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Monday, Feb. 2, 1998
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Administration Building and other areas will be closed during President Clinton's visit
For some Lab employees, President Bill Clinton's visit on Tuesday will mean a half day off of work as well as limited parking opportunities in the main technical area. Roads and certain facilities in Los Alamos also will be closed during the president's visit.
Employees who work in the Administration building will be excused from work Tuesday morning during Clinton's visit. The affected employees should expect to come to work after the president leaves, around 1 p.m. Employees won't be able to enter the building on Tuesday until after the President leaves. Affected employees should charge their absence time as report pay
"The excused half-day absence is being done in the interests of security," said Director John Browne. "We are asking everyone to cooperate. Those who can work from their homes are encouraged to do so, but I want to make it clear that no one who works in the Administration Building will be allowed to come to their office on Tuesday -- including me. After the President leaves, it will be business as usual."
Access posts into the Administration Building and to nearby facilities as well as the third floor of the Laboratory Data Communications Center will be closed during Clinton's visit.
In addition, the entire main parking area in front of the Administration Building will be closed beginning Monday evening. Security personnel are asking everyone to remove their vehicles from the main parking area on Monday.
The badge office also will be closed on Tuesday during the visit. People who need services from the badge office should get those services today or wait until after the President leaves on Tuesday.
Clinton's visit - during which he will learn about the Lab's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative and its applications -- will mean closures in other areas as well.
The Los Alamos Airport will be closed during the president's visit, and roads in the townsite and near the Lab's main technical area will close for the presidential motorcade. Lab employees and county residents should plan accordingly, said Stanley Busboom, deputy director of Facilities, Security and Safeguards. The exact timing and route of the presidential motorcade are not released until the day of the visit.
Who can see the president?
President Clinton will deliver a speech Tuesday morning around 11:30 a.m. at the Administration Building Auditorium.
Seating for the speech is limited and restricted to people who hold special tickets. The speech will be broadcast live on LABNET, the World Wide Web and on PAC-8, Los Alamos' public access channel.
Browne will distribute tickets to the speech to Lab divisions and program offices (see Browne memo). The number of tickets distributed will be prorated based on the number of employees in each organization. The division and program offices will distribute the tickets in some equitable fashion, such as a random drawing, Browne said.
"An important factor in ticket distribution will be to include families," said Browne. "Roughly one half of the tickets should go to family members who are not employees. The White House is encouraging attendance by families."
Children attending the speech must be at least 10 years old.
--James E. Rickman
DOE FY'99 budget briefing today on LABNET
The Department of Energy will hold a briefing on the fiscal year 1999 budget today in Washington, D.C. The briefing is scheduled to be broadcast live on LABNET Channel 9 beginning at 11 a.m. (1 p.m. EST). It is planned to last approximately one hour, followed by four breakout sessions focusing on Environmental Quality, Science and Technology, Energy Resources and National Security.
Preparations under way for wall-to-wall inventory
The Laboratory is preparing to conduct its bi-annual wall-to-wall inventory. The inventory focuses on Laboratory equipment (which includes controlled and capital items) and sensitive items, as listed in the Property Accounting, Inventory and Reporting System Database, or PAIRS.
The wall-to-wall-inventory is part of the University of California Appendix F contract requirements for property management. The last such inventory in 1995 resulted in the Lab's accounting for 99.7 percent of the more than 112,000 items (worth close to $1 billion) listed in PAIRS, for a "Far Exceeds Expectations" rating from both UC and the Department of Energy.
This time around, the 38 Lab property administrators responsible for carrying out the physical inventory (meaning they have to run the U.S. Government Property barcodes located on the affected items through hand-held scanners) will need only to account for approximately 71,000 items worth about $971 million, said John Tapia of Business Support Services (BUS-8).
Tapia explained that since the last inventory, more than 50,000 items costing between $1,000 and $5,000 have been decontrolled as a result of process improvements by the Lab and DOE, and that another 5,260 items once listed as sensitive have been retired.
The inventory officially begins today with a kickoff meeting in the "Orange Box" at Technical Area 53. Property administrators, business team leaders and many others representing various groups in the Business Operations (BUS) Division will meet to discuss the inventory plan and to finalize strategy.
The current schedule calls for the inventory to be completed by Aug. 1, with the following two weeks dedicated to validating the data and reconciling possible discrepancies. The final report to UC is due Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year.
Kerry Coffett, also of BUS-8, said while the property administrators are responsible for accounting for all items, it is the responsibility of property custodians -- Lab employees who have items listed under their names -- to make them readily available to the administrators. For property located offsite, a written affidavit by the employee should be sufficient documentation, said Tapia.
"If property custodians make their inventory items readily available to us, then we can do our jobs with little or no distraction to them. We want to be as inconspicuous as possible," said Coffett.
Property administrators will place yellow dots on items accounted for during the inventory. Coffett strongly urged employees not to take those yellow dots off until after the entire inventory is completed. "The dots are placed on the inventoried items to avoid duplicating effort," he explained.
Coffett added that accounting for 95 percent of the Lab's sensitive and equipment items is relatively easy. "It's the remaining 5 percent that we normally have difficulty with. That's why we need everyone's cooperation to help make this year's inventory a smooth one."
For additional information on the wall-to-wall inventory and what's expected of you, contact your assigned property administrator. Or call the Property Helpline at 5-3230.
