staff Archives - Mediarabe

Army chief of staff: COVID-19 having effect on troop suicides

October 13, 2020

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said Tuesday that he sees a direct correlation between COVID-19 and the rise in troop suicides.

“I am very concerned about the behavioral health impacts of COVID and its effect on our soldiers,” McConville told reporters at the Pentagon.

“Some of the scientists have said they’ve not been able to show causation between COVID and suicide, but I would argue, at least my sense is, it is having an effect because it disconnects people.”

Army leadership has voiced concern about the increase in suicides in its ranks since March, when many people were told to stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Pentagon began to limit movement of forces.

The Associated Press first reported last month that military suicide deaths since early spring were up as much as 20 percent compared with the same period in 2019. Among Army active-duty troops,

Update to Daily Health Check features reminders, text access, change in requirements – UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff

October 12, 2020

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Campus News

Icon of a clipboard with a check mark and an image of a person using a smart phone to complete a daily health check survey.

The update to the Daily Health Check allows users to receive daily reminders via text messages. Image: Bob Wilder

UBNOW STAFF

Published October 12, 2020

UB’s Daily Health Check is quickly becoming part of everyone’s routine, but a new update introducing text message notifications promises to make the COVID-19 screening tool even more effective and easier to complete. Beginning Oct. 13, members of the UB community who have access to a smartphone are strongly encouraged to enroll their mobile number. By doing so, they will receive automated text reminders to complete the Daily Health Check — delivered right to their phone.

Along with this update, UB has also changed requirements for employees and others who do business with the university. Previously, all UB faculty and staff, except those living outside of New York State, had to complete the Daily Health Check on their workdays. Now, completion is required

Researcher explains benefits of using geotagged content in research – UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff

October 12, 2020

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In a recent commentary published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, UB geographic information science expert Yingjie Hu and colleague Ruo-Qian Wang wrote about how Twitter’s decision to remove users’ ability to tag the precise locations of Tweets might affect research in disaster response, public health and other areas.

The authors concluded that the change may not have a pivotal impact on studies that rely on this kind of content, as a large proportion of precisely geotagged posts in three Twitter datasets they examined originated from third-party apps like Instagram (the datasets were originally collected for other studies examining people’s reaction to extreme weather events). The researchers also noted that Twitter still allows for less precise geotagging, enabling users to tag places such as a restaurant, a park, a city or a country, as opposed to a precise latitude and longitude.

Nevertheless, the recent change raises a number of issues

Health care staff say it’s getting harder to get paid time off for COVID

October 12, 2020

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As a part-time nurse at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Megan Murphy has twice been forced to take a leave from work this summer while waiting to get tested for COVID-19.

On both occasions, Murphy had good reason to believe she’d been exposed to the virus and stayed home, as required by hospital policies, to limit spread of the disease. Each time, it took four to five days to line up an appointment and get the results.

Both tests came back negative. But a snafu delayed the results of Murphy’s first test and left her without enough paid time off to cover her second leave. As a result, she lost two days’ pay and has no sick time left.

“I’m still going to be honest” in disclosing future exposures, she said. “But my concern is, what happens when people can’t afford to have two days unpaid, and they no

5 tips that help simplify health insurance annual enrollment | Staff Columnists

October 10, 2020

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| Better Health

Tip 2: Take advantage of a plan that offers telehealth visits and other resources to help you navigate health from home. An increasingly popular health care choice, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been telehealth or virtual visits, which enable people to connect 24/7 with a health care provider via a smartphone, tablet or personal computer. It’s designed to be an easier, more affordable way to talk to a doctor about common health issues. Often, telehealth is available to members of employer-sponsored, individual and Medicare Advantage plans.

Tip 3: Review plan benefits that can help you save money, like wellness incentives. Many health plans now offer financial incentives that reward you for taking healthier actions, such as completing a health survey, exercising or avoiding nicotine. Many plans, including Medicare Advantage plans, offer gym memberships and wellness programs for members at no additional cost.

