“Validation Institute tests the accuracy of health care performance claims by health care vendors making it easier for health benefits professionals to cut through the clutter,” said RD Whitney, CEO of Validation Institute

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (PRWEB)
March 25, 2020

Validation Institute (VI), an independent, objective, 3rd party organization focused on changing health care, is pleased to announce eight programs have successfully completed validation during the first quarter of 2020.

“Validation Institute tests the accuracy of health care performance claims by health care vendors making it easier for health benefits professionals to cut through the clutter. Many times performance promises often seem too good to be true and it’s essential for high-quality, value-based, and cost-conscious vendors to stand out and rise to the top,” said RD Whitney, CEO of Validation Institute.

The following companies have successfully completed validation of one or more programs:

Blossom Bariatrics, Obesity Related Solution

Proactive MD, Primary Care    

Quizzify, Health Literacy

Rx Manage, Pharmacy Benefit Management    

USPM, Wellness Program

USPM, Wellness Sensitive Medical Events    

Virta Health, Disease Management    

Ault International Medical Mgmt, Care Management    

A complete write up of the programs validated can be found here https://validationinstitute.com/validated-programs/ Validation Institute has validated more than 40 programs representing several different areas of health care services and products.

About Validation Institute

Validation Institute is an independent, objective, 3rd party organization on a mission to improve the quality and cost of healthcare. Based in Portsmouth, N.H., the organization is made up of a network of health benefits purchasers, health benefits advisors, and healthcare solution providers focused on delivering better health value and stronger outcomes than conventional healthcare. http://www.validationinstitute.com

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HLAC is a nonprofit organization that, for more than 10 years, has been inspecting and accrediting laundries that process reusable HCTs for all healthcare facilities around the world.

“We are urging healthcare facilities to include among their analysis of their standard precautions a careful review of how their reusable healthcare textiles are processed, or laundered. Their fundamental question should be, ‘Is our healthcare laundry accredited?’” – Linda McCurdy, HLAC

PLAINFIELD, Ill. (PRWEB)
March 25, 2020

The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) is urging healthcare facilities using reusable healthcare textiles (HCTs) to review how they launder their linens as the coronavirus continues to spread across the USA.

“We know, amidst the COVID-19 crisis, that responsible hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities are scrutinizing their standard precautions for reducing the risk of transmission of pathogens,” says Linda McCurdy, board president of HLAC. “This includes their hand-washing techniques, their use of operating-room gowns, their environmental-cleaning procedures, and everything in between.

“We are urging them to include among their analysis a careful review of how their reusable healthcare textiles are processed, or laundered,” she said. “Their fundamental question should be, ‘Is our healthcare laundry accredited?’”

HLAC is a nonprofit organization that, for more than 10 years, has been inspecting and accrediting laundries that process reusable HCTs for all healthcare facilities around the world. According to McCurdy, HLAC-accredited laundries process HCTs based on the highest standards for patient safety and infection prevention. These HLAC Accreditation Standards have been developed based on federal regulations and guidelines as well as best industry practices. HLAC accreditation affirms that a laundry organization that processes HCTs has successfully passed an inspection of the following: its facility, policies and procedures, training programs, and its relationship with its healthcare customers.

“Policy-wise, the use of reusable HCTs among informed hospitals is clear-cut: Their use is safer, smarter and sustainable and they outperform disposables in every way,” McCurdy said. “Furthermore, many of these same hospitals are now requiring HLAC accreditation of their healthcare laundries to be considered an authorized vendor.”

Regarding COVID-19, McCurdy notes that laundries that adhere to HLAC Standards are engaged in best practices that include the following of universal precautions, an approach to infection control that treats all human blood and body fluids as if they contain bloodborne pathogens. “For example, per HLAC Standards, our accredited laundries handle all soiled linen as if it has been contaminated. This proper laundering and handling are important not only to the laundry staff but also in achieving and maintaining the hygienically clean quality of healthcare fabrics and textiles delivered to the point of care.

The principal benefit of HLAC accreditation to healthcare is the knowledge and confidence that their textile provider is meeting the highest standards in the industry for processing healthcare textiles, including strict adherence to federal government regulations and guidelines,” McCurdy says. “We think that especially now all hospitals and healthcare facilities using reusable HCTs should insist that their laundry is HLAC accredited.”

