FARMINGTON – As COVID-19 continues to impact Maine, the health care team at Franklin Community Health Network is working 24/7 to meet the health care needs of our communities. Since March 11, the Incident Command Team has been meeting twice a day to respond to the evolving situation and providing altered and contingency-based care.
To better support all of the care team members working on behalf of its patients and communities, Franklin Community Health Network, together with MaineHealth, has issued new policies to support employees.
In making the announcement, Trampas Hutches, Franklin Community Health Network president, stated, “Our team members are on the front lines and behind the scenes providing 24/7 care to our community, and they deserve all the support we can provide. Keeping our care teams safe, well and secure – especially at times like these – is vital to enabling them to care for our patients and community.”
To that end, FCHN and MaineHealth have instituted new policies to support employees, including:
- Providing a temporary financial benefit to help cover the cost of child care while children are staying home from school, and creating a child care referral network to help employees connect with available child care providers;
- Implementing a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week Employee Health resource to answer any questions;
- Providing flexibility in paid time off (PTO) policies, including removing the maximum cap so that employees continue to accrue PTO while they work through this outbreak;
- Where possible, slowing the community spread of COVID-19 by enabling certain employees not in direct care roles to work from home;
- If asked to stay at home for a period of time on furlough, ensuring employee compensation is not negatively affected;
- Instituting new visitor restrictions to safeguard patients, visitors and employees during the coronavirus outbreak.
“We are tremendously grateful for the dedication, expertise, compassion and service of our entire workforce, and will continue to assess and respond to their needs as they continue to respond to those of our communities,” said Hutches.
For more info on COVID-19, visit https://mainehealth.org/franklin-community-health-network.
