Maureen Curry, facilities office coordinator, had recently celebrated 20 years of service with the college, and the LLCC family will certainly feel this loss. For those who may be struggling with reconciling this loss, there are support options for you. For those who may want to seek more individualized support for coping with the loss of Maureen, please reach out to our Employee Assistance Program at 1-888-993-7650. Licensed counselors are available to assist you during this, or any, difficult time you are experiencing. You may also access resources online at www.deeroakseap.com (login & password: llcc.edu).

We would also like to offer group grief counseling sessions for those who may want to support each other in their grief, facilitated by a licensed counselor. If there is interest in group sessions, we would like to offer it this coming Friday in the afternoon, in order to give the most employees access across all shifts. If you would be interested in participating in a group grief counseling session, please email nicole.ralph@llcc.edu with your interest yet today. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, these sessions will be conducted virtually. For those who may have technology access issues, we can arrange for locations around campus for those who wish to participate. Please indicate in your email if you will need access to technology.

Feeling daunted by your to-do list? Give some tasks to us. We offer provider referrals, from mechanics to plumbers to food delivery services, and can even confirm their appointment availability. By helping with your errands, we hope you’ll spend more time on you. Visit the EAP portal page for the most updated services offered by the EAP. Deer Oaks Higher Ed EAP is LLCC’s new EAP vendor.

As summer work schedules draw to a close, your symptom tracker notification schedule may need to be updated. In order to do that, send an email to nicole.ralph@llcc.edu requesting to have the registration email sent to you again. You will simply go through the set up process and update your notification days.

If you are not currently set up in the symptom tracker, but plan to return to campus in the coming weeks, please let Nicole Ralph know, and she will set you up in the system to receive a registration email.

Supervisors — in the event that this notification may not reach all of your employees, including student workers and other part-time employees, please be sure to notify Nicole of any employees who are working on campus and need to be set up. If you are unsure, she will be happy to verify which of your employees are currently in the system.

Open Enrollment for the staff sick bank begins today. If you are a current member of the staff sick bank, you will not be required to donate a day to maintain your current membership status; however, you can donate additional days by completing the attached form. Anyone who is not currently a member of the staff sick bank will be required to donate one sick day by completing the attached form to begin his/her membership for  FY ’21.  If you wish to change your current membership status or donate additional days (for current members only), please complete the attached form and return to HR (via email or drop off) by Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020.

Open Enrollment Form FY21

An updated organizational chart is now available on the Employee Portal site > Human Resources. It includes a number of changes, including 11 new employees, updated titles and new reporting chains.

We are pleased to announce that as of July 1, 2020, our new Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider is Deer Oaks EAP Services. As a reminder, the EAP covers up to six (6) confidential short-term counseling sessions per person, per presenting issue, per calendar year.

Benefit-eligible employees and their household members are entitled to this benefit, at no cost to the employee. Deer Oaks EAP has considerable expertise and clinical knowledge possessed by its network of providers at numerous convenient locations near you. Session options include face-to-face, telephonic and video.

Deer Oaks will assist you with many different types of issues. Among these might be stress, depression, anxiety, workplace difficulties, substance abuse, marital problems, family or parenting conflicts, grief, violence and unhealthy lifestyles. The EAP will also provide additional assistance, tools and referrals for:

• Work/Life Resources with Referrals
• Financial and Legal Issues
• Interactive Online Simple Will & Trust

All callers looking to access counseling services will receive a telephonic assessment to ensure that short-term, solution-focused counseling is appropriate. If short-term services are not appropriate, Deer Oaks will coordinate with LLCC’s health insurance plans, for those who participate, for cases that require treatment under your health insurance benefit.

Please call the EAP toll-free Helpline at 1-888-993-7650, for more information or a referral. Online tools are available at: www.deeroakseap.com (login & password:  llcc.edu).

Lincoln Land Community College is committed to the health and well-being of its employees and their household members and encourage the utilization of this important benefit for health, wellness, financial fitness, and decreased daily stress. If you have any questions, please contact LLCC Human Resources.

Thank you all for your cooperation in submitting your daily health assessments through the Symptom Tracker. This is new for all of us, and as we learn more, we want to share with you to ensure that we are all using the symptom tracker optimally and operating off of the same definitions. Knowing everyone wants to respond to the survey in a truthful manner, let’s address the topic of contact or exposure. One of the survey questions asks if you have had contact with someone in the last 14 days who has tested positive for COVID-19 or is being evaluated for Coronavirus. In reviewing CDC guidance, there are three factors that need to be considered when determining if you have had contact with someone who has tested positive or is being tested for COVID-19: physical proximity, duration and whether the exposure was to a person with symptoms (e.g. coughing likely increases exposure risk). When determining whether you have been in contact with someone, there are obvious situations that make answering this question easy: sharing the same household, intimate relationships, family contact, etc. What may be less obvious are casual interactions with co-workers, friends, strangers, etc. The CDC states that exposure is prolonged AND close contact. Close contact would be less than six feet, and prolonged exposure would be greater than 15 minutes. Another important factor to consider when determining whether or not you have actually been exposed is if the person in question was exhibiting any symptoms at the time of the interaction. When you respond to this question, really assess what interaction you may have had and whether it would really be considered exposure based on CDC guidance. Again, the purpose of the symptom tracker is not to catch people in a lie, but instead, to help you make the best decision about your health and the health of others. We want you to respond to the questions using your best judgement, in an effort to make the campus safe for ourselves, our colleagues and our students.

As more employees begin returning to campus, please contact Nicole Ralph (nicole.ralph@llcc.edu) if you have not yet registered with the Symptom Tracker. All employees must be registered with the program and respond to the survey questions prior to coming to campus on any given day. If you are experiencing any issues using the program, please let Nicole Ralph know.