Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • October 19, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 15 FOCUS: RETURNING TO WORK rate policies, and answers company leaders' questions about when work- ers can remain at, or return to, work. The program gives company of- ficials, as well as employees, some peace of mind during a challenging time, said Abigail Dreher, Stanley Black & Decker's director of public affairs. "It just gives us that expertise and that level of comfortability, knowing that we've got an expert and a chief medical officer guiding that decision-making," she said. McClure also answers employ- ees' questions, helps establish safety protocols, and interacts with the company's teams worldwide to ensure they're following appropri- ate safety measures, she said. "Our employees have not stopped working; they've been working throughout the whole pandemic," she added, and being able to tap into the program's resources helps make those within the company "as comfortable as comfortable can get in a situation like this." Since the pandemic began, Stan- ley, which has about 60,000 em- ployees, has implemented various safety measures, including: daily temperature checks and screenings of employees and visitors, sending home any employees with symp- tomatic signs of illness, requiring employees and visitors to wear face masks at all times, mandating vir- tual work for all employees who can do it, and restricting non-essential travel, among others. Business connections Prior to this year, officials at Hart- ford HealthCare, which recorded $3.5 billion in operating revenue in fiscal 2019, had been considering ways to broaden the health solutions they offer to businesses, McClure said. The pandemic has made that diversification play even more neces- sary as all hospitals — including the seven owned by Hartford HealthCare — face financial pressures from the impact of COVID-19, which canceled many elective surgeries during the spring and has many people hesitant to visit emergency rooms and other healthcare facilities. That's cost Connecticut hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, according to the Con- necticut Hospital Association. "The COVID pandemic sort of moved things into hyper-drive and brought things into focus," result- ing in Hartford HealthCare at Work, McClure said. The company offers similar ser- vices to colleges, universities and schools under a separate program called "Campus Care." That pro- gram began prior to the pandemic, but has drawn increased interest in recent months, he said. To date, it has served more than 10 board- ing schools, colleges and universi- ties, including Trinity College and the University of Hartford. Once the pandemic is over, Mc- Clure expects the Hartford Health- Care at Work program to continue. . Business leaders will always need advice on how to best care for workers' health, and Hartford HealthCare will keep exploring and seeking new ways to partner with Connecticut employers, he said. "I think we're going to be dealing with [COVID] for quite some time. We're going to be permanently changed," he said. "The way we think about risk is going to be for- ever changed, probably for at least the next generation to come." For more information on the program, email AtWork@hh- chealth.org. Hartford Hospital's Seymour Street campus. PHOTO | HBJ FILE

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