Jefferson Parish Employee Newsletter June 2019 Message from the Parish President. Preparing for This Hurricane Season Hurricane Season runs June 1 through November Volume 40 30 every year. It is im- Number 3 portant to make a plan June 2019 even if there is no risk of a hurricane and make sure you and your family are prepared. Have Needed Supplies Ready Michael Yenni Stock up on emergen- Parish President cy supplies for your home and car including: batter- cables, and flares. Write ies, candles, lamps with down emergency phone fuel, flashlights, a battery- numbers and program them powered radio, first aid into your cell phones. Find kit, prescription medi- the nearest shelters and fa- cines, one gallon of water miliarize yourself with var- per day for each person ious routes to get there. and pet, and at least a Preparation can mean three- to five-day supply the difference between be- of non-perishable food. ing a hurricane victim and a hurricane survivor. Now Be Prepared to Evacuate is the time for us to be pre- If a hurricane or severe pared. flooding is coming, you may hear an order to Do You Have a Hurricane evacuate your home. Plan? NEVER IGNORE AN Write down and go over ORDER TO EVACUATE! your hurricane plan, know Even sturdy, well-built where you will ride out a houses may not hold up against an extreme storm. storm and get your sup- plies. Be sure everyone in Have An Emergency Kit your home knows what to When evacuating, be do and where to go in the sure to fill your car’s gas event of a hurricane or tank and make sure you flooding event. Let us all include a roadside emer- be prepared and safe this gency kit, maps, jumper hurricane season! Page 1 Jefferson Parish Employee Newsletter June 2019 JeffTalk Editor’s Editor…………..….Peggy O. Barton Managing Editor…...Greg Alexander Notes Departmental Reporters Alario Center Deirdre Cummings Surprise Medical Bills Capital Projects Gary Lehman Coastal Management You may have heard of peo- Seamus Riley ple locally and across the nation Community Development being taken by surprise by unex- Peggy O. Barton, Editor Stephanie Brumfield pected medical bills. People have gone to hospitals or seen It is probably a good idea to Drainage Sheena Quinn doctors that are in their provider EIS Buddy Burkhamer speak to your doctor’s billing network, yet they have received department or read over their Emergency Management some out-of-network bills. There Ava Bougere billing policies before receiving are basically two situations that additional treatment at the doc- Engineering Helen McGee can lead to such unhappy sur- tor’s office to avoid any unex- Environmental Affairs prises, and I would like to tell pected charges. Kathy Russo you a bit about them. Finance Authority Valerie Brolin Out-of-Network Providers. Fleet Management Provider-Based Billing. Another important issue to Amy Truesdell Provider-based billing is the keep in mind is that even Floodplain Management practice of charging for physi- though a hospital is in your Maggie Olivier cian services separately from network, some of the doctors facility charges. With Provider or treatment providers that General Services Tessa St. Pierre -Based Billing, hospitals can HR Management Glenn Schiro they use may not be. Patients charge patients a fee for use of can go to a hospital that is in Inspection & Code Enforcement the building at which a patient Mary Ann Benitez their network and get an unex- is seen. The charge is separate pected bill because someone JeffCAP Yvonne Dumas from the fee for the physician's who treated them was out of Juvenile Services Vicki Borja professional services. Hospitals network. Many of these unex- Library Irene Lunkin can charge patients a facility pected, out-of-network charges LSU Ag Center Karen Jones fee if they see physicians who are for services by anesthesiol- Parks & Recreation work in an office that is owned ogists, pathologists, or radiolo- Antoinette Holmes & by the hospital. gists. William Cangemi Parkways Karen Jackson If you have an office visit Some of our employees with a hospital-based provider who recently visited East Jef- Planning Nedra McKinney and any additional treatment is PMZ Kimberly Bates ferson’s ER received some provided during that office vis- “surprise bills,” of this sort. Purchasing Mark Buttery it, the additional treatment is Security A’delle Joseph The good news is that we have subject to additional bill- resolved that problem. All ser- Sewerage Venice Cooper ing. What this means is that if vices provided in EJ’s ER Streets Kenya Johnson the patient is having an office should now be in-network. Traffic Engineering visit with the doctor and the Brandy & David Stout patient receives additional If you have any questions