UPDATE: NCALA’s Federal Coronavirus Grant Funds

Background

In October 2020, North Carolina Assisted Living Association (NCALA) obtained $16,167,539 of the federal coronavirus funds for COVID-19 testing, PPE, emergency equipment, and cleaning equipment and solutions. You can read more about House Bill 1105 here.

We combined our funds with funds received by NC Senior Living Association in HB1105 to maximize our purchasing power on PPE and Testing.

NCALA was also honored to receive $750,000 from HB1105 to help assisted living communities across the state curb resident social isolation and facilitate safe visitation and communication between residents and family members through technology and infection control equipment. $500,000 was allocated towards technology and $250,000 was allocated towards the purchase of environmental supplies and the development of plans to redesign visitation or common areas to address resident isolation.

HB1105 NCALA Grant Update

__PPE and Testing __
By now you have already received gowns and masks. You will be receiving the remainder of PPE supplies in the next two weeks such as hand sanitizer, wall mounted thermometers, and EPA approved disinfectant. Additionally, point-of-care antigen tests, also known as rapid tests (if community has CLIA waiver), and Premier Laboratory COVID‐19 RT‐PCR Tests that will be shipped out late this week or early next week. AccessBio CareStart Antigen Tests will only be sent to communities with a CLIA waiver. All facilities will receive PCR tests based on the number of licensed beds. It is important to note that each community must have a CLIA waiver in place before the community staff can perform the Antigen test. You can learn more about obtaining a CLIA waiver here.

Gloves will be shipped later in January or early February. It is imperative that the community completes and returns the documentation that comes along with the packing slip for grant reporting requirements.

Training will be forthcoming on the use of these tests.

__Virtual Visitation __
Technology: NCALA has partnered with our friends and tech experts at K4Connect to fulfill the mission of outfitting every Adult Care Home and Family Care Home in the state with an Echo Show device. Communities will be receiving an out-of-the-box device equipped with Amazon services and managed by K4Connect. This experience brings elevated benefits to your community, including frustration-free device set-up and support, built-in entertainment functionalities and seamless video and voice communication. Your Echo Show is yours to use as it best suits your individual community and your residents.

Larger communities will receive more devices. A couple of weeks ago, first email communications were sent by K4Connect to communities announcing the initiative. Since then, K4Connect has sent email communications to all providers requesting that they signup to receive their device(s).

For a provider to receive a device(s), they must respond to the email communication to establish a point of contact. If this step is not completed, your device will be re-distributed to another community. Sign-up ends January 15 and devices will be shipped out no later than January 31.

Equipment: NCALA has purchased thousands of Floor Standing Sneeze Guards - 33.5" W X 80" H made by JOY Displays. The guards are portable, freestanding, and can be rolled up or down depending upon whether a resident is sitting or standing. The purpose of the guards is to form barriers to aide in social distancing during social activities, dining, or visitation. Guardian, our warehouse partner, has received the sneeze guards and will be shipping out all the product by mid-January 2021. Communities must acknowledge receipt of the product by returning the documentation that comes with the packing slip for grant reporting requirements.