Safe Communities 24-7 Recovery Coach Helpline

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cheryl Wittke, Executive Director, Safe Communities
(608) 256-6713

New Helpline aims to reduces stress-related alcohol and drug use

Safe Communities 24-7 Recovery Coach Helpline
(608) 228-1278
if incarcerated, call 888-811-3689 x 1
email: referral@safercommunity.net

A new 24/7 helpline is available for Dane County residents thinking about using alcohol and/or other substances or struggling with substance use issues during the coronavirus epidemic. For help, call (608) 228-1278. Calls are free.  No insurance is needed.

This service, sponsored by the nonprofit Safe Communities, is for previous alcohol and/or other substance users, those now in treatment or those tempted to start, and those concerned about a loved one. Callers talk confidentially with Recovery Coaches who are not professional therapists but in long-term recovery from their own alcohol or other substance use and have training in how to help others as advocates, peers and confidantes.

“This is a very stressful time for everyone. People are worried about social isolation, getting sick themselves or losing their jobs and income.’ said Tanya Kraege, Manager, Safe Communities Recovery Coaching Program. “They can become vulnerable to alcohol or other substance use to feel better.”

“This is especially true for those who are working to be in recovery or are already in long-term recovery. Relapse rates increase with stress brought on by loss of income, social isolation and anxiety. They may face additional treatment barriers due to coronavirus-related closures of treatment programs and an overwhelmed health care system.”

People living with substance use disorder are overrepresented in the hospitality business, including restaurants. “Hospitality, travel and leisure employees make up 11% of the entire American work force with over 20,000 working in Dane County alone,” said Jason Illstrup, president of Downtown Madison, Inc. “The lives of many hospitality employees turned upside down with the onset of COVID-19. Many are furloughed, working on reduced hours or, worse yet, terminated. Programs like Safe Communities Recovery Coaching Program will provide instant help to those most in need during a time when any helping hand could save a life.”

Although talking to a recovery coach won’t change the circumstances, coaching is a proven strategy to prevent return to use of substances. 

Coaches represent all ages and include African Americans, Latinos and LGBTQ. Coaches answer calls themselves and may refer callers to a different coach if someone better fits their experience and concerns.

Safe Communities Executive Director Cheryl Wittke encourages families and friends of persons in recovery to be especially attentive to warning signs that the person might be at risk of return to use. Some of the signs are listed at https://www.unityrehab.com/blog/10-relapse-signs/

The Recovery Coach 24-7 Helpline is an expansion of other highly impactful recovery coaching programs operating in Dane County. These include: 

Funding from Dane County and UW Health/UPH-Meriter/Quartz are making this helpline possible. 

Dane County Executive Joe Parisi stated: “Dane County is proud to be the first county in the state to support recovery coaching – a proven strategy to help people with addiction find recovery. Now as we work together to contain the coronavirus, we can’t lose sight of how our opioid overdose epidemic continues to threaten lives, particularly as these two epidemics converge.  Through our sponsorship of Safe Communities’ 24-7 Recovery Coaching Helpline, Dane County is extending our commitment to support people through this crisis.”

“UW Health Is pleased to support Safe Communities 24-7 Recovery Coaching Helpline. This critical resource will help our patients and any community member struggling with addiction find help during these stressful times”, said Beth Lonergan, Director of Behavioral Health for UW Health.

Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin and SSM Health are also sponsoring the launch.

Safe Communities is a nonprofit coalition of over 350 organizations working together to save lives, prevent injury and make Dane County safer. Funding is provided by federal, local and foundation grants, project sponsors, memberships and individual donors.  For more information and a listing of Sustaining Members, visit SaferCommunity.net.

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WPS Health Solutions employees fulfilling essential role while working remotely, keeping claims and payments flowing during COVID-19 crisis

Contact:
DeAnne Boegli, Director of Communications
608-977-7343
deanne.boegli@wpsic.com

MADISON, Wis.—April 2, 2020—WPS Health Solutions has 93% of its more than 4,000 employees and contractors working from home to meet the demands of the health care system during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

WPS is an essential business under the various state stay-at-home orders. The company provides critical infrastructure support to the nation’s health care system. WPS has reduced risk by aggressively transitioning employees to remote work at their homes and instituting enhanced cleaning protocols. The number of employees working from home has increased significantly since March 11 when the company escalated proactive steps to protect the safety and health of its workforce; at that time 38% of the workforce was remote. All WPS lines of business remain open and continue with normal operations. 

