Great Plates Delivered For Older Adults & Restaurateurs, By June Smith

COMMUNITY NEWS Great Plates Delivered For Older Adults & Restaurateurs

By June Smith

On April 24, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the launch of a first-inthe-nation meal delivery service called “Great Plates Delivered” for California’s older adults. Santa Cruz County began the program on Memorial Day weekend and has since delivered thousands of meals.

Great Plates Delivered serves two purposes: To help seniors and adults at high risk from COVID-19 to stay at home by receiving three nutritious meals a day, and to provide essential economic stimulus to local businesses struggling to survive.

Vendors must meet certain standards. Nutritional requirements for lunch and dinner must offer a piece of fresh fruit or vegetable in each dish, be low in sodium, and contain no sugary drinks.

A Santa Cruz County committee first chose four local restaurants and one caterer — The Back Nine, Johnny’s Harborside, Roaring Camp, Pearl of the Ocean, and Swing Time Catering — to prepare the meals. Other providers have been added, including Collectivo Felix and Teen Kitchen Project.

After learning about the program, I applied and was teamed up to receive meals from Team Kitchen Project. TKP’s Executive Director Angela Farley is grateful to be able to serve local seniors through the Great Plates Program, offering hearthealthy and diabetes-friendly medically tailored meals to local seniors who qualify. My first delivery included soup, a roasted vegetable salad with Feta cheese, balsamic vinaigrette, plus three more entrees.

The meals come with a fact sheet outlining the ingredients included and nutritional data.

Farley says, “TKP brings young people into the kitchen to learn to cook delicious and nourishing food. The meals are delivered free of charge to individuals and families who are in crisis due to a lifethreatening illness or those now observing the Stay at Home orders. We have an interview process that includes committing to adhere to Health Officer recommendations in and out of the kitchen. We have a stable group of youth with our team of adult chefs who work four days a week preparing meals. Work stations are at least six feet apart with no more than eight total people in our large kitchen at a time.”

Their organic suppliers are Smart Chicken, Mary’s Chicken, and major funder Lakeside Organic Garden, who because of their monetary and in-kind donations, Teen Kitchen Project has been able to scale up dramatically to serve those suffering from COVID-19.

A social worker from Dominican

Photo Credit: June Smith My first meal (Cabbage and Leek Gratin). Home Health applied to Great Plates for local author and film critic Lisa Jensen when she learning that cooking and cleaning was often difficult for her due to multiple sclerosis.

“Great Plates” page 9

Based on 50 reports of serious deficiencies, the Inspector General found 12 cases where Medicare beneficiaries were seriously harmed. One individual with Alzheimer’s developed gangrene and had the lower leg amputated after the hospice did not treat pressure ulcers on the heels. Another hospice allowed maggots to develop around a man’s feeding tube while under care at home.

In other instances, the hospice failed to recognize signs of sexual assault of a woman at an assisted living facility, did not intervene when a man caring for his father at home would not help him up and would not clean his dirty briefs, and did nothing when a man living in an apartment had his medications for pain and anxiety stolen by a neighbor who came in naked and unannounced – even though hospice employees were aware of that situation.

Of these 12 cases, only one hospice reported the harm to Medicare.

The reports did not name hospice program operators where Medicare beneficiaries were seriously harmed.

In 2017, Medicare spent $17.8 billion for hospice care for nearly 1.5 million beneficiaries, up from $9.2 billion for fewer than 1 million beneficiaries in 2006 but had only one remedy to penalize a poor performing hospice: Removal from the Medicare program.

The Office of Inspector General issued a series of recommendations to improve quality in hospice care, many of which are addressed in this bill.

The law, funded with $10 million, will require surveys of hospice programs every two years starting Oct. 1, and the results are to be published, in a searchable manner, on the Medicare.gov website starting Oct. 1, 2022.

Trained multidisciplinary teams are to conduct the surveys.

Hospice programs failing to meet the requirements will be surveyed every six months.

If program deficiencies jeopardize the health and safety of the participants, the HHS Secretary can levy a penalty of up to $10,000 a day, suspend federal payments, appointment temporary overseers, or terminate the program’s certification. n •••

To read the bill language, go to https://www. govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr5821/text.

To read the Inspector General’s reports, see https://oig.hhs.gov/newsroom/media-materials/ media-materials-2019-hospice/

“Great Plates” from page 8

Jensen has been getting three deliveries a week with seven tasty dinners from Colectivo Felix. She says, “I still like to cook, but I’m always so curious to see what the next one(s) will be!”

