Welia Health is now a participant of the Trex Recycling program for all locations, Pine City, Hinckley, and Mora!
What is Trex Recycling?
Trex invented composite decking and has since led the industry in innovation and manufacturing of wood-alternative decking products, making their mission to be environmentally responsible.
Trex has a win-win-win situation: “When you donate your unwanted plastic materials to Trex, not only are you helping to keep thousands of pounds of waste out of landfills, you’re also helping us to continue to create beautiful and environmentally responsible outdoor products.”
Why recycle through Trex?
Trex takes plastic that is often thrown out – plastic wrap from food, plastic from packaging, produce bags, store bags, Ziploc, bubble wrap, etc. and recycles it into composite products. All we have to do is bag it up and send it! Plus, each Welia Health location is eligible to receive a free composite bench every six months if we reach the goal of 500 pounds of plastic recycled!
What can we recycle?
We can bring in clean, dry plastic recyclables from home and recycle plastic we go through at work:
Produce bags
Plastic wrap
Store bags
Ice bags
Ziploc/reclosable bags
Cereal/cracker box liners
Bread bags
Newspaper sleeves
Bubble wrap
Medical supply wrappers
Any plastic that you’re able to crumple in your hand – NO HARD PLASTIC
When does this start?
Pine City and Hinckley have already been recycling plastic (Pine City has reached their goal in just four months and has a bench on the way!). Mora begins today, April 1st!
Earth
Day is April 22nd
and the Employee Wellness Committee is asking you to celebrate with us by being
more sustainable during the month of April!
Keep
track of your sustainability using the
attached sheet and tally at least 5 points per week to win a reusable
bamboo straw AND a chance to win beeswax wraps and one of four composts
for your kitchen!
Send an email to wellnessemp@welia.org to sign up for the challenge by Monday April 5th to qualify for the prizes! Then watch for an email later in the month with a link to the online submission form when you’ve completed the challenge.
Questions about the vaccine? Please contact Dr. Niskanen, Dr. Allen, Brent Thompson, PharmD, or the c19vacc_questions@welia.org
Scheduling: To be placed on a waiting list for the vaccine please email Mariah Hoyles, mhoyles@welia.org. As you have heard, our current vaccine requires ultracold storage and use within 6 hours of opening the vial. To ensure we do not waste any doses, future clinics will be scheduled once there is enough people to ensure the use of the vaccine.
If you are willing, send pictures (selfies/with your co-workers/posing with the nurse/pharmacist giving you the shot) to marketing (ktepley@welia.org). These pictures tell a GREAT story to help promote the C-19 shot to our patient population.
Q/A the pharmacy department has received about the vaccine:
Q: How did the COVID vaccine get developed so quickly?
A: Operation Warp Speed (OWS) is a partnership among different agencies in the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
These include:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
The Department of Defense
The goal of OWS is to produce and deliver over 300 million doses and safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021
They are working to accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine while maintaining standards for safety and efficacy
They have prioritized and sped up the development of the most promising vaccines, based on scientific data
Rather than “cutting corners” or eliminating steps in a traditional vaccine development timeline, they are developing protocols and allowing some steps in the process to happen simultaneously
This increases the financial risk to the agencies involved, but does not increase the risk of the product (safety)
The government has made investments in the manufacturing of these vaccines to give companies confidence to invest aggressively in this effort without fear of financial repercussions
This allows for the faster development of an eventual vaccine
Q: When did we discover mRNA vaccines?
A: This type of vaccine technology has been studied for decades
They have been studied for viruses including influenza, Zika, rabies, and cytomegalovirus
Future mRNA vaccines could allow one vaccine to provide your body with protection against multiple diseases
Q: What are the benefits of mRNA vaccines?
A: They can be developed more quickly and easily
The process of making the vaccine can be standardized and scaled up at a faster pace, making development much faster than traditional vaccines
They teach your body how to fight off the virus that causes COVID-19, without ever exposing you to the virus itself
Negative air flow rooms are being completed, with 4 rooms done by early next week.
Reopening plan for the Wellness Center – Mora walking track is being developed. Reopen dates have not been determined yet and masks will be required, even while exercising (in accordance with the state mandate)
Visitor restrictions. Two significant changes will include:
1 person (visitor) will be allowed at OB appointments
1 person (visitor) per child at well-child checks.
Unfortunately, the funding for transporting positive C19 patients has ended. We will continue to work with statewide resources to improve the availability.
The wellness center will be opening today at 4pm and will resume to its regular business hours: 5am – 10pm | Daily
Documents from the school and Welia Health are attached
Few points to remember:
Sanitize upon entering the building and again when you leave, sanitizing stations are available
Masks must be worn at all times (even when walking)
Social distancing is required
Limit of 10 people on the walking track at any one time
From MDH
Bloomington C-19 testing site is relocating (see attachment)
Vaccine planning update
As the COVID-19 vaccine is distributed and administered within hospitals and health systems in conjunction with Phase 1a guidelines, planning for the next phase of distribution is now occurring. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has various groups focusing on the prioritization of individuals, logistics of distribution and how different public and private entities will be involved as vaccination moves to those outside of health care. Some of the groups working on this topic include the regional coalitions, public health, the Science Advisory Team, the Minnesota COVID Ethics Collaborative (MCEC), the MDH Vaccine Allocation Advisory Group and a Vaccine Steering committee.
Governor loosens restrictions, urges Minnesotans to protect progress made over the past month
Gov. Tim Walz on Jan. 6 announced measures through Executive Order 21-01 to adjust the dials and open more activities and sectors of the economy starting Jan. 11. View details and supportive statements from business and health care leaders including MHA members and MHA.
Thank you to all our employees for your dedication in supporting our community and keeping our patients safe. We will be celebrating with a different activity every day throughout the week. Please see the flyer below.
