Alisa Nelson, Author at Missourinet

Missouri hires company to boost hospital staffing levels during COVID-19 surge

December 2, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Missouri has hired a national company to increase the state’s hospital workforce through February. The move comes as many Missouri hospitals continue to juggle staffing shortages and caring for an increasing number of COVID-19 patients.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson briefs Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on June 16, 2020 (photo courtesy of Governor Parson’s Flickr page)

During a Capitol press conference Wednesday in Jefferson City, Gov. Mike Parson says the plan will help Missouri to deal with an expected surge in COVID-19 cases over the winter.

“We are currently doing all we can at the state level to help with staffing challenges,” he says. “The Missouri National Guard and the Missouri Disaster Medical Assistance Team are already being utilized and we continue to exhaust all other options.”

Parson says the company, Texas-based Vizient, will work to get hundreds of personnel into Missouri hospitals.

“The plan will allow for up to 760 additional staff across the state, including registered nurses, respiratory therapists, certified nurse assistants,” says Parson.
“When fully deployed, this will add nearly 600 total beds to our statewide bed capacity, including some critical care beds.”

Missouri Hospital Association President and CEO Herb Kuhn says the news come not have come at a better time.

“Throughout the past weeks, the infection rates and hospitalizations for COVID-19 have continued to climb. This is happening in all parts of the state. It’s a challenge in communities both rural and urban and it is affecting the ability of all hospitals from rural hospitals to major urban medical centers,” says Kuhn. “In the days and weeks ahead as these workers arrive, they will provide essential support to our hospitals and health care workers – those who have been on the front lines of care since March. These extra skilled caregivers are essential to address the staff shortages that are presenting a critical threat to hospital capacity to Missouri.”

The governor did not have information about the cost of the effort. Parson says the state will fund the project through the end of this year using CARES Act funding, and hospitals will pay for the rest.

“Funding is always issue when we talk about CARES Act funding,” says Parson. “But I think you also have got to remember whatever the cost is, this is about saving people’s lives.”

Today, Missouri reports more than 305,000 have been infected with COVID-19 since March and 4,043 have died from the virus. Over 2,600 are in a Missouri hospital being treated for the illness.

On a side note, Parson says the state has delivered more than 260,000 cases of personal protective gear to healthcare providers, including 17 million gowns, 14.2 million gloves, 7.2 million surgical masks, 4.9 million N95 masks and 1.4 million face shields. According to Parson, Missouri has also allocated over $5 million to expand broadband for telehealth across the state.

Proposed COVID-19 liability protections for Missouri businesses will wait until next year

December 2, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Gov. Mike Parson has asked the Legislature to wait until next session to take up a bill that aims to protect Missouri businesses and other organizations from COVID-19 liability lawsuits. Less than one month ago, Parson expanded his special session call to urge lawmakers to pass virus-related protections for businesses. Parson’s office did not give a reason for putting off work on the proposal.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been pushing for passage of the measure.

Gov. Mike Parson

News of the request hit as a Missouri Senate committee held a hearing Tuesday about a measure to address such legal claims. During the hearing, Mark Moreland with the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys says the legislation is not necessary because there have been no such lawsuits filed yet in Missouri.

“And why? Because this is a communicable disease,” he says. “As good a lawyer as I think I may be, I don’t think I can prove that you got your COVID-19 at the restaurant and you did so because the restaurant owner somehow screwed up. This bill isn’t an attempt to deal with an issue in Missouri. It’s an attempt to put the camel – not the camel’s nose – but the camel underneath the tent when it comes to products liability and premises liability.”

Sen. Bill White, R-Joplin, fired back.

“We’re talking a five-year statute of limitations. The fact that we have an ongoing pandemic and we’ve had zero cases in the first nine months does not mean you will not have multitudes as we get a vaccine, things chill out a bit, people have longer-term exposure,” says White.

Dana Frese testified on behalf of the Missouri Hospital Association in support of the plan.

