To my coworkers at Imagine, those we serve and their families.
I wanted to share some important information about raises coming to many direct-care staff in our Supported Living Program, bonuses to all current employees and the opportunity to be vaccinated against COVID which may be available to all Imagine employees and clients. This will be the first of weekly notes from me from now through the vaccination program to prepare everyone to make informed decisions about the vaccine.
If you are an employee of Imagine, please read the three parts below. If you are served by Imagine, you are welcome to read all three parts, but please do read the next one. The vaccine program may be very urgent because we likely will have only weeks to identify who is to be vaccinated and set up a clinic.
We applied for Imagine to be in the CDC’s first round of vaccination against COVID-19, called the “Long-Term Care Facility” program and we have started getting emails about that program. We have very little time to get ready, with the upside being we might not have long to wait.
We will have more specifics coming a little at a time, which is why this email will be weekly for the next couple of months. What we expect is this:
In the next week or two, we will be given a date and time when CVS will come to Imagine’s office to administer the first of two necessary doses. That date is expected to be this very month but it could be in January. They will come back about three weeks later to give a second dose to those who received the first dose and a first dose to those who did not but still would like one. Then they will come back a third time to give the second dose to those clients and employees who received a first dose at the second clinic. If you would like to learn how the clinic will work, the guide is here. There may be limited opportunity to provide vaccines in remote locations so expect that showing up in person at Imagine will be necessary.
Before you can receive the vaccine through this program, we will need to obtain a consent form, likely a week or more in advance. So employees, clients and conservators, please get started on considering your considerations and communicate your interest via email to Patty. Questions can be addressed to your physician, Patty, Julie or myself.
Although we don’t know which of the available vaccines we will receive, the candidates are all better than 90% effective at preventing sickness with COVID-19 and have been judged as safe in the short term. Not everyone will be able to receive it but it will really help our staff and those we serve to have some of their friends be less afraid of this disease.
As I mentioned, this will be a weekly note covering what we know and what you need to know as well as specifics.
Here is a link to the CDC’s information on the vaccines.
Here is a link to testimony from someone who received one of the vaccines in its trial phase.
Here is a link to a webpage at The Washington Post with helpful information about the vaccines.
Now, let’s talk about bonuses and raises, if that is ok. On January 1st, the Minimum Wage in California will rise to $14/hour and all employees earning less that that will see their wages increased. Additionally, Lead Staff will be receiving a $1/hour raise. None of which makes us feel like the heroes who work at Imagine are being fairly compensated, but in a time of funding uncertainty, we hope these raises will help.
And we will be giving all current employees bonuses in their December 23rd paychecks. The bonuses will be as last year with full-time employees (as of 12/15) receiving $100, part-time employees with regular schedules receiving $50 and subs receiving $25.
A final note, for this week. Imagine has had three staff infected with the Novel Coronavirus which causes COVID-19. Two employees had symptoms and one did not.
What they all have in common is that they acted quickly and took precautions. We don’t yet know whether the third case spread, but those exposed to the first two will end their quarantines tomorrow and, as of now, it appears not to have spread to the clients. Two things make that possible- first, that they called out as soon as they had symptoms and, second, that they and their coworkers took the mask-wearing, hand-washing, social-distancing and disinfecting surfaces seriously.
I won’t name the three of you, but you’re heroes to me and I thank you.
As ever, if you have any questions, feedback or concerns, please know you are welcome to contact me.
Warm regards,
Doug