Flint & Genesee County Contact Tracing & COVID-19 Response Workgroup
GFHC and the Genesee County Health Department have collaborated to establish a Flint/Genesee County Contact Tracing Workgroup designed to develop local workforce capacity to support COVID-19 contact tracing efforts in the community. As part of this Workgroup, local agency partners have recruited more than 50 local volunteers identified from partner organizations to assist with contact tracing efforts.
Interested in volunteering? Sign up here. All local volunteers must complete registration, training, a confidentiality agreement, and a background screening via the MDHHS volunteer management contractor.
What is Contact Tracing?
Contact Tracing is a tool that can help slow the spread of COVID-19. Your local Health Department will ask about individuals who you have had close contact with. Your Health Department will then notify those individuals indicating they may have been exposed. This process is confidential.
What to expect when you receive a phone call from the Health Department for contact tracing?
Conversations with health department staff are confidential. This means that your personal and medical information will be kept private and only shared with those who may need to know, like your health care provider.
Your personal information including your name and contact information will not be shared with those you came in contact with. The health department will only notify people you were in close contact with (within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes) that they might have been exposed to COVID-19.
Contact tracing helps protect you, your family, and your community by:
Letting people know they may have been exposed to COVID-19 and should monitor their health for signs and symptoms of COVID-19.
Encouraging people who may have been exposed to COVID-19 get tested.
Asking people to self-isolate if they have COVID-19 or self-quarantine if they are a close contact.
Which partners are leading the local contact tracing efforts in Genesee County?
The Flint/Genesee County Contact Tracing Workgroup is jointly convened by the Greater Flint Health Coalition and Genesee County Health Department and includes representation from:
United Way of Genesee County
Genesee CHAP (Community Health Access Program)
Genesee Health System
Genesee Health Plan
Genesee County Medical Society
City of Flint
Wellness AIDS
New Paths, Inc.
Michigan State University
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Flint Registry Community Advisory Board
The Flint Registry Community Advisory Board seeks to promote communication between residents, parents, public agencies, schools, etc. to facilitate input, increase community awareness, and coordinate activities to benefit those served by the Flint Lead Exposure Registry.
The State Innovation Model (SIM) Steering Committee guides Genesee County Health Innovation Region (CHIR) in SIM program design and implementation within Genesee County. A CHIR is a unique model for improving the well-being of a region and reducing unnecessary medical costs through collaboration and systems change. CHIRs engage a broad group of stakeholders to identify and address factors that affect resident’s health, such as housing, transportation, and food insecurity, as well as access to high-quality medical care.
In addition to the Steering Committee the SIM Community Clinical Linkages (CCL) Workgroup informs the operations and effectiveness of the Genesee CHIR CCL strategy for adult and pediatric population, while overseeing the SIM Social Determinants of Health screening process/outcomes as well as the Community Referral Platform utilization by participating Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) practices and community/social service provider agencies.
Key Collaborating Partners
Ascension Genesys Hospital
Genesee CHAP
Genesee County Health Department
Genesee County Medical Society
Genesee Health Plan
Genesee Health System
Genesys PHO
Great Lakes Health Connect
Hamilton Community Health Network
Health Alliance Plan
Hurley Medical Center
McLaren Flint
McLaren Health Plan
McLaren Physician Partners
Molina Healthcare of Michigan
Professional Medical Corporation
United Way of Genesee County
Valley Area Agency on Aging
At-Large Residents
Outreach Strategy Workgroup
The Outreach Strategy Workgroup is designed to support the coordination of safety net providers to reduce current barriers to care for low income persons, the uninsured, and the underinsured while continuing to advocate and drive toward systemic change. Workgroup partners support the coordination of access to available services that impact individuals’ overall health and wellness.
Key Collaborating Partners:
Hamilton Community Health Network
Genesee Health System
Genesee Intermediate School District
Greater Holy Temple
Flint Neighborhoods United
Valley Area Agency on Aging
Hospitals
Health Insurers
MSU-Extension
Local Churches, Community, and Neighborhood Organizations
Mid-Michigan CHAP Practice Managers Subcommittee
The CHAP Practice Managers Subcommittee is designed to share medical home operational best practices, engage in program improvement projects, encourage client identification and referral to the CHAP Program, encourage efficient and effective use of the community referral platform, and provide a forum for mutual problem solving and innovated ideas.
