Hilltoppers,
Can you believe we have been responding to the COVID-19 crisis at Hilltop for the past eight weeks? What a life changing two months it has been for all of us, both at work and at home. We have learned new terms that will forever be part of our lexicon (i.e. social distancing, PPEs, Stay at Home, Safer at Home), adopted new routines for staying healthy and safe, and created new ways of conducting our business. Looking back, I am incredibly proud of the efforts you all have been making in this ever-changing time. Here are just a couple of the highlights:
- Creating entry protocols for employees and visitors at all of our facilities.
- Installing a fence around the Bacon Campus to limit access.
- Suspending services at our Senior Daybreak programs.
- Creating a “call center” in Montrose for our Cottage residents in Grand Junction.
- Reducing cross campus interactions by assigning employees to specific facilities.
- Implementing remote services for our Family Resource Centers and Workforce Center.
- Setting up numerous ‘home offices’ at kitchen tables and in bedrooms.
- Learning to communicate via Zoom, GoToMeetings, WebEx and Microsoft Teams.
- Creating meal delivery services for clients in our residential programs.
- Implementing isolation protocols and ensuring the use of appropriate levels of PPEs.
- Setting up numerous support services for Hilltoppers (Trading Post, Employee Hotline, Wellness Activities, EAP, etc.)
- Wearing masks, washing hands, and maintaining social distances.
Clearly this is only a sampling of the changes we’ve implemented over the past eight weeks, but what hasn’t changed is our mission of ‘People First’. Hilltoppers, you have been amazing in keeping your focus on the job at hand and meeting the needs of our clients.
Keep being Hilltop Strong, it is working. We have had zero positive cases of COVID-19 within our residential programs and only a single case among our employees (who I am happy to report is fully recovered and doing well).
Together, we got this.
Mike
