Bay County Branch NAACP COVID-19 Tele-Town Hall Meeting 4.18.2020

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Sun, 2020-04-19 11:04 — Jan Booher

Congratulations to all involved with the Tele-Town Hall Meeting yesterday! I thought the presenters were very smooth and professional, and the government officials were responsive.

The Town Hall showed tremendous capacity within the African American community to provide a virtual platform for Whole of Society problem solving. I felt that Janice, and LEAD Coalition more broadly demonstrated competence and capacity in. the way the Zoom call was managed, from invitations to follow up correspondence. It is one thing to be invited to a problem-solving table set by others, and quite another to create your own table, and control the context of the problem-solving dialogue. Congratulations on achieving the latter!

It is clear that one unifying thread where leadership and coordination is needed is in securing sufficient testing to manage the COVID spread in the community. I felt the energy of necessary unity that resulted in the formation of Rebuild Bay twas specifically present in this discussion of, because everyone on the call understands the difficulty of securing resources for Bay County in competition with all other communities.

My meeting notes and the content of the Chat box are below.

Sat 18 Apr 2020

Tele-Town Hall Meeting convened by Bay County Branch NAACP and hosted by LEAD Coalition of Bay County on Zoom

Background on Coronavirus-Emmanuelle Dickerson, APRN: presented the history of the novel coronavirus from Wuhan to Bay County today, with public health messaging for prevention of the spread of the disease.
Physician: Dr Mapp discussed rates of infection, co-morbidities, and how he has altered his practice in response to COVID.
Ashley Kelly with PanCare-Bay County will be testing at the Fairgrounds M-F 9am-4pm. Call the response line at 850-215-4181
Approx 577 tests done to date, with approx 365? In Bay Co. The testing process includes a complete medical history, synptom evaluation and teating to rule out strep and flu:

Cough, fever, shortness of breath symptoms to qualify
Strep and flu tests
10 or more days wait
No additional fees beyond what insurance covers
Testing site locations are in PC, Mariana, Bristol, Port St Joe and East Point
Items required:

Insurance info
Intake form for medical history
Photo ID

2 Ascension Sacred Heart drive through sites

Destin
Panama City

Mayor Brudnicki

Speaks about unity and cooperation without engaging in a blame game
He spoke about adhering to CDC, state & federal gidelines to keep people safe
The city has established a COVID-19 24 hr line
The city continues to work on hurricane infrastructure repairs
Working to keep playgrounds sanitized

City Manager Mr. McQueen

The city is taking a 2 phased approach

Citizens - suspend fees for utility collection, discontinued code enforcement, city services continue, rec facilities outdoor still open, boat ramps, kayak launches, primary playgrounds professionally sanitized, before 9am daily the staf wipes playgrounds down, etc
Businesses

Donna Pilson - Rebuild Bay

Recovery effort is continuing
Builders that use volunteers slowing down that work bc most volunteers were older and in high risk group
If you need help: 850-848-HELP (4357)
Food pantries also have volunteers in high risk categories and have scaled back
Positioning for future food SURGE
PPE requests being taken from workers/organizations
Can collect and distribute masks through feeding program
Rebuild Bay websi 8507834311 Text Apply if you need assistance, donate, etc
Feeding sites

Comply w CDC guidelines
Mobile pantries that pop up for places as necessary
Utilize regular food pantry that you have a relationship with
Consult FeedingtheGulfCoast.org for closest food pantry

Yvonne Petrovis - Resource Center 9am-5pm M-F 850-8500 ***@***.***

Resource Center is now at: 703 W 15th St
Legal Services
PanCare medical clinics
Catholic Homeless Services
Florida Veterans Communities

Dr. Dinah Crayton asked how many on the call had served in the military.

Military experience on the call (although I may have some ranks recorded incorrectly):

Ret Gen McQueen (City Mgr)

Ret Col Donna Pilson (Air Force Engineer & Program Mgr)

Maj Gen Dr Mapp (Army?)

Capt Dinah Crayton (Army)

Nisha Barron wrote in the chat that she is a retired Special Operator communications  - USAF 

City Manager McQueen appealed to everyone to respond to the census.

A clinician on the call asked if more Quest test kits can be obtained if there is an aggregated ask.

Pan Care has 200 tests for Bay County. They have the personnel and facilities, but need more tests.

CHAT BOX:

From Diane Brown to Everyone: (03:02 PM)

 Diane Brown, ***@***.*** 

From Samantha A. CARE to Everyone: (03:02 PM)

 Samantha Arroyo, ***@***.***, Chemical Addictions Recovery Effort, Inc.; Community Prevention Specialist 

From Jayda Gillespie to Everyone: (03:05 PM)

 This is Sharon Gillespie with EEC signed on under my daughters Jayda Gillespie zoom account was prelogged in FYI 

From Terry Williams to Everyone: (03:34 PM)

 For Medical professional: Can you dispel the myths as it pertains to the outbreak of this virus such being 5G towers and other rumors? 

From Alvin Peters to Everyone: (03:44 PM)

 can you write a drs slip so a person can down to drive thru or pan care and get tested? have you heard some hospitals are using c pap oxygen vs ventilator for better result? 

