GINO J. MERLI VETERANS' CENTER ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING  May 18, 2023  CALLTOORDER ROLL CALL MEMBERS  Lisa Solarczyk, President, called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.  Secretary Bernie McDonald recorded roll call and attendance was as follows:  Lisa Solarczyk, President - Marine Corps League William Smith, Vice President The American Legion Bernard "Bernie' " McDonald, Secretary AMVETS Robert Cudworth - Military Officers. Association of America Robert Smith Military Order ofthe Purple Heart Russell Canevari - Veterans of Foreign Wars Richard Green - Blinded Veterans. Association Joe Sylvester - Disabled. American Veterans Mackenzie Mueller. for Rosemary Brown - PA State Senate Kyle Donahue - PA State Representative Tim Cleveland- - PSACDVA Lisa Kaye - PSACDVA Roger Risner GJMVC. Resident Representative  (Excused)  (Excused) (Excused)  DMVA  Major General Mark.J. Schindler- Adjutant General, Pennsylvania Maureen Weigl, BG-1 Deputy Adjutant General, VA Travis Davis - Executive Director; Long-Term Care Barbara Raymond - Director; Bureau of Veterans' Homes Vito P.. Ruggiero - GJMVC Commandant Kathleen. Ambrose - GJMVC Deputy Commandant  (Excused) (via telephone)  OTHERS PRESENT/INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS  Lynn O'Day, Recorder Sarah Butler, Admissions Coordinator Janice Mcallister, Volunteer Coordinator Maria Coles, ADON Erica Comine, Infection Preventionist Jennifer Spitler, Regional Program Outreach Coordinator Maria' Tagliaferri, Veteran Service Specialist Beth Warner, Regional Compliance Officer Thomas Caffrey, HIPPA and Privacy Officer Sam Estrada, Policy and Planning Specialist Brian Doughton, District Director for Senator Marty Flynn  Carl Weinschenk  1    MOMENT OF SILENCE  Ar moment of silence was led by Lisa Solarczyk, President.  REVIEW OF PREVIOUS MINUTES Previous minutes accepted as written. REVIEW OF MEMBER STATUS Jewish War Veterans Catholic War Veteran  (Vacant) (Vacant)  Military Order ofthe Purple Heart (Vacant) REPORT OF THE DEPUTY ADJUTANT GENERAL  General Weigl was excused.  REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF LONG-TERM CARE  Travis Davis reported that General Weigl was not able to join us because she is currently at one oft the casinos for the announcement of a summer concert series. Aj portion oft their sales will bej put toward the veterans' trust fund. The fund enables the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs to distribute funding to the 501 C3s to communities  including Lackawanna County. and assistance to our veterans.  General Schindler was confirmed by the Senate on April 26.  May is Military Care-giver month, anyone who takes on responsibility and provides care After 3 years and 4 plus months, the COVID-19 public health emergency came to an end on May 11. We are: no longer wearing masks. A lot of our regulations and policies are changing. We had a senior leadership meeting toj provide education on what is changing. We have had over 15 inspections and surveys across the homes. We have done very well. We had VA annual surveys, DOH surveys, surprise surveys as well as completing 4 Wel have 3 five-star facilities, Gino Merli being one as well as DVVH and Erie. We have 21 two-star which are Hollidaysburg and Pittsburgh, and we. have 11 three star at Southeast Wel have no COVID among any of our residents and only 2 staffmembers, in 2 different Our admissions are the highest they have been in 2 years. Wel have 1,018 currently in our Our staffing ratios remain strong however we have a lot of vacancies that we: need to fill sot that we can fill our beds to capacity. Ginol has 87 full-time and 10; part-time vacancies. Thisi is what is preventing us from filling our beds to capacity. We've been averaging, just One of our initiatives is Walk-In Wednesdays where our teams set up ini the lobbies and interviews on-site. We have very good success, and we will continue the initiative. On) May 2, we broke ground on a new 200 bed facility in Hollidaysburg. We were joined by Governor Shapiro, General Huntley from the federal VA and the acting secretary of We are recruiting for a Medical Director in Southeast Veteran Center, Director of Nursing at Delaware Valley, and a Commandant at. Hollidaysburg. We have the 25th anniversary of our Southwest Veterans Center in Pittsburgh on May 24.  internal audits. Veterans' center. homes.  homes. We started the year around 950.  below 70% occupancy.  the Department of General Services, Reggie McNeil.  2    The governor will be visiting Fort Indiantown Gap on May 31. Medical advisory meeting in the 1st, week ofJune. activities wel have planned here at the home.  