7 months after exposé, healthy equity advocates, Bon Secours report progress

Continued mond Community and in the Southside Medical Center, which serves low-income residents of Petersburg and surrounds.

(Bon Secours Richmond reported that on average it received about $50 million a year from the 340B program between 2019 and 2022. Those are the only numbers released and were provided by Bon Secours in January at the opening of the new building.)

Based on the discussions, the coalition believes Bon Secours will meet its demand to reinvest 100 percent of savings from the 340B program into improving health care in lowincome communities, particularly if it carries out the promises in its newly issued “Community Today, Community Tomorrow: Pathway to Wellness in the East End.

The coalition also praised Bon Secours for its efforts to diversify its workforce and for its pledge to buy more from minority-owned companies.

The coalition was created last fall in the wake of a September 2022 expose by the New York Times that alleged that Bon Secours was shift- ing 340B savings that it earned through using Richmond Community as a financial vehicle to fund development of health clinics and other operations in wealthier suburbs while hollowing out services at the location on 28th Street in Church Hill. The Richmond Free Press reprinted the article in its Sept. 29, 2022 edition.

The Catholic health system rejected the New York Times’ allegations that tarnished its reputation, brought unwanted criticism from elected officials and generated a community backlash.

Bon Secours’ pushback began gaining traction in January when the hospital system opened a $16 million office building next door to Richmond Community that, among other things, improved wellness and prevention programs and upgraded mental health and addiction treatment services.

At the same time, Bon Secours unveiled the Community Today, Community Tomorrow plan that promised new investments in Richmond Community, including increasing the number of specialists in heart, lung, kidney and other major organs.

The plan also included a Bon Secours promise to develop an urgent-care clinic and to take other steps to improve health offerings and access.

One recent step involves the promotion of Dr. Paula A. Young to the new position of medical director of Richmond Community Hospital in addition to her role as medical director for the Care-A-Van and community outreach.

A Fredericksburg native, Dr. Young, who is Black, said her initial goals include expanding access to prenatal care to reduce the percentage of East End women who do not receive checkups prior to giving birth and to help make sure that children have the vaccinations and health checkups required by public schools.

Most of all, she said that she will be involved in rebuilding community trust in the offerings available at Richmond Community.

In its statement, the coalition also noted that Bon Secours has begun to remedy concerns about the long waits to move patients in critical condition who are brought to Richmond Community to better equipped hospitals. The most significant action involves Bon Secours freshly signed agreement with the Richmond Ambu- lance Authority allowing RAA to more quickly transport patients to other locations.

The coalition also noted that Bon Secours “is actively collaborating with our coalition and city agencies to recruit a more diverse workforce” and is seeking to boost the proportion of purchases with Black- and minority-owned firms.

“These are all specific, tangible signs of progress,” the coalition stated, adding that Bon Secours also has promised to provide the public with quarterly progress reports on the progress of the Community Today, Community Tomorrow plan, though those have yet to begin being issued.

Still, the coalition plans to “trust, but verify” that Bons Scours is keeping its promises.

In addition, the coalition is urging Virginia’s delegation to Congress to reform 340B to require beneficiary hospital systems to report their investments into low-income communities.

For more information, please visit The Richmond Free Press’ reprint of The New York Times’ expose “Profits Over Patients” https:// richmondfreepress.com/news/2022/sep/29/ profits-over-patients/

City leaders, groups propose housing crisis solutions

Continued from A1 address this issue.

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner recently presented a $14 million check to the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority to increase affordable housing options for residents. Meanwhile, Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities sought to ensure that other, pre-existing solutions weren’t left untapped during the group’s Nehemiah Action Assembly at St. Paul’s Baptist Church Tuesday, March 28.

During the event, City Council members Ellen F. Robertson, 6th District, Ann-Frances Lambert, 3rd District, Andreas D. Addison, 1st District, and Stephanie A. Lynch, 5th District, supported the addition of a budget amendment tying the bond program to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

The nature of this amendment and the connection to the Fund, according to RISC member and Second Baptist Church Pastor Ralph Hodge, would also direct one-third of the bond’s revenue towards building housing for residents earning 30 percent or less of the AMI in Richmond.