Key Collaborating Partners:
Established CHAP Medical Home Partners (with an executed CHAP Memorandum of Understanding & Business Associate Agreement)
Community Referral Network
The Community Referral Network is designed to identify, strategize, and implement opportunities to address the social determinants of health needs for Genesee County residents, linking community members to available resources, and improving health outcomes through the use of a community-wide referral network.
Initial measurable outcomes for the Community Referral Network:
Decrease the number of Genesee County residents with unmet social determinants of health needs.
Increase Genesee County residents’ access to community, health, and social services.
Increase the number of community service organizations participating in a single, electronic referral network.
Improve service coordination among community, healthcare, public health, and social service providers.
Key Partners:
United Way of Genesee County
Carriage Town Ministries
Catholic Charities
Child Care Network
Crossover Ministries
Easterseals of Michigan
Family Service Agency
Food Bank of Eastern Michigan
Genesee CHAP
Genesee County Community Action Resource Department
Genesee County Health Department
Genesee Health Plan
Genesee Health System
Genesee Intermediate School District
Great Lakes Health Connect
Hurley Food FARMacy
Legal Services of Eastern Michigan
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Michigan State University
Mott Children’s Health Center
My Brother’s Keeper
New Path’s, Inc.
REACH/Traverse Place
Sacred Heart Rehabilitation Center
Salvation Army
The Disability Network
Valley Area Agency on Aging
YWCA
Flint Healthcare Employment Opportunities (FHEO) Program Oversight Committee
The Flint Healthcare Employment Opportunities (FHEO) Program is a healthcare sector workforce development program available to all residents of Genesee County with special emphasis on individuals who live within the Renewal Community of the City of Flint. The purpose of the FHEO Program is to assist unemployed and underemployed residents of Flint and Genesee County with obtaining training and employment in the healthcare industry. Currently, the FHEO Program offers healthcare career training and education for adults with little or no prior work experience, dislocated or unemployed workers, and entry-level or mid-level workers looking to secure a sustainable career in the healthcare field.
The FHEO Program Oversight Committee provides governance and oversight to the FHEO Program’s operations and activities, as a direct report to the GFHC Board. The Oversight Committee is composed of executive leadership from McLaren Flint, Hurley Medical Center, Genesys Health System, Hamilton Community Health Network, GST MiWorks!, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Mott Community College, Baker College of Flint, University of Michigan – Flint, and more.
The primary goals that the Oversight Committee for the Flint Healthcare Employment Opportunities (FHEO) Program are as follows:
To address the worker and skills shortage for entry, mid-skill, and high-skill level health care occupations by providing educational financial assistance, participant support services, and career exploration programs.
To work with healthcare employers to improve job placement and career advancement opportunities, improve awareness for career opportunities in health care, and create sustainable careers for adult, dislocated worker, youth, unemployed, and underemployed participants through the FHEO Program.
Training models will be built acknowledging local health care employers want employees committed to the pursuit of a career in health care and individuals seeking an avocation beyond merely a vocation.
To place a specific number of residents (adults, dislocated workers, and youth) in to entry-level and higher level healthcare occupations annually.
To facilitate true collaboration amongst Genesee County/Flint hospital/health systems, the Community Health Needs Assessment Project was launched in 2012.
Specifically, the Community Health Needs Assessment Project is a joint effort of Ascension Genesys Hospital, McLaren Flint, Hurley Medical Center, and the Genesee County Health Department that is facilitated by the GFHC. Together, these health systems collaborate to develop and implement an annual community health needs assessment (and associated implementation plan to address identified needs) for the Genesee County region. The Community Health Needs Assessment utilizes existing collaboration and data from the GFHC’s established Community Data Scorecard. This effort also includes collaboration from the area’s major insurers, public health agencies, government and social service entities, schools and universities, and community residents, among others. The initial Community Health Needs Assessment for Genesee County & Flint was completed in October, 2012.