Chef Diego Felix says the program has been a huge help and source of income for his business. His summer season was almost fully booked with weddings, winery dinners, and private events, which have all been canceled.

This program of the Human Service Department of the County has local support from the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County as well as partnerships with other local organizations.

Susan True, Chief Photo Credit: June Smith Executive Officer of The Com- Jesus B. is ready for a signature after delivering my meal. munity Foundation, says, “Donors’ gifts to The Federal Emergency Management our COVID-19 Response Fund meant we Agency’s Public Assistance program originally could offer the local matching funds that authorized the service through 2020, but extenhelped millions in federal dollars come sions were made due to the ongoing severity back to feed and protect our community. of the COVID-19 virus. The program was Great Plates Delivered lets older adults at extended until Feb. 6, 2021, with the plan to higher risk remain safe at home and also have more extensions if necessary. gives timely business to local meal pro- Great Plates Delivered: covid19.ca.gov/ viders struggling to stay afloat.” n restaurants-deliver-home-meals-for-seniors/ ••• To apply: 831-454-4406 Kirby School is an independent college preparatory day school in Santa Cruz for grades 6-12.

Join us at an upcoming virtual Admissions event to learn more about our exceptional college prep program and online-only option for high school.

Events are hosted on Zoom. To sign up, visit kirby.org/register

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425 Encinal Street | Santa Cruz, CA 95060

“COVID Update” from page 4

When’s My Turn?

The vaccine rollout, which started in midDecember and divided responsibility among hospitals, large medical groups, pharmacies, safety net clinics, and independent providers, left local residents in the dark.

They asked their neighbors on the social network NextDoor for insights, puzzled why the distribution was so slow.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses, so some was held back for that second shot.

Everyone knew healthcare workers should be first in line, and in Santa Cruz County that’s 14,700 people in “phase 1A.”

When the Trump administration, eight days before leaving office, called for states to allow people age 65 and older and those with health conditions to be eligible, the question on NextDoor became “When is my turn?”

California’s answer, using technology from Salesforce and Skedulo, is https:// myturn.ca.gov.

Piloted in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, MyTurn allows people to sign up for a notification of eligibility and schedule a shot when it’s their turn.

The official title for vaccine czar Yolanda Jackson is secretary of the Government Operations Agency. She procured personal protective equipment and led the team to transition state employees to work from home. She has health plan leadership experience and is known for her “get it done” style.

Supply Shortage

Locally, the biggest obstacle to providing vaccine to more people is the unpredictable supply.

Mimi Hall, director of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency, said one week 200 doses came in, the next week 2,000.

So she’s been reluctant to schedule vaccinations for people over 65 and over 75, she said a press conference on Jan. 22.

“We don’t have enough supply for everyone who wants one,” she said.

To prioritize people in Watsonville, which has 53 percent of the COVID cases, the county started a free drive-through vaccine clinic at the fairgrounds in Watsonville. Hours are Mondays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It’s by appointment. Register at mhealthcheckin.com/covidvaccine to find out if appointments are available.

Once the fairgrounds site has a steady supply, Hall expects to be able to vaccinate 1,000 people a day.

At that rate, it would take some time to reach the 47,000 county residents who are 65 and older.

Hall expects the supply to improve once vaccines by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca are available.

Johnson & Johnson reported on Jan. 29 that its one-shot vaccine, which doesn’t require cold storage, was 66 percent effective at preventing disease, with its chief scientific officer saying it’s 85 percent effective against severe disease and complete protection against hospitalization and death.

The UK has approved the one-shot AstraZeneca vaccine, and a clinical trial in the U.S. with nearly 30,000 people is ongoing. Dr. Gail Newel, the Santa Cruz County health officer, expects FDA approval in April or May.

California held up a batch of Moderna vaccine for a few days over questions about allergic reactions, then determined it was safe.

People who want a vaccine won’t be able to pick a brand because it depends on what’s available, according to Dr. David Ghilarducci, the Santa Cruz County deputy health officer.

Medical Groups

Large medical groups such as Dignity Health Dominican Hospital, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente have been getting their own vaccine supplies but county officials don’t know how many vaccinations have been given, getting only a total for the corporation as a whole, not a county figure, and not knowing how many vacations have been given at nursing homes via pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens.