--Ternel N. Martinez
'Health Connection' information sent to employees last week
Laboratory employees should begin receiving at their homes this week information on the new round-the-clock "Health Connection" medical triage and health-advice hotline. The hotline is part of the Lab's new Positive Health Directions program for employees.
With the new service, all University of California Laboratory employees can call a nurse triage hotline at Mayo Clinic for health information and advice. The hotline was been piloted since earlier this fall for employees who have dependents age 18 or younger, said Jessica Kisiel of Occupational Medicine (ESH-2).
Included in the packet of information employees will receive is basic health-care information, instructions on how to use the hotline for acute and non-acute instructions, answers to general health questions and concerns and a sticker that can be placed on the telephone. The sticker has the Health Connection toll-free telephone number, she said.
Using a computerized algorithm, nurses operating Health Connection will ask employees or dependents who call a series of questions, to which they respond either yes or no. The nurses will help callers decide if they need to seek medical care, and if so, how soon they should seek it. The nurse also may offer the caller advice on how to take care of themselves at home, Kisiel said.
Other components of the program include a health self-care book called "Take Care of Yourself" that provides advice on how to use home treatment and helps users decide whether they should seek further medical assistance.
Kisiel and other employees on the Positive Health Directions steering committee continue to make presentations to groups and divisions on how to use the book. All UC Lab employees will receive a book after the presentation, she said, noting that roughly two-thirds of Laboratory organizations have heard the presentation.
Subcontract personnel receive the book from their employer, and UC Lab retirees received it in November during briefings on the Lab's new health-care plan presented by Compensation and Benefits (HR-1).
Kisiel said retirees also were scheduled to receive a book, "Living Well," that focuses on health issues for older persons. The book is the sequel to the "Take Care of Yourself."
Another component of the program includes a voluntary health-risk assessment called "Health Check," which was developed at Stanford University and is a way for employees to become aware of health risks, such as elevated cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.
More information about the Positive Health Directions program can be found at http://www.hr.lanl.gov/html/positive_health/ online.
--Steve Sandoval
Employees find hotline useful
Nineteen percent of eligible Laboratory employees called the "Health Connection" medical triage and health-advice hotline during its trial period. The hotline is part of the Lab's new Positive Health Directions program for employees.
Of the 558 University of California Lab employees who responded to the 10-question online survey, which went out last month, about 70 percent rated the service as either good, very good or excellent and a positive addition to their benefits package, said Jessica Kisiel of Occupational Medicine (ESH-2).
"I'm happy to see that on the question of value, almost 70 percent were in the positive ranging from good to excellent," she said. "This tells me that employees like the hotline and find useful."
The survey did reveal some logistical problems: some employees said they either didn't receive their information packet or didn't remember the toll free telephone number.
Kisiel said the Lab will share survey results with Mayo Clinic management and will work together to respond to some of the shortcomings addressed in the survey results.
UC Lab employees who weren't part of the pilot should begin receiving an information packet at their homes this week on the new service (see related story). The hotline was piloted last fall for employees who have dependents age 18 or younger.
The packet contains basic instructions on how to use the hotline for acute and non-acute conditions, a refrigerator magnet, wallet cards and a telephone sticker with the Health Connection toll-free number.
Kisiel stressed that the nurse triage health-advice hotline isn't affiliated with Blue Cross Blue Shield New Mexico, which is the Lab's new health-care administrator. BCBS has its own toll free customer service line primarily to answer questions regarding the health-care plan, she said.
The survey also asked users why they didn't call the Health Connection advice hotline, how they rated the speed with which their call was answered, how they rated the clarity of the information they received and if having the service available changed what the user was planning to do to address his or her medical problem.
Kisiel said surveys were sent electronically to 2,594 Lab employees in the pilot. The response rate was 21.5 percent.
Regarding why employees in the pilot didn't use the service, 68 percent of the respondents said they didn't have any medical questions/problems. Eight percent said they didn't know the service was available, while 4 percent said they didn't receive the toll-free number or that their personal physician offers the same service.
Survey results showed that of the employees who used the service, the majority rated the courtesy of the nurse who answered medical questions and the speed in which medical questions were answered as excellent or very good.
Survey participants also were asked to provide optional written comments to some of the questions, said Kisiel. One respondent said the nurse triage and health-advice hotline wasn't used because "I would hesitate to get a medical diagnosis over the phone."
Kisiel explained that the Health Connections nurses don't give patient diagnoses; they would instruct the user to contact their physician.
Regarding the question of whether having the service available changed what the employee was planning to do to address a medical problem, a respondent wrote that a better understanding of their medication was gained.
A number of opinions or suggestions were given on how the service could be improved, Kisiel said.
"The nurse evaluated a pediatric condition over the phone that was 100 percent correct. Was able to treat at home and saved a trip to the doctor (sic)," one respondent wrote.
One respondent said nurses should have information on appropriate dosage amounts of medication to administer to children. The employee said the nurse couldn't respond when asked this question and was told by the nurse to check with a local pharmacy.
Kisiel said the nurse triage hotline doesn't include prescribing or giving dosage amounts for medications.
"I think that Health Connection is a great idea," another respondent wrote. "It was comforting to know that I could get some quick answers if I needed it."
Kisiel said the pilot survey results will be placed on the Positive Health Directions home page, which can be found at http://www.hr.lanl.gov/html/positive_health/ online.
--Steve Sandoval
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