When Passavant Memorial Homes Family of Services didn't receive a state grant to fund extra pay for its frontline workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, the nonprofit operator of community residential homes didn't let that stop them from digging deep and increasing their employees' pay anyway.
That meant a temporary $3 an hour pay increase for its employees between Aug. 16 and Oct. 24, a big-ticket item that totaled about $1.1 million for the entire system. The Warrendale-based organization has 140 residential homes for people with autism, intellectual and behavioral needs serving 350 people and 1,100 employees.
It was, said Passavant, a way to give back to the front-line and direct support personnel who kept coming in every day to provide care and anchors during the unprecedented challenge that has been the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It's that dedication, that work ethic, that allowed us to weather the storm," said Zachary Senft, COO and VP of the 126-year old Passavant Memorial Homes Family of Services, a private nonprofit human services organization that has operations in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
But it's only been about a third of the money that Passavant has committed to its employees and the people it serves.
In July, it provided a $150 one-time bonus to each of its employees. It followed it up with a $100 bonus to every employee who worked a shift Thanksgiving Week, and then provided between $100 and $250 bonuses per employee who picked up a shift the week of Christmas or New Year's. Those three bonuses have totaled nearly half a million dollars on top of the $1.1 million in temporary extra pay.
Senft said that Passavant knows it can't do its overall job without the work of its front-line workers, and realized that, even without extra funding from the state, it had to step up for its people.
"Ultimately, with recognition, it's one thing to verbalize it, it's another to put economic resources into it," Senft said.
And it hasn't stopped with the new year: Passavant has also been recognizing its direct-service workers with bonuses and companywide recognition based on performance.
But the spring of 2021 finds Passavant in a better place than it was at the start of the pandemic. It ramped up last winter, before the first cases began to appear, with enhanced cleaning, personal protective equipment and physical distancing. Since it has 140 homes whose residents not only depend on them but also are at special risk for Covid-19, Passavant can't close. It stood up a new and contactless delivery system for its facilities, turning its headquarters at Thorn Hill into a hub where all the groceries and supplies needed by the homes are gathered and stored before being delivered through 13 separate routes. Not only did the homes receive, safely and without outside contact, the things they needed to thrive during the pandemic but they also had the ability to ask for special items that would also be delivered.
Passavant also did what it could, through the deliveries, to keep engagement levels high. That included sending Easter Baskets, picnic supplies during Memorial Day and July 4, and a virtual bingo where a prize package included a themed party for the winning home.
"We made sure that given the circumstances, we asked how can we make it as best as possible," he said.
Senft said that the deliveries helped Passavant Memorial Homes protect residents and staff from Covid-19. So did a custom-built and intensive system of contact tracing and isolation of suspected cases.
"We used evidence-based management in order to put in best practices and stop any spread," Senft said. Passavant Memorial Homes didn't have its first Covid case until November, long after other congregate care facilities had outbreaks.
It's been able to further protect against Covid-19 by vaccination clinics, partnering with Walgreens and Rite Aid in an effort that has been completed. The vaccinations have helped the organization to return to more normal activities, which helps staff and residents alike.