WPS has major facilities in four states and remote workers in 18 states. The company administers Medicare benefits for millions of seniors, and processes payments for millions of active military service members and their families and veterans. This in addition to providing health insurance for thousands of families and individuals in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Florida.

“I’m proud to say our recently mobilized workforce is meeting productivity and quality metrics in this new remote environment,” said WPS President and CEO Mike Hamerlik. “We haven’t missed a beat.”

Fewer than 270 workers remain at WPS facilities in four states—including mail sorting and scanning, call center, and printing operations. These employees are following physical-distancing guidelines and monitoring their own health before reporting to work as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Anyone with common COVID-19 symptoms—or other illnesses—must stay home. WPS is using aggressive cleaning protocols and providing disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer to employees. The company has a centralized method for supervisors to report any illnesses. So far, no WPS employee has tested positive for COVID-19.

“WPS has an essential role in keeping claims and payments flowing to the health care networks. We need our employees to stay healthy to help the U.S. respond to this pandemic,” Hamerlik said. “The health and safety of our employees, customers, agents, and vendors, and the continuity of customer service remain our top priorities.”

For WPS health insurance customers:

WPS Health Insurance has a special page—wpshealth.com/covid19—with updates regarding coverage related to COVID-19.

In most cases, telehealth services are available to WPS customers and their dependents to answer questions about the virus, evaluate their risk, and provide support by phone or video call if they develop symptoms. Cost-sharing for office visits to determine if COVID-19 testing is needed and the testing itself are waived, which means customers pay no copays, deductibles, or coinsurance.

WPS will allow early refills for both 30-day supplies and 90-day supplies of retail and home delivery prescriptions. Note that not all medications are approved for extended supplies and the amount of the refill will vary depending on the number of refills remaining on the prescription.

About WPS Health Solutions
WPS Health Solutions is a nationally regarded government contractor and a leading Wisconsin not-for-profit health insurer. The WPS Health Insurance division offers affordable health plans and benefits administration. The WPS Government Health Administrators division administers Part A and B Medicare benefits for millions of seniors in multiple states, and the WPS Military and Veterans Health division serves millions more members who are active in the U.S. military, veterans, and their families. Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS Health Solutions) has been based in Madison, Wis., for more than 70 years. For more information, please visit wpshealthsolutions.com.

American Family Institute, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and gener8tor Offering Emergency Response Program for Artists through Backline

MEDIA CONTACT
Mag Rodriguez
414-712-6288
mag@gener8tor.com

American Family Institute, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and gener8tor Offering Emergency Response Program for Artists through Backline

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and gener8tor today announced a partnership to run an emergency two-week virtual program for musicians affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. This free program is an extension of the Backline program currently offered in Milwaukee through a partnership between the organizations and other donors in the community. 

“We are honored to provide continued support to the creative community. Their dedication to Milwaukee, including its youth, is incentive for us to ensure they receive financial and social support during this challenging time,” says Nyra Jordan, Social Impact Investment Director from the American Family Institute.

Starting April 6 and running through April 17, The Institute, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and gener8tor will offer a two-week virtual accelerator program designed to help musicians identify, understand and secure resources to withstand the current crisis. Artists wishing to enroll in the Emergency Response Program are requested to visit https://backlinemusic.com/emergency-response-program to register. The registration deadline is Sunday, April 5 at 11:59pm CT. The number of office hour slots will be limited to 75 and made available to individuals who register for the webinars on a first-come, first-served basis. Webinars will happen on each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of the program and last for one hour. 

As a part of the program, participants will be invited to lunchtime webinars presented by experts in the following topics:

• Step-by-step process of determining eligibility, applying for financial support from various organizations and navigating the opportunities in the virtual music industry;
• Mental health and wellness resources; 
• Instagram’s Head of Music will go over Instagram’s response to COVID-19 and best practices for artists; 
• Music administration; 
• Upkeeping a digital presence; 
• Personal finance management; 
• Listening sessions with producers, songwriters, managers and A&Rs. 

In addition to the weekly webinars, the ERP will include dedicated, daily office hours for artists to virtually meet with Backline team members. The goal of the office hours is to help artists identify, understand, and engage with resources to help them during the COVID-19 crisis. Each artist is currently dealing with different struggles due to the crisis, so the Backline team will be working one-on-one with each individual to address these specific issues. 

The Institute, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and gener8tor will also work with community groups interested in providing pro bono resources to artists as additional virtual office hours around mental health. 

