This is the daily 2-1-1 summary on the Flint Water Response for Wednesday, March 9, 2016
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Governor Snyder held a Tele Town Hall from 5:00 – 5:50 pm today.
- To date 26,000 residents have participated on Tele Town Hall calls.
- PENDING CONFIRMATION: The call mentioned there will be a community health fair on March 19 from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm at New Jerusalem Baptist Church co-sponsored by Genesee Health Department and MDHHS. Report is the fair will offer free lead testing for children and adults. CAN GCHD OR MDHHS SEND EVENT DETAILS TO tpage@uwmich.org SO 2-1-1 CAN PROVIDE ACCURATE REFERRALS? THANKS!
- The Medicaid Waiver/Expansion for Flint is clearly presented in an article from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Key elements of the expansion include:
- Expansion of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)1 eligibility for children and pregnant women with incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL, $80,640 per year for a household of three in 2016) served by the Flint water system;
- A waiver of cost-sharing and premiums for Flint beneficiaries, and
- Expansion of the Medicaid Targeted Case Management benefit to coordinate health and related community support services for all Medicaid-eligible children and pregnant women served by the Flint water system.
Read the full article at http://kff.org/medicaid/fact-sheet/michigans-medicaid-section-1115-waiver-to-address-effects-of-lead-exposure-in-flint/.
- The next Community Partners meetings will be held tomorrow, Thursday March 10 from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm at Food Bank of Eastern Michigan at 2300 Lapeer Rd, Flint, MI 48503. Each of the six Recovery Workgroups will provide updates on their progress on Thursday.
- Flint Neighborhoods United is holding a community meeting, “Today and Tomorrow – Water in Flint” on Thursday, March 10 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm at the Flint Public Library. This is an information meeting with a panel discussion. Residents are asked to submit questions for the panel prior to the meeting by email at fnucommunications@gmail.com.
- There will be an Open House for residents with the latest information on Flint’s Drinking Water System on Saturday, March 12 between 10:00 am-5:00 pm at New Standard Charter School, 2040 W Carpenter Rd., Flint, MI 48505. There are no formal schedules or presentations, but there will be experts to answer questions from EPA, USDHHS, MDHHS, MDEQ, Genesee Health Department and more.
CALL VOLUME
Call volume today was manageable with the increased staffing in place at Central Michigan 2-1-1. There were several calls following the governor’s Tele Town Hall.
SPECIAL NEEDS/REQUESTS
- The Communications Access Center that serves an estimated 2,000 deaf and hard of hearing residents in Flint is receiving funding from United Way of Genesee County to fund an interpreter to accompany CAC staff members to attend community organizational meetings. United Way is also working with CAC to fund a video messaging project to take key water messaging and share with this community. This initiative is based on feedback from the deaf and hard of hearing community that they have feel left out of critical communications about the water situation.
RUMOR/SCAM CONTROL
- Two residents reported calling 2-1-1 for water delivery but not getting a response: The Michigan 2-1-1 State Office received reports today through community partners of residents claiming to have called 2-1-1 recently to request delivery of water resources, but not receiving assistance. The partners provided phone numbers and information for these complaints – on investigation 2-1-1 was unable to find evidence that either number had been used to call 2-1-1 after February 1st. If you hear reports of problems with residents reaching 2-1-1, please forward the phone number used to call 2-1-1 and the time/date of the call. This allows 2-1-1 to verify when there is a problem, then take action to address it.
- United Way of Genesee County was asked to provide records of all Flint callers to 2-1-1 by a man calling himself “John” and claiming to be from the Attorney General’s Office. “John” wanted caller information for “everyone from Flint who has been harmed”. Upon questioning, “John” appeared unfamiliar with the actual structure of state government, and after mentioning subpoenas, departed after being asked to provide identification. The incident has been reported to the AG’s office.
NOTE: 2-1-1 has strict confidentiality policies and will not release caller information without either 1) express permission of the client, or 2) a court order. - The Attorney General’s Office investigates reports of potential scams. These can be reported to the Charitable Trust Section at ct_email@michigan.gov. The AG has tips on how to avoid falling victim to con artists at http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-164-17337_20942-375279–,00.html.
UNRESOLVED
- From 2/29/16: The City of Flint Water Plant can no handle water sample pick-up/drop-off for homebound residents due to increasing demand. 2-1-1 is coordinating with the Water Plant to identify another option for serving these residents and will provide updates until we confirm a solution. In the meantime, please do not refer homebound callers to the Water Plant for assistance. Have them call 2-1-1.
- From 3/3/16: CAN FLINT WATER DEPARTMENT OR ANOTHER PARTNER CONTACT 2-1-1 WITH INFORMATION ON THE PROCESS FOR FORMER RESIDENTS TO RECEIVE A WATER BILL CREDIT?
From 3/8/16: CAN SEOC OR THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE PLEASE ASSIST WITH A RESPONSE TO THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITY REQUESTS:
- The Community Partners Communications Workgroup is asking for guidance from the State of Michigan on the following issues:
- What affects does heat/time have on the plastic water bottles?
- Regarding the side-effects of lead: On average how soon do symptoms appear?
- Who is testing the samples provided by residents? Is more than just lead and coper levels being tested? If so what is being tested?
- Will lead be passed on to recipients that received blood, organs or plasma from Flint donors?
- From 3/8/16: The Community Partners Communications Workgroup requested additional information on safe gardening practices to disseminate to the community.
- From 3/8/16:The Communications Workgroup requested a diagram or org chart of the crisis response mechanism and how all parties work together, including JIC, EOC, SECO, UCG,CHECC, ACE, CDC, EPA, DEQ, HHS, DHHS, FEMA.
- From 3/8/16:The Communications Workgroup requested coordination by state, federal and local governments on the distribution of information related to the Flint Water situation and the response, emphasizing the community doesn’t want multiple information documents for every department. They are asking for one consistent document on key issues and a mechanism to provide feedback to government entities prior to releasing information.