“Our healthcare providers have been at war with this virus during the pandemic and they deserve our support. They are exhausted,” he says. “Also, when COVID-19 patients stress the capacity of smaller, rural hospitals, it makes it harder for those healthcare providers to care for patients with a heart attack, a stroke, an automobile accident or other serious medical conditions. Missouri hospitals and physicians can ill afford during the pandemic to spend their precious time and limited resources defending claims alleging that someone contracted COVID-19 in a healthcare setting, despite the heroic efforts of our healthcare providers since March. Our Missouri healthcare providers must remain focused on providing healthcare to our citizens during this pandemic and not be subjected to litigation over COVID-19 exposure. The virus is pervasive in Missouri and is not under control.”

Despite the change of plans, the panel spent about two hours discussing the legislation.

Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, is the sponsor of the proposal, Senate Bill 1.

Missouri to launch ‘Project Echo’ to help reduce COVID-19 strain on hospitals

December 1, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

On December 8, the state will launch a program that aims to better equip Missouri’s rural hospitals to care for COVID-19 patients and avoid further strain on the largest hospitals. Some of the larger ones have had to stop accepting ambulances and patient transfers from rural areas for periods of time due to capacity problems.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Director Dr. Randall Williams briefs Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on August 5, 2020 (photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

State Health and Senior Services Department Director Randall Williams tells Missourinet the program, called Project ECHO, stands for Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes. ECHO will include specialists giving guidance to workers at smaller hospitals.

The University of Missouri is one of America’s pioneers of the program. Show-Me ECHO is a telehealth network that connects community providers with experts, building virtual learning and mentoring collaborative efforts to increase capacity for care.

Williams says the state’s program will allow human resource officers to offer ways to help maximize staffing, particularly among nurses.

“Where we find our rate-limiting staff is not beds. It’s not doctors. It tends to be nursing and ancillary personnel. Like 10% of those are affected by COVID. They can’t work because they either have COVID or they are quarantined,” says Dr. Williams.

He says the National Guard has helped hospitals during the pandemic, but he is not aware of soldiers helping with hospital staffing problems. The state is reviewing where it can get other nurses from, including other states and using LPNs and others to free up nurses.

Williams says the state is also converting ventilators to high-flow oxygen and making those available to smaller hospitals.

“There will also be a respiratory therapy component to that so that the respiratory therapists can know how to give high-flow oxygen, which is also something they don’t always do but is very much needed with COVID-19 patients,” says Williams.

Another element will involve long-term care facilities.

“One of the rate-limiting steps now is hospitals cannot discharge people who have recovered back to nursing homes. So, the ECHO covers both triage, I.E. referrals to tertiary care facilities. Reverse triage, which is getting people who have recovered back to smaller hospitals and getting patients out of all hospitals back into long-term care facilities. Listening to our clinicians, our intensivists and our hospitalists in both our large and small hospitals, they think all of those elements of patient care need to be addressed and that’s what the Echo will do.”

Will these efforts go far enough to prevent most transfers?

“That’s really a clinical decision that clinicians have to make. I probably wouldn’t speculate on that. I think what we’re very interested in is the whole chain of patient care,” he says.

According to Williams, Missouri also continues to review whether to temporarily waive regulations required of hospitals.

The program will launch on the heels of Missouri reporting today more than 2,900 new COVID-19 cases. Since the coronavirus came on the scene in March, the state has reported about 302,000 testing positive for the virus – more than 116,000 of those cases came in November alone. Missouri has had 4,006 people die as a result of COVID-19 and nearly 2,600 are in a hospital battling the virus.

What goes into finding the Missouri Governor’s Mansion Christmas tree? More than you might think

November 30, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The search for the perfect Christmas tree to showcase on the Governor’s Mansion lawn in Jefferson City is a task that begins in the summer. Holly Dentner with the Missouri Department of Conservation says the agency has been sourcing the mansion trees for about 30 years. She informs the public about the search process around August.

Missouri Governor’s Mansion (Photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation)

About one dozen trees were considered for the First Family’s lawn this year. The owners send pictures of their tree to the department and then several people narrow down the process.

“So it’s completely voluntary. We are counting on people to offer their trees,” says Dentner. “And really, most people are just excited. Instead of just getting chopped down and mulched up, their tree is going to be on the mansion lawn and thousands of people are going to see it,” she says.

There are certain requirements the tree must meet to be in the running. It must be a native species to Missouri – a Norway spruce, white pine or eastern red cedar.