Transit Patricia Lyons treatment, such as an injection, about unexpected billing, you Water Alecia Washington breathing treatment, mole re- can ask your department’s Workforce Connection moval, etc., then that treatment Benefits Coordinator. You can can be billed as an outpatient Carolyn Haynes also e-mail our Benefits Ad- service and a facility charge ministrator Jessica Palermo: can be billed to the insurance ([email protected]). company. Page 2 Jefferson Parish Employee Newsletter June 2019 Fleet Management thrown into the fire: Three supportive. Without their help, By months after he started, Hurri- the job would have been impos- Amy Truesdell cane Katrina hit. He said it sible. was a harrowing experience, Nick has several plans in the Nick D Retires but it gave him the under- works for the rest of the year. standing that during an emer- He intends to take a cruise Stop the presses! Fleet Man- gency, all the other depart- along the East Coast during the agement has this breaking ments in Jefferson Parish de- fall, visit friends that are scat- news: Director Nicholas Diger- pend on Fleet Management. tered across the country, play olamo has announce his re- Once the situation was stable, golf, and spend more time with tirement, which will take effect Nick bought a lot of equip- his grandchildren. Mr. Nick May 30, 2019. “Mr. Nick” has ment to update the facility for has been a true leader to those served as the Director for Fleet the Central Garage. Purchas- of us in Fleet Management, and Management since March 3, ing fuel trucks was his main we are sure we will be calling 2005. Nick stated it was a very focus. He also updated con- him from time to time for his hard decision for him to make; tracts for emergency purposes words of wisdom. Fleet Management has been a to better serve the Citizens of very big part of his life, but he the Parish. When asked what advice he feels it is time for him to enjoy wants to give to the new Direc- being with his family and Nick states he is grateful tor, Nick responded that the friends. for the opportunity to work best advice he can give is “Try with a number of administra- to stay ahead of the game, don’t Nick says he began with the tions, but he especially en- prolong anything, especially department with the intention of joyed the past two years with during hurricane season; don’t staying seven years, but seven Mike Yenni. He says the Di- wait until the last minute and be turned into fourteen because he rectors and CAA Royce caught off guard. The number enjoyed working for Jefferson Blanchard have been wonder- one priority for Fleet Manage- Parish so much. Nick started his ful to work with, and he wants ment is to be there for the other first year with Fleet by being to thank his staff for being so departments during an emergen- cy to provide equipment and fuel. Introducing New Director Fleet Management is proud to introduce our new Director, Randy Belanger. Randy is a native of Kenner and attended Crescent City Baptist High School. From a young age, Randy worked in his family business, B & C Auto Wreck- ers. When Randy announced he wanted a car, his father told him to build one, so from age 14 to 16 Randy spent his after-school hours building a 1987 Buick Grand National. Randy spent his early adult years as the owner of Orleans Specialties Marble, LLC. Over the past eight years, Randy has been a Jefferson Parish Police- New Fleet Management Director Randy Belanger man and has served in several is welcomed by retiring Director Nick DiGerolamo different aspects of the job starting as a Correctional Depu- Page 3 Jefferson Parish Employee Newsletter June 2019 ty and moving into the positons Human Resources Benefits Specialist Gretchen of Patrol Officer; SWAT Opera- By Tilton has been busy completing tor; and Executive Protector. Glenn Schiro the following webinars: In addition to having a pas- The Dos and Don’ts of HIPPA sion for cars, Randy is a sports Congratulations, Nicole and ERISA Compliance, Artificial fan and keeps very busy being a We congratulate our Assis- Intelligence and the future of Ben- dad to his six-year-old son, Eli. tant Director Nicole Thomp- efits, New U.S. Paid-Leave Legis- When asked how he feels about son upon her selection as lation and Trends for 2019, Tips filling some mighty big shoes, Human Resources’ Employee to Help Your Employees Raise Randy replied, “Nick D. has set of the Year. Nicole has been their Health Care IQ, and Behav- higher standards as the Director of with the Parish for 20+ years. ioral Healthcare: What Employ- Fleet Management. He has done In 2006, she transferred from ees and Job Seekers Expect Em- an outstanding job increasing the Public Works to Human Re- ployers to Provide.