To reduce the spread of illness and number of deaths in residential care settings, the state launched a Residential Care Strike Team at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Strike Team -- made up of representatives from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), Human Services (DHS), Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), Department of Public Safety (CDPS), the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) and the Governor’s office -- works to support and regulate residential care facilities, while mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in all high-density environments serving older adults and people with disabilities.
The Strike Team is working to achieve this goal through six key strategies:
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Proactive and reactive monitoring and testing
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Infection control enforcement and education
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Providing personal protective equipment (PPE)
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Ensuring separation and isolation of residents and workers with COVID-19
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Helping stabilize staffing at facilities
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Resident health and well-being.
The Strike Team is committed to helping residential care facilities provide safe care in the least restrictive way possible and recognizes that the mental health of residents is equally important as their physical health. The Strike Team regularly meets with health care professionals, state medical doctors, trade association leaders, and other pandemic-related stakeholder groups to discuss what they’re seeing in facilities across the state.