A resolution approving and providing for the execution of a proposed Grant Agreement between the City and County of Denver and the State of Colorado concerning the “Public Assistance COVID-19 Grant” program and the funding therefor. Approves a grant agreement with the Colorado Department of Public Safety for funding in the amount of $38,609,673.86 for the Public Assistance COVID-19 Grant Program (202054524). Councilmember Black approved filing this item on 4-27-20.
Thank you, Councilmember. I'll raise other comments on this one. We're going move on to the next one. Secretary, please put the next item on our screens. This is 393. And Councilmember CdeBaca, you close enough for comment? Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. President. I caught this one out because I've been getting multiple calls from Denver health workers, employees who have felt like their safety and health has been jeopardized and they haven't had an outlet to speak up. They're afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation from Denver health. And so several of those individuals pulled together a letter that I'd like to read on record for council members. Distinguished Council members. We are a group of dedicated bedside nurses and employees at Denver Health caring for patients battling coronavirus, all while we continue providing the essential care that our community relies on our hospital for. We want to thank you in advance for approving desperately needed emergency funds and at the same time rightfully actioning the allocation of money inside our organization. Your commitment to ensuring the fair and ethical distribution of resources is reassuring to us at a time when we are being forced to reanalyze and reevaluate the assumptions we have taken for granted. We share your concerns, concerns we didn't think we would ever have. After some of us left for profit health care jobs in favor of nonprofit ones, we have been diligently working with the understanding that from top to bottom, this hospital was a team working in service of a shared mission. When our administration asked the front lines to make cuts and sacrifices, we assumed those cuts would be shared across the organization. We weren't. We were reluctant to ask questions, assuming these requests were being made in good faith. When the same hospital executives who asked us to sacrifice took over $1,000,000 in bonuses, we felt betrayed and demoralized by our leadership as our concerns for more, more as our concerns for patient safety and our rights as workers were repeatedly dismissed. We have begun to feel ever more expendable as COVID 19 lingers, claiming more lives. We are concerned not only for the outcomes of our patients, but for the first time we are concerned for our own safety. As you know, many of us are distancing ourselves from loved ones and have not seen our families for over a month . Knowing that when we come home from saving the lives of our patients, we may risk the lives of our families with the substantial viral load covering our close face and hair. We know we are in danger. The fear of contracting this illness or giving it to loved ones keeps us up at night and puts our dedication and altruism to the test. In nursing school, we were taught to always assess the scene, to ensure our own safety before caring for others. We were taught that the safety of others would never be expected to take precedence over our own. Until now, as we face emergency PPE shortages, we are extending the use of one N95 mask from a minimum of 12 to over 36 hours three weeks in some cases. This is a mask that was designed for single use and to realistically only be worn for at most an hour or two. We don't have access to full body suits necessary to protect our face, neck and clothing. Instead, we utilize single use gowns which only protect our arms and front portion of our torso. We are providing our own safety glasses because shields used to protect our entire faces are often hard to come by and are in questionable condition being reused between multiple staff and even patients. Cleaning supplies and disinfectant wipes are also in short supply. Advice to think carefully about what we clean and to judiciously use disinfectants. Nurses are are accepted to be expected to be the professional experts on a holistic view of patient's lived experience while in the hospital. We know firsthand how the quality of patient care has been reduced in efforts to preserve PPE and cleaning supplies. Many of our patients at Denver health are gravely ill and often have medical histories with multiple preexisting conditions due to income and systemic health disparities. Simply put, our patients are sicker than those that other hospitals. They have fewer resources, lower health literacy rates and diminished coping skills. Their care is complex and more involved than patients at other facilities. We can confidently inform this council that supplies and money for training are desperately needed to maintain the health of the most vulnerable members of our community. As the frontline nurses, we're committed to this mission, but we need Denver Health to have the support and leadership it needs. We can't do it alone. Thank you. So much for your time, consideration and commitment to the public of the of Denver County. And this was a letter that they brought to me due to their concerns over the insufficient paid help paid leave for people or professionals who come down with coronavirus for a paycheck loan program through Denver, Denver Health that has an 18% interest rate for the most vulnerable workers. And this is all due to that, what we're being billed for or what we're trying to have reimbursed by FEMA through the grant agreement that we're passing tonight. It's important for us to look at the many spreadsheets associated with this request and to demand continued reporting on modifications to this grant agreement amendments, deliverables, financial reports and even approved expenses. I think that we need to make sure that we're getting these reports on a regular basis, and I request that our leadership has this for us so that we can be in lockstep with what's happening on the ground and make sure that we're getting these resources to people on the ground. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilmember. Next up, Councilmember to our editors. Thank you, Mr. President. I really appreciate that letter. I think those. Six. Employees really quickly put into words. What it's like to hear from our district offices. And this. Is a reminder of even those that. We have to for how. We don't we may not have the authority of our personnel decisions, but we expect the demand. Leadership to work towards. These kinds of communities, and we expect that to work as well, which is really important. Failure of the leadership team is what I've seen, and I hope they. Will correct it. Thank you, Councilmember. Except Councilmember King. Thank you so much, Mr. President. I was not in favor of delaying that approval. And this is body politic that we've defined is critical. That said, important information that has come out of this many of us. Over the last few weeks. I want to thank them for answering some of those questions, but one that I would like to ask the members of the administration once again, if you could do it very obviously, or sometimes the connection between them or help in the in terms of things like security and purchasing of equipment. So I would like to understand better. You can follow up with that email. Understand when you've been asked to help to procure PPE, when you've done that, when you've obviously exhausted or declined to participate, whether it's the client and 95 because the price is too high when they were available. So if you could just help us understand how much we are involved in your health and think that was great, I don't want to put you on the spot and help it provide that and it would help me a little better. I know that we're separate entities that the president that our public health arm that they operate. It's my sense that there is some information happening at the government level. So it's needed for me for that. Thank you, Councilmember. All right. Singular comments on this one. Madam Secretary, please put the next item on our screen. Councilmember Torres, would you please put Council Resolution 416 on.