(Disclosure: RLG represents HealthyVerify Certification.)
By Mike Sunnucks | Rose Law Group Reporter
Avondale Elementary School District is the first public school district certified by HealthyVerify Certification, the country’s only medically based, scientific and professional certification company helping to minimize the risk of COVID-19.
The Avondale Elementary School District has been certified by HealthyVerify Certification for adopting new and enhanced health safety protocols and social distancing policies as it and other school districts navigate the COVID-19 landscape.
Scottsdale-based HealthyVerify Certification helps businesses, workplaces, retail stores and nonprofits develop new programs, policies, and safeguards to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses and abide by public health orders and mandates. It is the country’s only independent medically based and professional certification company helping to minimize the risk of the disease.
The Avondale school district — which has 6,000 students, 780 teachers and staff members — is the first public school district to work with HealthyVerify and its team of public health experts and physicians.
Betsy Hargrove, superintendent at the Avondale Elementary School District, said she learned of HealthyVerify from the City of Goodyear which has worked with the Arizona startup on health safety programs and practices at its recreation centers, government offices and spring training ballpark and complex that is home to the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds.
Hargrove said HealthyVerify has helped the school district enhance what it is doing right in terms of social distancing and best practices for cleanliness. She said the company is also helping the Avondale schools navigate challenges and changes on how to respond to COVID-19 and associated government rules and mandates to curb its spread.
“HealthyVerify helps us on how to respond in those sticky areas,” she said.
HealthyVerify is helping the school district and training employees with social distancing, required mask rules and best practices and programs for cleanliness and sanitation. Those efforts are in classrooms, throughout school grounds including cafeterias and on school buses.
Hargrove said the recommended and mandated responses to help curb COVID-19 continue to change.
“It’s a shifting target. Everything will change from one day to the next,” Hargrove said.
She said HealthyVerify’s responsiveness to those changes, which can happen on a daily or weekly basis, has been impressive.
The Scottsdale health collaborative includes public health experts from the Barrow Neurological Institute.
The company’s services are increasingly important with new COVID-19 mandates and enforcement. Arizona now has 112,671 COVID cases and 4,057 deaths. The rise has prompted new state and local orders to wear masks and to limit the hours and operations of some businesses.
Arizona has the 7th most COVID cases in the U.S. (behind only more populous states such as New York, California, Florida, Texas, and New Jersey).
HealthyVerify — whose clients also include Offerpad, Goodwill of Central & Northern Arizona, Haydon Building Corp., and Phoenix Rising FC — offers one-year of counsel and support for its clients.
That appeals to Hargrove.
“The thing I love about HealthyVerify Certification. It’s not a one and done. We have a whole year,” said Hargrove.
The Avondale public school district and HealthyVerify are also working on efforts to have parents and grandparents check on students’ health before they go to school and how to continue and safely service meals that are often key to student’s nutrition.
“We are honored to work with the Avondale Elementary School District on a comprehensive plan to help protect students, teachers, and staff during this unprecedented time. We are working with the District on employee training and new and enhanced best practices related to social distancing, mask requirements and health safety in classrooms, on school grounds, in cafeterias, and on school buses,” said Dr. Anna Moran, Medical Director for HealthyVerify Certification and an expert in infectious diseases and clinical professor at the Barrow Neurological Institute who leads HealthyVerify’s training protocols and procedures.
“We look forward to working with other school districts, charter schools and educational institutions to help them navigate COVID-19 and public health requirements,” Moran said.