For more information about HLAC, visit http://www.hlacnet.org.

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Convoy of Hope truck

“This is a united act of compassion,” said Hal Donaldson, president of Convoy of Hope. “Churches, businesses, civic organizations, and local governments are coming together to help children and families get through this difficult period.”

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (PRWEB)
March 25, 2020

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Convoy of Hope, a global relief organization, is aiming to supply partners with 10 million meals to distribute across the United States. Already underway, the meals are being distributed through churches and civic organizations in communities hit hard by the coronavirus.

“This is a united act of compassion,” said Hal Donaldson, president of Convoy of Hope. “Churches, businesses, civic organizations, and local governments are coming together to help children and families get through this difficult period. Many families have lost employment and, with school closures, children have lost access to school lunch programs,” Donaldson said. “The need is great — we have received hundreds of requests for food from 35 states.”

This week, Convoy of Hope’s fleet of tractor-trailers has delivered more than 60 loads of goods around the country. Much of the food has been donated by major corporations; because of current demands on suppliers, some of the food is being purchased at below wholesale prices. Additional resources will be needed as the new virus continues to spread and needs increase exponentially.

“With the public’s help, we will deliver 10 million meals—and hopefully even more—to those who need them most,” said Donaldson. “Like our response to any major disaster or crisis, we intend to do as much as we can for as long as we can.”

Convoy of Hope is a faith-based, nonprofit organization with a driving passion to feed the world through children’s feeding initiatives, community outreaches, and disaster response. Visit convoyofhope.org to donate to their response.

About Convoy of Hope

Convoy of Hope is a faith-­based organization with a driving passion to feed the world. With a long history as an early responder in times of natural disasters, Convoy of Hope has been a Four Star Charity as recognized by Charity Navigator for 16 consecutive years. Convoy of Hope has served more than 130 million people since it was founded in 1994. For more information, please visit convoyofhope.org.

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This is our effort to offer support to our students and teachers who need guidance and resources — and they need it right now

LEESBURG, Va. (PRWEB)
March 25, 2020

To support continued learning for career and technical education (CTE) students during the COVID-19 crisis, SkillsUSA has joined with Lincoln Electric, Tooling U-SME, NC3 and camInstructor to form the CTE Coalition. The coalition has quickly mobilized to create the Keep CTE Moving website, a central portal where instructors and students can access hundreds of online classes, videos, and instructional materials in areas such as machining, welding, mechatronics, industry 4.0, and programming. All online materials — many available at no charge for the next 30 days — are produced by the coalition partners. The goal is to help CTE faculty and students continue their teaching and learning in a new virtual environment as quickly as possible.

“The coalition hopes that by offering these centralized online resources, we can quickly help thousands of students continue their studies in these unprecedented times when many schools are temporarily closed,” said SkillsUSA executive director Chelle Travis. “This is our effort to offer support to our students and teachers who need guidance and resources — and they need it right now.”

“A lot of CTE courses in areas like welding, CNC, automotive, manufacturing and construction are very hands-on,” said Jason Scales, business manager, education, Lincoln Electric. “Many instructors simply don’t have online training content. This non-competitive group of industry-leading companies each maintain a robust set of e-learning modules and other resources. Together, we agreed to share our resources in an unprecedented manner. With this opportunity, tens of thousands of CTE students can keep learning, even while they may not be allowed to gather in a physical classroom or lab.

Understanding the urgency for education to respond to the crisis, coalition partners are also providing recorded sessions with CTE instructors highlighting best practices in how to effectively utilize e-learning and online resources to educate students and quickly transition to a virtual learning environment. The manufacturing industry has already faced a skilled labor shortage, and the continuing COVID-19 crisis has presented an additional challenge for educational institutions as schools across the nation are closed and face-to-face learning is disrupted.

Given the changing nature of the COVID-19 situation, CTE instructors are urged to visit the Keep CTE Moving website at http://www.ctecoalition.com regularly for new learning resources and guidance that will evolve over time. The coalition will continue to monitor the situation and work together to respond to the needs of CTE educators and their students.