“Bond programs work, they work in other cities,” RISC CoPresident Don Coleman said. “Guess what? They worked while they kept doing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.”

Councilmembers also promised to support a resolution filed by Councilmember Reva M. Trammell, 8th district, seeking to

Free COVID-19 vaccines

Continued from A1 information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com.

The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/ coronavirus/covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites.

Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?

The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free vaccines for COVID-19 and more at the following locations:

• Wednesday, April 12, 2 to 4 p.m., Henrico West Health Department, 8600 Dixon Powers Dr., Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months to 5 years old and bivalent boosters for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent boosters for age 5 years and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older, and boosters for age 18 and older, JYNNEOS shots and baby bivalent boosters. Walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.

• Thursday, April 6 & April 13, 2 to 4 p.m. - Cary Street, 400 release an allocated $300,000 in funds to local nonprofits for mobile home repair and replacement.

E. Cary St., Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months to 5 years old and bivalent boosters for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent boosters for age 5 years and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older, and boosters for age 18 and older, JYNNEOS shots and baby bivalent boosters. Walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged. People can schedule an appointment online at vase.vdh. virginia.gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or by calling (804) 205-3501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682). VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.

Those who are getting a booster shot should bring their vaccine card to confirm the date and type of vaccine received.

RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations by calling (804) 2053501 to schedule appointments.

New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for those age 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for those aged 18 and older.

As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID-19 vaccine.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are now offering bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11 in clinics in the near future. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.

New COVID-19 cases in Virginia rose by four percent during the last week, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health, while data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association showed hospitalizations statewide increased 13 percent since last week. Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico County are at low levels of community COVID-19. No localities in Virginia are ranked at high community COVID levels, and none were ranked at medium as of last week.

A total of 206 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Wednesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,301,694 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Tuesday, there have been 459,400 hospitalizations and 23,718 deaths reported statewide. Compiled by George Copeland Jr.

RISC members repeatedly have called for more decisive action from city leaders in response to a potential housing crisis for years, and have criticized how decisions made by Mayor Stoney’s administration have affected initiatives meant to address housing issues such as the AHTF.

“The city administration has dammed up the stream,” said Martin Wegbreit, a RISC member and city council appointee to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Supervisory Board, during the public comment section of Monday’s City Council meeting.

“Our citizen-supervised, proven local tool for the past eight years ... where developers have applied for two times more money than available, has been abandoned. City Council can un-damn the stream.”

Along with seeking the input of public and private interests, city officials are also looking to state leadership, including Gov. Glenn A. Youngkin, for assistance in tackling affordable housing.

“We need the state to not simply sit back and boast of a great surplus when so many of our citizens are struggling to live,” City Council President Michael J. Jones, 9th District, said during last week’s press conference.

“We need to ensure that they have a place to live and our governor, and the general assembly, the Richmond delegation, they’ve got to get serious about ensuring that our most vulnerable have a place to live.”

City Council’s resolution, and more information on Mayor Stoney’s proposed budget are expected to be discussed and approved during the next City Council meeting this month.

Affordable housing for whom?

every $1 raised to support development of affordable housing, an unusual scenario.

City Hall, with council support, has invested in affordable housing. In each of the past two fiscal years, 2021-22 and the current 2022-23, the Mayor Stoney, with council approval, has provided $10 million in support of affordable housing creation.

The total of $20 million for the two years came from the $156 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds the city, the mayor has said.

Martin Wegbreit, director of litigation for Central Virginia Legal Aid Society and a member of the AHTF board, said that the city could have done more by adding the $6.1 million in general fund money to the ARP dollars.

Without any funds, the AHTF has essentially become a dead letter.

In January, 6th District Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, who championed the AHTF’s creation in 2008 and lobbied for increased city funding for affordable housing, told the AHTF board that there was no need for a supervisory trust fund for affordable housing “when there is nothing to supervise” due to a lack of funds. It was not supposed to be that way. Back in 2020, Mayor Stoney announced and the council approved his plan to provide a dedicated stream of general fund dollars to the AHTF.