Tip 4: Anticipate next year’s health expenses.

University Planning and Academic Calendar Updates for Faculty & Staff: COVID-19 and Campus Updates

October 9, 2020

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Dear colleagues,

We want to thank you for your extraordinary efforts in getting our academic year off to a strong start. Whether you are on campus or at home, we know you have endured challenges and disruptions. We appreciate both your commitment to protecting the community’s health and your flexibility as we navigate the challenges in our nation and world, and in particular, the impacts of the ongoing pandemic.

We write today to provide you important updates about the upcoming Winter and Spring terms, including changes to the academic calendar and the timeline for future announcements. We are sending a similar message to students, outlining these changes and asking them to take a survey about their plans for January.

We know it is important for you to have the most updated information possible. We will provide you with regular updates to equip you with the information you need.

Academic Calendars

Washington D.C. health department asks White House staff to get tested

October 9, 2020

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| Dept Of Health

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an extraordinary step, the Washington, D.C., Department of Health has released an open letter appealing to all White House staff and anyone who attended a Sept. 26 event in the Rose Garden to seek medical advice and take a COVID-19 test.

The letter indicates a lack of confidence in the White House medical team’s own contact tracing efforts regarding an ongoing virus outbreak that has infected President Donald Trump, multiple senior staff members and two U.S. senators, among others.

Co-signed by nine other local health departments from neighboring jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia, the letter flatly states a belief that contact tracing on the outbreak has been insufficient.

It says the public appeal is based on, “our preliminary understanding that there has been limited contact tracing performed to date, there may be other staff and residents at risk for exposure to COVID positive individuals.”

It asks

How Holland & Barrett redeployed in-store staff to maintain a healthy contact center during lockdown

October 8, 2020

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(Holland & Barrett)

As the UK lurched towards lockdown back in mid-March, it became clear to managers at health foods and dietary supplements retailer Holland & Barrett that the majority of the company’s 700-plus UK stores would need to stay open.

Indeed, the British government told them as much, company executives have claimed. In the government’s eyes, Holland & Barrett was viewed as an “essential retailer”, because it caters to customers with special dietary requirements. These include pregnant women needing folic acid supplements, for example, and people with coeliac disease or allergies to milk or eggs, not to mention ‘at risk’ groups with compromised immune systems needing additional nutritional support.

While this meant that many of Holland & Barrett’s in-store staff still needed to come to work each day, the same wasn’t true for those employees working in stores located within shopping centers closed by their landlords, nor for those

Inside a Florida hospital, coronavirus cases wane as strained staff brace for a fall surge

October 7, 2020

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This is what a lull looks like.

Florida was a hot spot of the coronavirus pandemic this summer. More than 722,000 Floridians have so far been infected with the virus — with a daily high of more than 15,000 cases reported July 12. The state’s intensive care units, including those at Tampa General, were pushed to the brink as the virus spread out of control. The spike came weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) quickly reopened much of the state, casting it as a return to normalcy.

By late August, when The Washington Post visited Tampa General, cases statewide had sharply declined, and treating 22 critically ill patients was a reprieve of sorts for the hospital’s staff. The downstairs garage that was transformed into a spillover triage unit during the surge was empty, and a few beds were open in the ICU. Take your vacations now, hospital executives urged doctors

GVSU app helps staff spot mental health struggles

October 7, 2020

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ALLENDALE, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Valley State University has released an app for staff to help students with mental health needs.

The GV Mental Health app was developed by GVSU students to help instructors and staff spot signs that a student might be struggling with mental health issues and get them help.

According to the Grand Valley Counseling Center, one in four people between ages 18 to 24 will develop a diagnosable mental illness.

“Mental health concerns are on the rise at universities across the United States, and Grand Valley is really no exception to that. We have seen significant increases in student mental health needs as well,” said Melissa Selby-Theut, assistant director of the GVSU Counseling Center.

“If faculty and staff are feeling empowered to have conversations and are getting students to where they need to go in order to get the help they need then we will have

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