The pandemic resulting from the COVID-19 virus has led to emergency initiatives on all levels of government. On a national level, the CARES act was quickly passed by Congress to inject over $2 trillion into America’s collapsing economy.
On Long Island, local governments have been forced to change the way they interact with constituents, literally overnight. With that in mind, here are three “good government” ideas Nassau County should consider to better serve residents during this trying time:
Create a PPE Website – There is a shortage of personal protective equipment throughout Nassau County. Health clinics, nursing homes, group homes, volunteer fire departments, local police departments, inpatient mental health facilities, outpatient physical therapy, radiation and dialysis centers, and supermarkets, are just a small sampling of organizations outside of hospitals, in desperate need of PPE.
Nassau County should create a website that acts as a clearinghouse for PPE requests, so government and non-profit charities can work together to supply PPE to organizations in need.
Create a Volunteer Responder Website – The National Health System in England put out a countrywide call for non-emergency volunteers through this website link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/participation/get-involved/volunteering/nhs-volunteer-responders/
The reason for the British government doing this was to find volunteers to “carry out simple, non-medical tasks to support people in England – including driving people to and from the hospital and delivering food and medication.
Volunteers could also support the NHS to transport equipment and supplies and make regular phone calls to check on people isolating at home.”
When the British government advertised this program, they were hoping for 250,000 responses. The British patriotic call to duty overwhelmed the NHS with responses, and they stopped accepting applications when 750,000 British citizens promptly registered. There are many Nassau County homebound elderly and disabled residents who would benefit from a similar program and one should quickly be created.
Create a “Suggestion Box” Website – For many years, I ran a website named “Nassau County Suggestion Box.”
The purpose behind this website was to foster crowdsourced good government ideas and to let the website’s users vote and comment on whether they supported the suggestions. Nassau County Suggestion Box was also created to let local municipalities know about their constituents’ pressing issues, so they could respond accordingly.
Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth just launched a simpler version: https://northhempsteadny.gov/concern-suggestion. Kudos to Supervisor Bosworth. With over 1.3 million residents, Nassau County would benefit from a similar portal during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finally, for those of you who don’t know, I am a long-time board member of the international disaster relief organization All Hands and Hearts – Smart Response.
Through AHAH, I spearheaded a PPE drive to benefit Long Island’s front-line health professionals and first responders. As of the writing of this article, we have raised over $167,000 and purchased 50,000 KN95 masks and 4000 face shields.
We are also in the process of purchasing 10,000 Level 2 and 3 gowns. Please consider supporting our efforts. https://www.allhandsandhearts.org/