“It’s kind of a blind spot,” Ghilarducci

said.

Dominican Hospital shed light on the situation, announcing Jan 22, that it has given 5,000 COVID-19 vaccinations to Phase 1A health care workers in Santa Cruz County.

That’s going beyond its own staff.

Dominican focused initially on frontline clinical staff, then offered vaccine to all hospital employees and affiliated physicians. Nearly 80 percent—more than 2,000 hospital staff members —who wanted the COVID-19 vaccine have received it, with many already having been administered their second and final dose, according to Dominican.

Then Dominican opened up its vaccination clinics to frontline health care workers across the community — including paramedics/EMTs, hospice workers, behavioral health and safety net clinic staff, mortuary services employees, and staff in local physician offices. All told, the hospital reports nearly 3,000 vaccinations for essential workers.

“Our health care team has faced months of unimaginable adversity and exhaustion,” said Dr. Nanette Mickiewicz, president of Dominican Hospital. “Yet, when asked to help get the COVID-19 vaccine to as many of their clinical colleagues in the community as possible, they didn’t think twice. They dug deep and responded with an enthusiasm I didn’t think was possible.”

Newel applauded Dominican’s efforts, saying, “They are helping to pave our path out of this historic emergency.”

The big medical groups are creating drive-through clinics to provide vaccine to their patients.

Capitola residents Molly and Micky Ording applauded Dignity Health’s drivethough clinic at Harbor High School in Santa Cruz, calling the experience joy-filled, efficient and stress-free.

Dr Steve Magee , president of Dignity Health Medical Group - Dominican, reported providing 200 vaccines per day at Harbor High School to a total of 800 patients who meet the state and federal eligibility criteria and have a Dignity Dominican primary care doctor.

His goal is to revamp up to 400-800 patient vaccinations per day as supply allows.

The drive-through site is by appointment only, with hours from 2 to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Patients can schedule by calling 831-288-6526 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. or send a portal message to their doctor.

More hours will be added in February if vaccine supplies are adequate.

On Jan. 14, Sutter Health, parent of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and a large provider in the county, set up a drive-through vaccine clinic in the former drive-in-turned flea market on Soquel Drive, a property Sutter Health owns.

The drive-through operation is open only to Sutter patients by appointment, and Kathy Cheer of Santa Cruz raved, calling it effortless.

Newel said Kaiser has also opened up its “phase 1A” vaccinations of health care workers and residential care workers to serve people outside of its insurance plan.

On Jan. 20, county officials announced a partnership with Safeway to help distribute vaccine to health care workers, providing 1,200 doses for four stores to be used for those eligible. Safeway agreed to provide scheduling support to accommodate up to 500 people a day at a location to be announced.

Partnerships with pharmacies and dental offices are being explored.

One misstep occurred when Dr. Newel, the Santa Cruz County health officer, ordered a suspension of elective surgeries at hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers on Jan. 5 as ICU capacity was shrinking.

Three days later, she amended her order to be less restrict and match the state health officer’s order, and on Jan. 17, she rescinded the order altogether, allowing elective surgeries and procedures to resume.

Even though the stay-at-home order is lifted, a travel advisory remains in effect, with the state encouraging people to skip visits more than 120 miles from home to slow the spread of the virus.

People arriving in California should selfquarantine for 10 days, based on a change in federal guidance from 14 days.

What Can Open

Santa Cruz County is in the Purple Tier, as it was back in early December.

Outdoor restaurant dining and winery food service outside is allowed, although few people ate outside when mega-storm swept through.

Hair salons, barbershops and nail salons can open, so can massage services.

Retail and shopping centers are allowed at 25 percent capacity; food courts are closed.

Of courses, masks and social distancing are still required to prevent spreading the virus.

To see what business activity is allowed, visit https://www.cdph.ca.gov/ Programs/CID/DCDC/CDPH%20Document% 20Library/COVID-19/Dimmer-FrameworkSeptember_2020.pdf

Places of worship can have services outside. A federal appeals court ruled in January against South Bay United Pentecostal Church in San Diego County, which argued the ban on indoor worship was discriminatory.

The state presented evidence that large groups gathered indoors for an extended period, singing and chanting, pose risks that justify a ban to protect the public from COVID.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Judge Kim Wardlow said, “It is difficult to see how allowing more people to congregate indoors will do anything other than lead to more cases, more deaths and more strains on California’s already overburdened health-care system.”

