March 23, 2020

In compliance with Governor Ever’s “Safer-at Home” order, New Hope Center Inc will continue it’s  essential business services in the areas of assisted living, small capacity transportation, and supply-line manufacturing.

It’s remaining essential employees will be provided a “proof of employment letter” which they should keep with them the duration of this crisis.

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March 20, 2020

The COVID 19 virus continues to impact all of us. As new information comes in hour by hour, we find ourselves making complicated and difficult decisions about how our organization will manage.

Regretfully as of Monday March 23rd 2020 New Hope Centers Achieve Work Services, and Inspire Day Services- will be CLOSED until further notice. We will be re-evaluating this decision on an ongoing basis and will provide you with an update at that time.

We will be sharing updates through the New Hope Centers website, Facebook, and through email. We also plan to post announcements with channels 2, 5, and 11- and WOGB radio.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us by phone 920-849-9351 as someone will still be available to answer your questions during normal business hours.

Thank you all for your understanding as we continue to make decisions affecting the health and safety of everyone at New Hope Center. We are all in this together! Stay healthy, stay happy and keep supporting each other- we will get through this!

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March 18, 2020

We are continuing to monitor communications from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to make the best decisions for our participants & employees.

At this time we are continuing to remain open for programming. Should that change we will post here, on our website and on our Facebook page.

If you would like frequent updates from us, please email info@newhopeinc.org and we will add you to our email list.

We are all in this together! Stay healthy, stay happy and keep supporting each other!

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March 17, 2020

New Hope Center continues to be committed to protecting the health and safety of our participants and employees as we make decisions around COVID-19. Please know that we are constantly monitoring communications from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS).

New Hope Center remains open for programming. Should that change we will post to our website https://www.newhopeinc.org/ and on our Facebook page.

New Hope Center families and friends - Thank you for your help and support. We have incredible staff and participants who will help each other. We will all come together to support each other and do our best to keep people safe. We will stay vigilant to make the good decisions for everyone involved and keep you updated daily on our efforts and relay information as quickly as we can.

We will continue to take steps to reduce the transmission of communicable diseases by reminding everyone of the following:

§ Stay home when you are sick.

§Wash your hands frequently with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are unavailable, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

§Avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes with unwashed hands.

§Cover your mouth with tissues whenever you sneeze, and discard used tissues in the trash.

§Avoid people who are sick with respiratory symptoms.

§Put distance between yourself and others.

§Clean frequently touched surfaces.

In addition to the extra cleaning and disinfecting processes put into place in previous weeks, New Hope Center has decided the following:

• All visitor entry into our building will be restricted to an extreme need basis only
• Extra steps have been implemented to promote social distancing within our facility.

New Hope Center has and will continue to follow the CDC recommendations for participants and employees who are sick, which means that anyone who has symptoms of acute respiratory illness may not come to work until:

•They are free of fever (100.4̊F [ 37.8̊C] or greater using an oral thermometer);

• have no signs of a fever and any other symptoms for at least 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing or other symptom-altering medicines (e.g. cough suppressants).

We are also encouraging parents, guardians and residential providers to review your plans and be prepared if New Hope Center decides to close.

Please be encouraged to visit the following websites for the most reliable and current information on Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Wisconsin Department of Health Services: https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/outbreaks/index.htm

Center for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html

World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses

Thank you.

Please don’t hesitate to call with any questions.

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March 16, 2020

Dear Persons Served, Families and Guardians:

With the rapidly changing situation concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to community mitigation measures outlined by the Governor and the Wisconsin Department of Health today, we want to update you. In addition to distributing information at our day & work locations, we are also emailing this information to contacts who have provided us emails, and we will post this and future updates on the news area of our web site at www.newhopeinc.org and on our Facebook Page.

New Hope Center is implementing a number of measures immediately:

· In our various settings, we are in the process of determining how we can best comply with the social distancing guidelines outlined by the Wisconsin Department of Health guidelines of within 6 feet for 10 minutes or more. This will result in some changes to be announced on our work and day service structures.

· NHC group homes will be screening individuals for symptoms before they leave their homes; we ask that families and others do the same where possible.

· We have increased our sanitization of surfaces and are implementing handwashing breaks every two hours at our day and work service locations. Residential sites are emphasizing the appropriate health and safety protocols at our residential locations.

· We are working with our staff to implement appropriate social distancing measures and activity modifications, including avoiding outings to highly traveled venues until further notice.

· All day service locations are being advised to limit visitors to our sites; we will postpone tours, in-person planning meetings and vendor visits - utilizing technology for meetings when possible.

· We are asking that staff and individuals served who display symptoms remain home for 14 days or until cleared by their physician.

· Our Day and Work services team will support the decisions of high risk individuals with complicated medical conditions who choose to remain home at this time.

· In addition, our Residential team will support the decisions of individuals/families/guardians who choose to remain home rather than attend day or work services. We will work to adjust staffing levels as needed. Due to already reduced census, with participants voluntarily staying home, no facet of our services includes groups of 50 or more.

·We are in close communication with the Wisconsin Department of Human Services, the CDC, and our funding sources regarding service delivery, and we will continue to follow guidelines and/or mandates established by the Wisconsin Department of Health and other health agencies.

· If you do not currently receive emails from New Hope Center and you would like to, please send your email to info@newhopeinc.org to be added.

Please note that our situation may change quickly. We will continue to monitor updates and will provide any new information as needed.

We remain committed to our mission of serving individuals throughout all of our programs, and we appreciate everyone’s support during this time. I also want to remind everyone to take care of yourself and your families, recognizing that we are all impacted by this in some way. Please reach out to your New Hope Center contact person if you have any specific questions or concerns. Thank you.