ST. PAUL, Minn. - Healthcare workers have often been called heroes during the pandemic, but their advocates say the sentiment can be quickly forgotten by the public - including in some cases, their deaths. A Minnesota organization is honoring their sacrifice by helping their families.

With the help of infectious-disease expert and Professor Michael Osterholm, the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation recently launched the Frontline Families Fund.

It provides emergency grants and scholarships to families of healthcare workers who have died from COVID-19. Jeremy Wells, senior vice-president of philanthropic services with the foundation, said the fund is designed for situations in which the person didn't leave behind a lot of wealth.

"Let's say they were a nursing aide or something that's not a highly paid profession," said Wells, "versus a physician that passed, you know, who had a $5 or $10 million life-insurance policy."

There are two phases for the grants: One provides $15,000 for funeral costs. The second round funds up to $60,000 for long-term expenses.

They're administered by the separate Brave of Heart Fund, which was established with the same mission.

Publications including Kaiser Health News estimate that more than 3,000 U.S. healthcare workers have died from COVID.

Osterholm said despite positive news of declining cases in Minnesota and elsewhere, he predicts the pace of vaccinations won't keep up with the spread of new COVID variants, which creates new daily threats for healthcare workers.

"I think the challenge we have today is just, you know, letting healthcare workers know that if they're coming to work putting their life on the line," said Osterholm, "that we are going to do what we can to take care of their families if something happens to them."

Osterholm - the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research at the University of Minnesota - added that the U.S. healthcare system needs to be mindful of the long-term effects for workers still on the frontlines.

He said the care they've provided has taken a toll, including on their mental health.

"Many of them have been really challenged with the long hours," said Osterholm, "the number of deaths that they've had to deal with, the serious illnesses."

The foundation says a key component of its effort is to elevate discussion and resources for healthcare workers and families in the racial groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

The Federal Trade Commission has proposed a new rule which seeks to aid Pennsylvania workers who are stuck in noncompete agreements with low-paying jobs.

Under the proposed rule, workers would gain the freedom to move and join different employers within the same industry, maximizing their ability to earn.

Samuel Jones, regional director for Restaurant Opportunities Center United, said the issue affects people in Pennsylvania who border other states with higher minimum wages. He called it a cruel practice meant for employees in more advanced fields of work.

"I think that's the critical piece," Jones asserted. "Folks don't even know what a noncompete is, and they shouldn't be applicable to this type of position."

Some companies argued a noncompete clause is necessary to safeguard their intellectual property and prevent employees from disclosing trade secrets to competitors. However, it has been reported by the Federal Trade Commission the use of noncompete treaties has resulted in reducing an employee's income by 4%, denying them more than $250 billion in accumulated income.

Noncompete agreements affect nearly one in six workers, prohibiting them from working for competing businesses or pursuing entrepreneurship in their field. To prevent agreements holding back workers, the Restaurant Opportunities Center United is taking action by submitting more than 200 public comments to the FTC during its public comment period on the rule.

Teófilo Reyes, chief program officer for Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, shared what they are hearing from workers across the state.

"We have workers who complain that they've been prevented from starting their own business," Reyes reported. "We know workers who commented that they were just stuck in low-wage jobs and couldn't get hired into higher-wage jobs because of these noncompetes."

States such as California, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C., have already banned noncompete contracts with a few exceptions.

The FTC will review the comments it receives and may make changes, in a final rule, based on the information and on the commission's further analysis of the issue.


get more stories like this via email

A record number of tornadoes struck U.S. communities in the first three months of this year, prompting the Center for Disaster Philanthropy to establish a Tornado Recovery Fund.

Sally Ray, director of domestic funds for the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, said local and federal governments are prepared to help with immediate needs such as food and shelter. But those in small towns or rural areas, where tornadoes are common, typically do not have the funds to rebuild infrastructure quickly and equitably.

"We will be engaged in understanding what's going on now," Ray explained. "But as soon as those communities begin to move into the recovery phase, that's when we'll be supporting some local nonprofit organizations that are there to help make sure that people have access to resources they need for that recovery."

At least 410 tornadoes struck the U.S. in January, February and March, according to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration's Storm Prediction Center, topping the previous record for the same period of 398 set in 2017. The agency said many of the tornadoes were in the South and Midwest.

Ray pointed out the Center's funds go toward mid- to long-term recovery from domestic disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires and even snowstorms. Tornadoes used to hit during particular seasons in the country or in what was called "tornado alley" in the central U.S., But Ray said they are less predictable now, which means people need to be prepared.

"There's not really a season anymore, there's not really an alley," Ray stressed. "It's not that you didn't ever have a tornado in December or January, just they were a lot less frequent, and they seem to be more common now, and part of that is because of climate change."

Texas, the most tornado-prone state in the U.S., averages roughly 136 tornadoes each year. In 2022, the Lone Star State saw a total of 160 tornadoes, with the most significant activity taking place in the months of April and May.

During the pandemic, nonprofits in Los Angeles took on the monumental task of helping feed, house and vaccinate millions of Californians suddenly thrown out of work. Now, a new report calls on the city to overhaul the way it works with the nonprofit sector.

The Committee for Greater LA found nonprofits are struggling, for example, to get paid on time for services rendered.

Efrain Escobedo, president and CEO of the Southern California Center for Nonprofit Management, said the relationship between the city and nonprofits needs attention.

"While nonprofits have been playing this critical role, the way government contracts and treats nonprofits in these contracts is not strengthening that sector," Escobedo explained. "It's not helping them be better. It's not helping them reach more people. It's simply more of an extractive type of relationship that really overburdened a sector that has gone above and beyond."

The report called on the new Mayor, Karen Bass, to reset the relationship with the nonprofit sector, which provides 23% of jobs in the city. The authors asked the city to start paying its bills on time, cut bureaucratic red tape, and consider funding projects up-front rather than asking nonprofits to provide services and then be reimbursed.

Escobedo noted the Committee for Greater LA was formed to tackle crises flaring up during the pandemic, such as hunger, homelessness, poverty and unequal access to affordable high-speed internet.

"The inequities that we were seeing right up in front, in our faces, during the pandemic, are solvable," Escobedo contended. "We did not want to just recover to the same state of affairs that we were in going into the pandemic."

Mayor Bass, in a statement, said the city will not be successful if nonprofits are burdened by unnecessary costs, red tape and delays, and vowed to work to improve the city's relationship with the sector.