Harrisburg - Secretary of Administration Michael Newsome and Department of Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller today thanked commonwealth information technology employees for their extraordinary efforts to enable remote work by the Office of Income Maintenance (OIM) during the pandemic. The office is responsible for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), employment and training services and child support. "DHS programs are a vital lifeline to Pennsylvanians who are experiencing health and financial hardships – something many people are feeling acutely right now," said Secretary Miller. "I want to commend our staff for continually putting the needs of their clients at the forefront as we have adapted our operations to protect everyone's health and safety and ensure that this vital network continues to operate for those who need it." OIM programs are administered locally by approximately 4,700 staff in county assistance offices across Pennsylvania. Offices were closed to the public in March, but processing applications and determining eligibility normally required caseworkers to work from the office. To reduce the potential spread of COVID-19 among employees and clients, information technology staff from the Office of Administration needed to work swiftly to equip and train these staff to work remotely. The OA staff worked with technology suppliers to deploy over 1,000 new and used laptops to OIM staff. Because market demand for laptops was so high, support staff needed to expedite the completion of purchase orders to secure equipment before it was sold to other customers. Nearly 4,000 additional OIM staff were provided with Wi-Fi adaptors and software to connect securely to IT systems used for DHS programs using either their personal computers or PCs from the office. Processing applications and determining eligibility has continued due to the work of OA and OIM to adjust to this changed environment. Since closing to the public, county assistance office staff have received and processed nearly 1.2 million applications for assistance programs – including two new, short-term programs established this spring in response to the pandemic. The OA staff also provided extensive training and support to OIM staff, most of whom had never worked remotely prior to the pandemic. They developed detailed user guides for accessing the commonwealth network, remote email, multi-factor authentication, virtual private network and other tools, and IT help desk staff continue to provide technical support by phone and email. "This was a team effort involving close coordination across multiple technical disciplines to quickly and seamlessly achieve a common goal," remarked Secretary Newsome. "IT staff also worked on tasks outside their areas of expertise, such as imaging hard drives for laptops." DHS and OA leadership wish to recognize the following employees for the important roles they played in this effort: Sandra Patterson, CIO for the Departments of Human Services, Health, Military and Veterans Affairs, Aging and Drug and Alcohol Programs – Lead for the entire project Manisha Arya, Project Manager - Lead for teleworking documentation Wayne Vols, IT Desktop Support Manager - Lead for laptop imaging and distribution Joe Zimmerman, Service Management Director - Lead for procurement of laptops, additional desktop hardware and communication Jon Arnold, Chief Technology Officer - Lead for technical services and infrastructure needs Josh Thomas, Service Delivery Director - Lead for virtual desktop services Shane Roadcap, Solutions Management Director: Lead for application services ensuring employee could connect to applications from home Mitzi Means, IT Portfolio Manager - Lead for funding approval
Additional IT employees who contributed to the OIM telework transition include: Danielle Bowers, Ryan Corrigan, Alissa Detman, Russell Durham, Tom Faust, Laura Fry, Mark Green, Lantz Hokanson, Mark Hollingsworth, Vicki Hyatt, Norm Jones, Ryan Killian, Tasha Long, Isaiah Lyons, Crystal Newberry, Rob Parent, Caitlin Petrello, Danielle Pierre, Karl Schaeffer, Brett Shaffer, Matt Shultz, Ted Smith, Erik Trabert, Tyler Michael, Ryan Ulrich, Adrian Wallace, Dan Whalen and Chris Wooddell.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Erin James, DHS, ra-pwdhspressoffice@pa.gov
Dan Egan, OA, degan@pa.gov |