“We tend to lean toward Norway spruces because those are the big full, bushy evergreens that are most typically a Christmas tree style – the conical shape,” she says. “And then we’re looking for one that is at least 35-40 feet tall because it’s got to take up some space on the mansion lawn and look like it’s been there forever and be fully branched. One of the things that we frequently encounter is people have a great tree, but it’s been growing right up against their house. So, if we cut it down, it will have a gap in one side.”

Photo courtesy of Missouri Department of Conservation

The tree must also be one that can be accessed well with a flatbed truck and without utility lines nearby.

A 40-foot Christmas tree will be placed on the Governor’s mansion lawn between 7:00-8:00 a.m. Monday and will remain there for the holiday season. A crane will unload and lift the Norway spruce from the truck bed and carefully heave it onto the First Family’s turf.

This year’s tree hails from southeast Missouri. Doris Baker of Desloge donated it.

Dentner says submissions come from all over the state from Missourians who want to have their tree seen by thousands at the mansion over the holiday time.

“I had one semi-decent one a couple years ago from Cape Girardeau but that’s probably as far south as I’ve seen them,” says Dentner. “I haven’t seen any from southwest Missouri now that I think either – we haven’t had a big number. Most of them are north of the Missouri River, strangely enough.”

Two other smaller Christmas trees are inside the mansion this year, including a 17-foot tree for the staircase.

The annual lighting of the mansion lawn tree will be this Friday at 6:00 p.m. followed by the traditional Candlelight Tours.

The tours will run until 8 p.m. on Friday and again Monday, December 7 through Wednesday, December 9 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Due to COVID-19, this year’s tours will be by reservation only. Additional details will be provided this week.

State Farm to close St. Louis County location and put 111 workers out of jobs

November 27, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

State Farm to close St. Louis County location and put 111 workers out of jobs

State Farm Insurance has informed the state of Missouri that it plans to lay off 111 workers by January 31, 2021 at its St. Louis County location. In a letter to the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development, it says the company is closing its Earth City location.

Jobs effected include customer service representatives, consumer loan credit analysts and bank operations representatives. The company says the workers are not part of a union.

State Farm says the closing is part of the company’s move to exit all banking operations.

Missouri native gives update from space

November 26, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

A crew of astronauts, including southern Missouri native Mike Hopkins, is getting settled in aboard the International Space Station (ISS). They lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on November 15 and are spending the next six months in space.

Missouri astronaut Mike Hopkins and crew

The crew is part of the first manned operational space flight of a U.S. commercial shuttle. The space mission marks the second one for Hopkins.

During an update with NASA, Hopkins, the commander, talks about the rocket’s name – “Resilience.”

“It’s been a tough year and the fact that SpaceX and NASA were able to get our spacecraft ready to go – the rocket ready to go – throughout this year, throughout the pandemic and all of that, we were inspired by everybody’s efforts to do that. So that’s why we named it Resilience and we hope that it puts a smile to peoples’ face – it brings hope to them,” says Hopkins.

He says a longstanding astronaut tradition is to take along a sidekick to space and show viewers at home. Their choice seems appropriate given their location.

“We had just started watching the (Star Wars) series and it’s hard not to like baby Yoda,” says Hopkins. “I think the ride into space was probably a little rougher than baby Yoda was used to.”

The space station spans the area of an American football field and weighs more than 861,000 lbs. The complex has more livable room than a five-bedroom home, with two bathrooms, a gym and a 360-degree bay window.

Hopkins grew up in southern Missouri’s Richland near Fort Leonard Wood. He also has family in the Lake of the Ozarks area in central Missouri.

CDC in Missouri Monday to begin landmark COVID-19 study within schools

November 25, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will have boots on the ground in Missouri Monday to begin a first-of-its-kind COVID-19 study within some K-12 schools. Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams says the state pitched the study idea to the CDC.

CDC in Missouri Monday to begin landmark COVID-19 study within schools

He tells Missourinet two groups of students will be tested for COVID-19 over a 30-day period.

“Students who are identified as close contacts at school that are wearing masks. So, if the patient who was identified and the student was identified at school, then in one arm of the study, they can still come to school. Now, they will quarantine when they are at home when they leave school,” says Williams.

The other group being tested are students considered a close contact who are required to quarantine for 14 days, regardless of whether they were wearing a mask.

Teachers will be included in the case and contact investigation.