To move into the less restrictive Red Tier, where restaurants and fitness centers could open indoors with capacity limits, the adjusted case rate would have to drop below 7 percent, and the positivity rate would have to be below 8 percent.

The current positivity rate is 7.8 percent but the current adjusted case rate is 28 percent. n

••• County COVID Deaths 148

As of Jan. 31 Age 90 and up: 49 • 80 to 89: 49 • 70 to 79: 27 60 to 69: 18 • 50 to 59: 1 • 40 to 49: 2 30 to 39: 2 Race/Ethnicity

White: 88 • Latinx: 44 • Asian: 12 Black: 1

Amer. Indian/Alaskan Native: 1 Unknown: 2 Underlying Conditions Yes: 114 • No: 34 Gender Male: 65 • Female: 83

Skilled Nursing/Residential Care Santa Cruz Post Acute: 20 Watsonville Post Acute: 17 Pacific Coast Manor: 14 Hearts & Hands Post Acute: 7

Sunshine Villa: 5 • Maple House 1: 4 Montecito Manor: 3 Valley Convalescent: 3 Aegis: 3 • Watsonville Nursing Center: 3

De Un Amor: 2 • Dominican Oaks: 2

Hanover House: 2 • Driftwood: 1

Maple House II: 1 • Paradise Villa: 1 Rachelle’s Home 1: 1

Rachelle’s Home II: 1 • Westwind: 1 Total: 91 Not at a facility: 57 COVID Cases by Town Aptos: 651 • Ben Lomond: 88

Boulder Creek: 124 • Capitola: 366 Felton: 122 • Freedom: 860

Santa Cruz: 3,147 • Scotts Valley: 330

Soquel: 295 • Watsonville: 7,213 Unincorporated: 188 Under investigation: 222 Total: 13,606

Source: Santa Cruz County Public Health •••

Editor’s Note: Would you like to share your family’s COVID-19 story? Email Jondi Gumz at jondi@timespublishinggroup.com or call 831-688-7549 x17.

Cover Photo: Sutter Health’s drivethrough vaccine clinic at the former flea market on Soquel Drive aims to get doses to health-care workers. • Photo Credit: Jondi Gumz

Shop Small Support Scotts Valley Businesses

#ScottsValleyLove – A Community Family-Oriented Event

After the highly successful and well-received “The Haunt” before Halloween and “Holiday Open House/Family Passport Day” on Shop Small Saturday in November, the Scotts Valley Economic Recovery Task Force has announced another holidaythemed event.

The Valentine-themed event will take place on February 13th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is called #ScottsValleyLove.

Tam Communications’ Creative Director and Executive Producer and member of the Task Force said, “The business community was so grateful of the efforts intended to increase traffic to their stores and all those that participated from the public had so much fun at both events and were appreciative to learn about new shops they hadn’t known of before. Events like these are just so important during these times to encourage all of us to remember to shop local.”

The Task Force is a collaboration between the City of Scotts Valley and the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The event, which is family-oriented, COVID-Safe, allows attendees to pick up a goodie bag at any one of the city’s five shopping centers along with a map of participating Scotts Valley businesses.

At each business, community members will get candy or trinkets dropped into their bags. Many of the businesses will also provide special offers and some may hold individual instore raffles.

Pictures will also be taken for posting on social media and made available to all those who participate. ••• List of Participating Businesses:

Flower Outlet Zinnia’s Ace Hardware Brunos Bar & Grill Cali Style Choi’s Taekwondo Cinelux Jamba Juice Mountain Music School Succulent Diva Designs Tony & Alba’s Pizza & Pasta Treasures Ferrari Florist Kissed By An Angel Winery Glimmer & Glow Tanning Boutique Little People’s Scotts Valley Jewelers Togo’s Scotts Valley Kalani Day Spa Mathnasium Ashby’s Confections Jia Tella’s Studio Salon & Supply Tutu Ballet School Empowering Hands 831 Kitchen and Bath

Earthwise Pet Rumble Fish Four Points Sheraton DVD to Go The Find Petticoat Junction Ivy’s Porch

Professional Alterations by Maria •••

Outreach to businesses is currently underway. Any business interested in participating should contact Angela Marshall at amarshall@scottsvalleychamber.com. Deadline to sign-up is February 8th. Those who sign up will benefit from pre-event promotion on the Chamber’s Facebook Page.