About SkillsUSA

SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry founded in 1965 to strengthen our nation’s skilled workforce. Driven by employer demand, SkillsUSA helps students develop necessary personal and workplace skills along with technical skills grounded in academics. This SkillsUSA Framework empowers every student to succeed at work and in life, while helping to close the skills gap in which millions of positions go unfilled. Through SkillsUSA’s championships program and curricula, employers have long ensured schools are teaching relevant technical skills, and with SkillsUSA’s new credentialing process, they can now assess how ready potential employees are for the job. SkillsUSA has more than 366,000 annual paid members nationwide in high schools, colleges and middle schools, covering over 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and is recognized by the U.S. departments of Education and Labor as integral to career and technical education. With the addition of our alumni, membership last year was 427,432. We have served nearly 14 million members since 1965. For more information: https://www.skillsusa.org/

For more information on the Keep CTE Moving site and CTE Coalition efforts, visit https://ctecoalition.com/

Visit CTE Coalition members’ websites, including Lincoln Electric, https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/; Tooling U-SME, https://www.toolingu.com/; NC3, https://www.nc3.net/; camInstructor, https://caminstructor.com/; and SkillsUSA, https://www.skillsusa.org/

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Because of higher rates of chronic disease and risk factors like smoking and vaping, LGBTQIA+ people and people living with HIV should strictly adhere to social distancing guidelines and take care of their health as best they can right now.”

BOSTON (PRWEB)
March 25, 2020

Today, The Fenway Institute of Fenway Health released a policy brief outlining the ways in which people living with HIV and LGBTQIA+ people are likely to be affected by COVID-19 and the factors that may put them at elevated risk for infection.

“Everyone is at risk of infection in this pandemic. But history shows that people who are marginalized and consequently experience disparities in health will suffer disproportionately greater harms than the general population,” said Sean Cahill, Director of Health Policy Research at The Fenway Institute. “Because of higher rates of chronic disease and risk factors like smoking and vaping, LGBTQIA+ people and people living with HIV should strictly adhere to social distancing guidelines and take care of their health as best they can right now.”

People with chronic health conditions, including HIV/AIDS, may be at elevated risk of serious complications from COVID-19. Of most concern are people living with HIV who are not treatment adherent and virally suppressed. People living with HIV should make every effort to adhere to their treatment regimen by taking their HIV medication daily and engaging in other activities to remain healthy such as eating well, exercising, and avoiding tobacco and other substances.

More specifically, people living with HIV should:

• 
  Ensure that they have at least a 30-day supply of medications on hand; in Massachusetts, under Governor Baker’s emergency declaration, people can get a 60- to 90-day day supply of medication;
• Make sure that they are up to date with flu and pneumonia vaccines;
• Establish a plan for clinical care if isolated or quarantined, for example using telemedicine via Skype or FaceTime; and
• Maintain a social network, but remotely—as social contact can help with mental health and also fights boredom.

Due to experiences of discrimination in health care settings as well as the impact of stigma and minority stress on health, LGBTQIA+ people are more likely to have some of the underlying health conditions that could increase their vulnerability if they are exposed to the novel coronavirus.

• Gay and bisexual men, as well as transgender women, have disproportionately higher rates of HIV
• Lesbian women are more likely to have poor or fair health, multiple chronic conditions, heavy driving and heavy smoking compared with straight, cisgender women
• Bisexual women are more likely to have multiple chronic conditions, severe psychological distress, and engage in heavy drinking and moderate smoking
• Lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals of all ages are more likely to be living with disabilities than the general population
• LGBTQ youth have higher rates of sedentarism, pre-diabetes, and diabetes
• LGBT people are more likely to smoke and vape, and to use substances.
• LGBT older adults experience higher rates of social isolation than straight and cisgender age peers

(Citations for the above can be found here.)

“A real concern for LGBTQIA+ people during this pandemic is that we know that they avoid seeking needed health care due to previous experiences of discrimination in health care settings or the fear of experiencing discrimination,” Cahill added. “We’ve also seen new policies enacted at the federal level and in some states that make it easier for health care providers to refuse treatment based on religious or moral beliefs. Discrimination in health care is never acceptable. During an unprecedented global health emergency, this is especially true.”

The policy brief, “Coronavirus, COVID-19, and Considerations for People Living with HIV and LGBTQIA+ People,” can be downloaded as a PDF here.

Since 1971, Fenway Health has been working to make life healthier for the people in our neighborhoods, the LGBTQIA+ community, people living with HIV/AIDS and the broader population. The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health is an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education and policy development focusing on national and international health issues.

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