TAG fishing derby on June 8, where we bring residents from our homes to the GAP. Homes Week is. June 11th through June 17th. We encourage you to attend any oft the  REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF STATE VETERANS' HOMES  Barbara Raymond reported that the COVID-19 public health emergency has been lifted. Vaccine mandate has not been lifted for nursing home health care workers. Some ofour Medicare will continue to cover the COVID vaccine without cost share, SO there will be Our COVID number S are fantastic. We are still testing for anyone who may have We did just finished celebrating Nurse's Week. We had various activities and fun events. Department of] Health released information on M-Pox which had been called Monkey Pox, but they changed the name. Still is not a concern for our home and area but we are Eachl home is currently engaged in active shooter training sO that we are prepared for any oft those types ofevents. Hollidaysburg recently had their community involved. We arej pushing for the replacement of our advisory members. They are with the  staff are in masks because they were unable to be vaccinated.  no copays.  symptoms or exposures.  keeping an eye oni it.  Wel had our quality team at our Southeast facility.  governor's office.  REPORT OF THE MEDICALI DIRECTOR  Dr. Kazmierski was excused for todays meeting. We no longer have ai red unit. Iti is now our women's unit. We still have the Bivalent vaccine available  Maria Coles reported that we currently have noi residents or staff positive for COVID. We are no longer masking but non vaccinated staffi must still wear surgical masks. As ofJuly 1, the PPD (Per Patient Day) requirement will be changing from 2.7 to 2.87. This is the calculation of nursing care. hours. We already exceed that number daily. Erica Comine reported that wel have had 4j positive residents to date this year but have We are offering all vaccines to residents and staff while encouraging residents to Wel have an antibiotic stewardship program. We follow all evidence based and recommended practices when treating residents with antibiotics.  none at this time.  Wel have had zero deaths related to COVID. participate in activities and outings.  REPORT OF THE ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR  Sarah Butler reported that our census is 153 with 4 admissions scheduled next week. The waiting period/process is 101 to 14 days for a veteran, 61 to 12 months fora spouse. Travis stated that there is a tremendous amount of work for the admissions team,  Wel had 31 admissions and 18 deaths or discharges. We are up 10% since our last meeting.  trying to bring our census back to capacity.  3    REPORT OF THE COMMANDANT  Vito Ruggiero reported that we are a 5-star facility. It'sa a cumulative score based on health inspection, quality measure and staffing. In our area, it is very rare to see a building with: 5 stars. This was a lot of! hard work by our leadership and our team. We ask, ifyoul know anyone in the community, we. have walk-in Wednesdays. Nursing is our hardest niche here; it is hard to compete with private industry and perks like sign on We now have a women's unit here. We were on the local news because we chose to make our 1 South unit a women's unit. We have 201 beds on one side oft the wing that are all women. Our activities director came up with the name "Sweet and Sassy Society", almost our version of the Red Hats Society. Wej put flowers there and tablecloths and we are Flooring has been completed in the conference room and we are: moving along on our Wel have new. heating and air conditioning units. Each unit has a unit that can be Over the next few weeks, we will be resurfacing the parking lot. DGS will be starting that We will be having our second annual golftournament on June 5. All the money raised (over $32, 000.00 last year) goes to our resident welfare fund which is the money used to There will be a motorcycle ride at Harley Davidson that benefits that fund this summer. We created ai new admissions team room, sO the family has a specific room to go to talk Int the packets there is aj photo ofai tiki bar. The students at. Johnson College will be recreating that bar for our residents and it will be kept in the MPR courtyard. It will be Bill Smith asked about the parking lot and what they will be doing for parking. Vito stated that we. have purchased 85 parking spaces in the lot across  bonuses.  making it homey. renovations. controlled individually. shortly.  buy the amenities that our veterans want, need and deserve.  about care plans and their loved one. used year-round in our patio area.  from the home on Mulberry St.  THE GOOD OF THE COUNCIL  Robert Cudworth shared with the council that his wife spent the last 22 months here at the facility. He: stated that the care she received far exceeded the care. hel has seen in other  places. ADJOURNMENT  The next meeting was announced: August 17, 2023, at 10:00a.m.  lak  BMPANaE  4