“The prevailing evidence to date after about eight months is, is that there is a very low risk of catching COVID-19 at school just from proximity if you are wearing a mask,” says Dr. Williams.

Missouri does not have a statewide mask requirement. Earlier this month, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education loosened the guidelines for making students and staff quarantine after exposure to someone with COVID-19, if they were properly wearing masks at school.

Williams did not have information about the number of schools and which schools are involved.

“You need to check a certain number to reach what is called the power to make a conclusion. So, that all is being done by our epidemiologists at the CDC, Washington University, and St. Louis University. They will determine how many people you need to study to make that observation,” Dr. Williams says.

He says the results of the study will be published for the nation’s school systems to see.

Virtual town hall tonight about COVID-19 within Missouri prisons

November 24, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri State Conference of the NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union and several other organizations are hosting a virtual town hall this evening at 7 p.m. to talk about COVID-19 outbreaks within Missouri’s prisons. Families of those impacted by COVID inside Missouri prisons will have the opportunity to speak directly to some state leaders.

Virtual town hall tonight about COVID-19 within Missouri prisons

Panelists include Dr. Randall Williams, Missouri Department of Health and Human Services, Tim Cutt, Missouri Corrections Officer Association, Dr. Cheryl Avant, Health Chair NAACP, Amy Breihan, Co-Director MacArthur Justice Center, Ingrid Burnett, MO Democrat Caucus, Wiley Price, the Black Caucus, and others.

Missouri Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann tells Missourinet 758 prisoners and 254 employees currently have COVID-19. Twenty-seven inmates and four workers have died from the virus.

To register for the town hall, click here. You can also watch it live on the Jefferson City NAACP Facebook page.

Missouri officials talk about COVID-19 vaccine rollout

November 24, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Pfizer’s manufacturing plant in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield is one of three company locations in America set to make a COVID-19 vaccine. The drug maker has asked the Food and Drug Administration to approve emergency use of its immunization it says has been shown to be 95% effective.

Missouri officials talk about COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed – a national effort to fast track the vaccine rollout – says the plan is to ship vaccines to U.S. immunization sites 24 hours after federal approval. He tells CNN he expects that to happen around December 11 or 12. Slaoui says the efforts could get the U.S. back to normal life around May.

U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, tells Missourinet affiliate KWIX in Moberly that the vaccine effort is moving quickly.

“Pfizer has applied for their use permit. We expect Moderna to do that within a couple of weeks. Between the two of them, they’ll have enough vaccine in December for the first 20 million Americans and they’re likely healthcare workers, people in nursing homes and people who would be the most at risk to get that vaccine. We expect a couple of other companies to quickly follow near the first of the year,” says Blunt. “After you get through that first group of healthcare workers and people most negatively affected, the next group – about 35% of the entire population – would be the essential workers of the country – people who are working at food processing facilities and grocery stores, daycare centers, school bus drivers, school teachers.”

According to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Dr. Randall Williams, phase 1 of the state’s plan could reach 250,000 of the most vulnerable citizens.

The department has identified five hospital sites to administer the vaccine but has not yet announced the names. Williams says patients from long-term care centers and assisted living centers, for instance, will have to be transported to an immunization site.

Both Pfizer’s and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines require two doses at varying intervals.

The vaccine must be kept chilled at -94F and can only be removed from that temperature four times. It will be sent in batches every seven days.

U.S. Postal Service to roll out stamp celebrating Missouri’s upcoming birthday

November 23, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

On August 10, 2021, Missouri turns the ripe age of 200 years old. The U.S. Postal Service plans to release several new stamps in 2021, including one to showcase Missouri’s bicentennial birthday.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service

The stamp art is an existing photograph by prominent landscape photographer Charles Gurche. It features the Bollinger Mill State Historic Site in southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau County. The artwork also captures the four-story mill sitting along the Whitewater River with the Burfordville Covered Bridge nearby -one of just four covered bridges remaining in Missouri.

The mill turned wheat and corn into flour and meal dating back to the Civil War era. It was burned by the Union army during the war to prevent the supply of flour and meal to the Confederate army. After the war ended, the site was rebuilt in 1867 into the current structure.

The mill and covered bridge are both in the National Register of Historic Places.

The state plans to hold other events to honor the bicentennial of Missouri statehood.