What to Carry in Your Car in Winter

Winter travel can be tough on car and driver, to prepare:

• Check your tires and make sure your chains fit before the first winter storm and check tire pressure during cold weather. Remember, tire shops and mechanics are busiest just before and during winter storms.

• Get a vehicle winter maintenance check-up. Don't wait to check your battery, belts, hoses, radiator, lights, brakes, heater/defroster and wipers.

• Keep your fuel tank full — don't let it fall below half a tank on winter trips.

• Program your radio for traffic reports and emergency messages (for WSDOT radio: 530 and 1610 AM).

What to carry on winter trips:

• Keep a basic winter survival kit in your vehicle: flashlight, batteries, blanket, snacks, water, gloves, boots, first-aid kit.

• Load your car with winter travel gear : tire chains, ice scraper/snowbrush, jumper cables, road flares.If you find yourself stranded, be safe, stay in your car, put on your flashers, call for help and wait until it arrives.

https://www.wsdot.com/winter/files/WhatToCarry2016.pdf

Winter Weather Advisories

It finally looks like winter is going to arrive in West Michigan; which makes this a good time to review winter driving safety and traveling to client’s homes. First and foremost, we always want you to be safe. Shifts can be rescheduled if the roads are not safe to drive on. A bit late is always better than having an accident pushing things to get to a client’s home.

If you are going to be late, call your Client. You can view your Client’s phone number in the Clear Care Go app by selecting the shift you are late for, then selecting their Name. Simply press on their Name in the Task View or on the Menu under Clients and their profile with their address and phone number are displayed. The office will call to check on you if you are more than 20 minutes late, but we look to you to connect with your senior.

If you actually need to reschedule with your Client for another time, then please do that directly also. Reminder, all rescheduled shifts must be completed by Saturday of the same week. Text the reschedule information to the office at 616-234-0190 as soon as you and your client have agreed upon it.

I am also re-sharing our annual winter driving safety tips. Take a minutes and double check you have all the things you need in your car, before you go out in the snow. Bundle up and thank you for all you do.

CDC Shortens Quarantine Period to 5 days

The CDC today announced changes to the isolation and quarantine guidelines for exposure to Covid 19 and it’s variants. They have shortened both periods to 5 days. They have also updated the quarantine criteria to take into consideration whether you have received a booster vaccination. We will be updating our policy to reflect these new guidelines starting today.

From the CDC

Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, the CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to 5 days, if asymptomatic, followed by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others. Per the CDC, the change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after.

New guidelines

• If you test positive for Covid and have no symptoms, the isolation period has been reduced to 5 days. Also, you should wear a mask for 5 additional days.

• If you have a close contact and have been vaccinated &/or a booster shot within 6 months, then you do not need to quarantine. However, you do need to wear a mask for 10 days and test on the 5th day.

• If you have a close contact and are unvaccinated or received your vaccination more than 6 months ago with no booster, the new guidelines recommend the same quarantine period of 5 days and testing on day 5.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Danna for clarification. As always, call the office if you have any concerns regarding a close contact or are not feeling well.

Setting up Pay notification

You can set up your Paycor notifications to send you a text when you paycheck has been processed and your paystub is ready to View.

Follow these steps:
1. Login to Paycor.

2. Click My Settings. The Settings screen appear.

3. Click the Notification Preferences tab.

4. Click Notification of Pay and select one of these notification methods:

• Email

• Text (SMS)

• Mobile App

You will then be notified when they can view their pay stubs.