Unprecedented times, unwavering commitment

We live in unprecedented times. This pandemic of the COVID-19 virus is a threat for MMI patients, businesses, and the country as a whole. But I would like to quote Ali S. Khan, M.D., M.P.H., dean of the UNMC College Public Health, who said in a tweet:

“Remember, above all else, that the enemy is the virus, not our friends and neighbors, and to never ever give a microbe the power to strip us of our humanity.”

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities as a group are designated by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a particularly vulnerable group to COVID-19 exposure. At MMI, we have taken more than a dozen infection control steps to keep our patients, families and providers as safe as possible from getting the COVID-19 infection. We also established an informational website page (available in Spanish), tailored to our families and patient population.

I am confident that our joint community efforts will slow down the rate of community spread of the virus, but it is highly unlikely that we will be able to fully eliminate it.

MMI will always follow and exceed CDC, national and state guidelines for infection control. But we will not close as long as our patients and families need our services, and they do not conflict with CDC, federal and state guidelines. We expect firefighters and police to continue to work, physicians to care for us, grocery stores to be open, electricity and water to be supplied to our homes, builders to build our new MMI home. We consider our services to be in the same category. Thus, we might temporarily suspend some services, only to retune them and try to deliver the care in a more appropriate modality. We are exploring expending our telehealth options, reducing group sizes, working in shifts, working from home when appropriate and other sensible measures.

Our families consider the care we provide to their loved ones essential to their future. We have each committed our professional careers to this end, and no pandemic will change that.

Karoly Mirnics, M.D., Ph.D.
Director and Hattie B. Munroe Professor
Munroe-Meyer Institute

What MMI is doing

All departments and programs at MMI are committed to the safety and well-being of the individuals they serve. To that end MMI has implemented the following:

Installed bilingual hygiene stations at patient and visitor entrance points;

Implemented COVID-19 screening interview for all patients and visitors;

Established additional check-in kiosks to manage patient flow;

Instigated heightened sanitation measures;

Moved classroom teaching and exams to electronic platform;

Transferred appointments to telemedicine when appropriate;

Created a website page with resources for families;

Exercised social distancing whenever possible;

Moved the majority of meetings to electronic format;

Postponed community events and conferences with more than 10 participants (Light it Up Blue will be held virtually, new building tours postponed, AAC conference cancelled, etc.);

Temporarily suspended TIPS, Early Intervention, Autism Care for Toddlers, Recreation Therapy group activities and some outstate clinics;

Required continuous self-monitoring for all providers and staff for COVID-19 and upper respiratory symptoms;

Suspended all business travel per University of Nebraska guidelines;

Discouraged private travel. When personal travel is unavoidable, travelers upon return might be required to self-isolate for two weeks; and

MMI leadership continuously interact with University of Nebraska, Nebraska Medicine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Douglas County Health Department to establish new and revise outdated policies.

Unprecedented times, unwavering commitment

What MMI is doing

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