents and staff safe and healthy. Economic safety nets were created for staff while organizational viability was also considered. Finally, future partnerships discussions with the academic community to address university/college clinical restrictions were launched and a vision to continue providing meaningful student/resident learning experiences was developed.
OUTCOMES: The Nexus relationship facilitated successful navigation of a public health emergency in a behavioral health residential organization. To date, there have been no COVID 19 cases or transmissions throughout the 400 bed organization. Lessons learned on how each other’s unique role and expertise led to the overall success of the leadership team’s working relationships, the sustainability of the organization and employee physical and economic health will be presented along with plans for continued academic community organization collaboration.
Disclosures:
In accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education’s Standards for Commercial Support, adopted by the Joint Accreditors for Interprofessional Continuing Education, the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education has a conflict of interest policy that requires that all individuals involved in the development of activity content disclose their relevant financial relationships with commercial interests. All potential conflicts of interest that arise based upon these financial relationships are resolved prior to the educational activity.
Liz Harrell, Chris Riley, Tammy Wilson, Joe Peterson, Jorge Lomas, Dan Williams, Candace Stillman, Heidi Sanborn, Natalie Heywood, Brooke Salzman, Amy Cunningham, Ashely Crowl, Stephen Jernigan, Laurel Witt
declare no vested interest in or affiliation with any commercial interest offering financial support for this interprofessional continuing education activity, or any affiliation with a commercial interest whose philosophy could potentially bias their presentation.