“Artists are the lifeblood of culture. They’re also entrepreneurs and small business owners and will need access to resources to sustain their livelihoods during these unprecedented circumstances,” said Mag Rodriguez, Director of Backline Milwaukee. 

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About Backline

Backline’s 12-week grant accelerator program provides coaching, mentoring, industry networking, and grants to cohorts of three or four musicians and/or bands. Each participant of the program receives a $20,000 budget grant. The Backline program is free to artists and takes no residuals, royalties, or revenue share.  

About The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact 

The Institute is a venture capital firm and partner of choice for exceptional entrepreneurs who are building scalable, sustainable businesses in a long-term effort to close equity gaps in America.

The Institute invests in companies working to provide economic opportunity for all, to build resilient communities, to create healthy youth development and to increase learning and academic achievement. It is based in Madison, Wisconsin and can be found on amfaminstitute.com/.

About 88Nine Radio Milwaukee
https://radiomilwaukee.org/

A non-profit, community-funded radio station, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee (WYMS-FM 88.9) has focused on supporting Milwaukee musicians since its 2007 launch. The station plays at least one Milwaukee artist per hour, recognizes Milwaukee music through its Milwaukee Music Awards, broadcasts a live weekly session with a Milwaukee band and spins Milwaukee music 

24/7 on 414Music.fm, via its HD2 broadcast radio channel and on mobile and online streams. Learn about 88Nine and stream the station at www.radiomilwaukee.org or via the 88Nine mobile app.

About gener8tor
https://www.gener8tor.com/

gener8tor is a turnkey platform for the creative economy that connects entrepreneurs (startup founders, artists, and musicians), investors, universities and corporations. The gener8tor platform includes pre-accelerators, accelerators, corporate programming, conferences, and fellowships.

gener8tor is a nationally-ranked, GOLD-tier accelerator in the U.S. as ranked by the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project: http://seedrankings.com.

NGL and its employees donate $75,000 to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin

The spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) was as surprising to National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) as it was to most people and businesses throughout Madison and the entire nation. The majority of NGL’s 350 plus employees worked in the office. But within the course of a weekend and two business days, nearly everyone was transitioned to work from home.

NGL continues to keep its employees and the community a top priority. Knowing that many people are concerned not only for their health and safety but also worried about how they will survive financially, the leadership team at NGL decided to give back and support Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin.

The generous donation of $75,000 from NGL and its employees will help to provide 225,000 meals to people in the community. NGL is a longtime donor and proud to support Second Harvest, an organization committed to ending hunger. 

“This is a stressful time, many people have children at home, elderly parents, family members at-risk and are concerned for their own health and safety. There is so much happening right now, being worried about where your next meal will come from shouldn’t be an issue. We are all in this together, and nobody should go hungry. With our contribution we hope those in our community receive the resources needed to keep their spirits up and remain healthy,” shared Knut Olson, NGL President & CEO.

Second Harvest will be creating care boxes for families impacted by coronavirus in southern Wisconsin. Second Harvest anticipates it will need to create 100,000 care boxes to families struggling with hunger after the closures of schools and businesses.

“As a result of unprecedented times, Second Harvest is having to take unprecedented measures to make sure the needs of those struggling with hunger are met,” said Second Harvest President & CEO Michelle Orge. “We are honored and grateful that National Guardian Life Insurance Company has put their trust in us to meet their desire to help the community through these trying times. It is through meaningful partnerships like this that we, collectively, will come out stronger in the end.”

About NGL

Established in 1909 National Guardian Life Insurance Company is an insurance company headquartered in Madison, Wis. Licensed to do business in 49 states and the District of Columbia, NGL markets preneed and individual life and annuities, as well as group markets products. Information about NGL can be found at www.nglic.com; Facebook: Facebook.com/NGLIC and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-guardian-life-insurance-company.

About Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin

Since 1986 Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin has put more than 100 million meals on the tables of the 1 in 10 who are facing hunger in southwestern Wisconsin. Learn more at: https://www.secondharvestmadison.org/

National Guardian Life Insurance Company is not affiliated with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America a/k/a The Guardian or Guardian Life.

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Timpano Consulting: Free strategy sessions available to nonprofit leaders

Timpano Consulting is offering free strategy sessions for nonprofit leaders needing support as they work through their responses to the pandemic.

Benefit from Chief Strategist Melanie Schmidt’s vast experiences and breadth of expertise to devise strategies for continuing to advance their work through these challenging times.

Sessions are up to 45 minutes and can be scheduled online at calendly.com/timpano through April 6, 2020.