From Emmie Dickerson to Everyone: (03:48 PM)

 Alvin, in the ICU setting, TYPICALLY, bipap ventilation is typically used prior to the ventilator. The goal is to manage on high flow nasal oxygen first. There are studies coming out that support withholding more invasive ventilation like cpap/bipap until the patient deteriorates significantly. 

From Emmie Dickerson to Everyone: (03:49 PM)

 Terry, 5G simply does not make a virus. Though I am not an IT technician, I CAN assure you that viruses are biological material, with its own set of RNA (genetic material) and that this RNA cannot be produced with a 5G tower. 

From Jayda Gillespie to Everyone: (03:52 PM)

 can you repeat the number to the call center? 

From Janice Lucas to Everyone: (03:53 PM)

 850-215-4181 Pan Care Response Line M-F 9-4 

From Emmie Dickerson to Everyone: (03:54 PM)

 we cannot hear him 

From Alvin Peters to Everyone: (03:56 PM)

 what are the projectons for infections in Panama City and in Bay co? 

From Hiba Rahim to Everyone: (04:15 PM)

 Thank you for this! Do we have information regarding traveling through state borders? (obviously travel is not recommended, but for necessity)… any insight? 

From Emmie Dickerson to Everyone: (04:18 PM)

 Mr. Husfelt-I have a high school senior at Rutherford. What is graduation looking like? 

From Nancy Vietor to Everyone: (04:20 PM)

 Have any decisions been made re: student retention or advancement and have any school staff been laid off? 

From Alvin Peters to Everyone: (04:23 PM)

 is anyone being pro-active about securing testing for nursing home residents and staff? what is the name of the test that is most reliable and most accurate? 

From Emmie Dickerson to Everyone: (04:24 PM)

 you answered my question. thanks! 

From iPhone Cecile to Everyone: (04:27 PM)

 can the city county and school and pan care come up with a unified plan to get testing done in a e see systemic way with essential workers before we open up our communities? 

From iPhone Cecile to Everyone: (04:29 PM)

 isRebuild lookin at agriculture Dept listing of growers that have food to sell or donate 

From Nisha Barron Census Bureau to Everyone: (04:32 PM)

 Hello I'm am Nisha Barron NWFL regional Census partner living in Okaloosa County. My colleague in Bay County, Katrina Andrews and I have teamed up to make sure Bay county is counted. Participating in the Census has never been more important inso many ways going forward to better aide recovery and restoration of Bay County. Theres so much citizens can't do right now. What we CAN do, while we're at home, is Be Counted! my 2020census.gov I. would like to send Census bags or kids books to any food pantry or food drive location 678-662-2516. ***@***.*** 

From Hiba Rahim to Everyone: (04:34 PM)

 Thank you, Nisha. Very important message. 

From Donna Pilson to Everyone: (04:35 PM)

 Most of the food flowing into the county to source our pantries is from Feeding the Gulf Coast, who does work with the USDA programs. That network is looking how to best work the growers to meet our increasing needs. 

From Andre Smith to Everyone: (04:37 PM)

 Because some of the restrictions seemed to have been relaxed or on the verge of being relaxed in the state of Florida. Does the county have the resources to cover any COVID19-related deaths of teacher or students for prematurely opening things as usual.

From Nisha Barron Census Bureau to Everyone: (04:39 PM)

 Can someone from the NAACP provide me a point of contact; name, number and email for your organization please?

From Nancy Vietor to Everyone: (04:42 PM)

 Bay County NAACP, P.O. Box 2521, Panama City, FL 32402, President Dr. Rufus L. Wood, Jr, email ***@***.***, and phone is 850.763.5381 

From Nisha Barron Census Bureau to Everyone: (04:43 PM)

 thank you Thank You!

From Andre Smith to Everyone: (04:47 PM)

 I have a question for the superintendent of schools

From Alvin Peters to Everyone: (04:57 PM)

 just about the smoothest zoom I’ve ever seen. thanks for your planning and good execution. it showed.

From Andre Smith to Everyone: (04:57 PM)

 i really have one really important question for the mayor

From Nisha Barron Census Bureau to Everyone: (05:00 PM)

 National agencies like FEMA, the American Red Cross United Way and many other organizations rely heavily on Census data for planning emergency responses How many is the answer Census Data provides even as part of the CDC. how many how much equipment, supplies, staff members, hospitals and funding is determined by Census data in addition to demographics. We cannot wait until FEMA needs to come to correct our numbers. The time is NOW. Please take a few minutes to answer only 9 questions. Be Counted!! 

From Nisha Barron Census Bureau to Everyone: (05:01 PM)

 I'm retired Special Operator communications USAF Hi Miss Pilson 

From Andre Smith to Everyone: (05:01 PM)

 i agree 

From meloneywhite to Everyone: (05:02 PM)

 Thank you all for this meeting. It was very informative. 

From Braden Friday to Everyone: (05:02 PM)

 Thank you for having this...very informative. Thank you all for your input/comments. God bless you all. Stay safe! 

From Diane Brown to Everyone: (05:04 PM)

 Thank you for the meeting. 

From iPhone Cecile to Everyone: (05:04 PM)

 fabulous!!! 