The goal of the mayor’s plan was to finally build the Trust Fund into a $10 million a year operation by 2025 using general fund dollars from unique source.

The funding was to come from a now revamped program that promoted rehabilitation of blighted property by offering a partial exemption from city real estate taxes for up to 10 years for apartments, homes and commercial properties.

Essentially, owners who invested in improving properties were exempted from any increase in real estate taxes for up to seven years before starting to pay higher tax bills.

According to a 2017 audit report, the program resulted in $11.1 million a year in tax abatements for 7,400 properties, or about 10 percent of the 72,000 properties that the city assessor’s office values each year for tax purposes.

As properties rolled off the program over time, the plan called for taking the difference between the old tax payments and the new tax payments and shifting that money to the AHTF.

The roll-off dollars from a past year would continue to flow into the AHTF, with the next year’s roll-off dollars adding to the amount. For example, if the roll-off amounted to $2 million in fiscal 2021-22, that money would continue to flow to the AHTF each year, with new roll-off funds from fiscal 2022-23 and each additional year thereafter adding to it.

But the council did not carry out that approach.

In the fiscal 2021-22 budget, the council designated $2.4 in roll-off money to a special reserve that it could transfer to the AHTF. However, the council never used its authority to make the transfer.

In the 2022-23 fiscal year budget now in effect, the council did not designate any money to go to the special reserve for AHTF. The amount was projected at $3.7 million, but without being part of a line item, it could never be available for the AHTF.

In addition, the council appears to have failed to enforce a requirement that Assessor Richie McKeithen submit an annual report stating the amount of dollars that the roll-off would produce. No report appears to have been produced or made public.

Autopsy finds cause of death for Irvo Otieno was asphyxia

Continued from A1

“positional and mechanical asphyxia with restraints,”’ a medical examiner’s office said Monday.

Arkuie Williams, the administrative deputy in the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, confirmed the cause of death findings to The Associated Press after attorneys for Otieno’s family first shared them in a statement. The manner of death was homicide, Mr. Williams wrote in an email.

Mr. Otieno, who struggled with mental illness, died March 6 after he was pinned to the floor while being admitted to Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County.

Video released earlier this month showed sheriff’s deputies and hospital employees restraining a handcuffed and shackled Mr. Otieno for about 20 minutes after he was forcibly led into a hospital room. For much of that time, Mr. Otieno was prone on the floor, pinned by a group so large it blocked the camera’s view of him at times.

Personnel who realized he appeared limp and lifeless eventually began resuscitation efforts, the video showed.

“The official cause and manner of death is not surprising to us as it corroborates what the world witnessed in the video,” family attorneys Ben Crump and Mark Krudys said in a statement. “In a chilling parallel to George Floyd’s killing, Irvo was held down and excessively restrained to death, when he should have been provided medical help and compassion. It is tragic that yet another life has been lost to this malicious and deadly restraint technique.”

Seven deputies and three hospital workers have been charged with second-degree murder in Mr. Otieno’s death. The local prosecutor who brought the charges has previously said in court that Mr. Otieno was smothered to death. No additional information from the autopsy beyond the cause and manner of death can be released by the medical examiner’s office, Mr. Williams said.

Mr. Otieno was laid to rest last week. Civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton and other speakers at his funeral said his death shows the need for mental health and policing reforms.

Mr. Otieno’s family and their attorneys have said Mr. Otieno was experiencing mental distress at the time of his initial encounter with law enforcement, days before he was taken to the state hospital. He was first taken into police custody in Henrico County on March 3, when he was transported to a local hospital for mental health treatment under an emergency custody order.

Police have said that while at the local hospital, he “became physically assaultive toward officers,” at which point they arrested him and took him to a local jail, something Mr. Otieno’s family says should never have happened given that he was in need of treatment. On the afternoon of March 6, he was transferred to the state hospital, which has a unit that provides care for people admitted from jails or by court order.

Some of the attorneys for the defendants charged in his death have said their clients were only trying to restrain Mr. Otieno. Mr. Otieno’s family and their attorneys have said he posed no danger to them and was simply trying to breathe during the encounter at the hospital shown on video.

All defendants have been granted bond and court records show pre-trial hearings in April or May.