{"id":12027,"date":"2020-04-16T15:26:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T19:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/?p=12027"},"modified":"2020-05-21T11:18:13","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T15:18:13","slug":"two-staff-test-positive-for-covid-19-at-community-living-guelph-wellington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/two-staff-test-positive-for-covid-19-at-community-living-guelph-wellington\/","title":{"rendered":"Two staff test positive for COVID-19 at Community Living Guelph Wellington"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WELLINGTON COUNTY \u2013 Protective measures have tightened up at Community Living Guelph Wellington (CLGW) ever since a state of emergency was declared in mid-March \u2013 and certainly since one staff member was diagnosed with COVID-19 on April 8 and a second on April 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a worry,\u201d said Laura Hanley, executive director of the agency, in a phone interview on April 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis disease can spread like wildfire. I am so grateful to staff. They have been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

CLGW supports adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities and currently cares for 156 individuals in group homes.<\/p>\n

It also supports 106 individuals living in the community and, under normal circumstances, operates day programs and coordinates work and volunteer opportunities for its clientele.<\/p>\n

Hanley said the day programs have been suspended, the individuals living independently are checked on by phone, and staff has been redeployed to the residential program.<\/p>\n

That means there have been no layoffs and that\u2019s a pretty good scenario given the overall staffing shortages the sector has experienced for some 18 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I feel okay with staffing levels,\u201d Hanley said.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s been a fearful time, as several staff were tested and waited to learn their results. And now two staff members are self-isolating at home as they ride out the illness.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also been a hard time on their clients, who can\u2019t help but notice the disruption, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have various levels of understanding,\u201d said Hanley.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, there\u2019s a sense of loss. Some had jobs \u2013 those workplaces have closed. Y memberships are closed. Social programs have stopped. Visitor programs have stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaff has been creative in finding meaningful activities to fill their day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanley said they\u2019ve been fundraising to get tablets in the facilities so residents can communicate with their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey rely on phone calls from family and that\u2019s okay if they are verbal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when they are not, it\u2019s often a one-way conversation. Tablets will allow everyone to see each other and that will be a great comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

The volunteer coordinator is now finding and sharing morale-boosting activities with staff and families who have their adult children with them. They are also sharing lessons-learned with partners in other regions.<\/p>\n

Hanley said the situation at Participation House, a group facility for vulnerable adults in Markham, sent shivers down her spine.<\/p>\n

That facility declared a state of emergency on April 10, when 37 of their 42 residents and 13 staff tested positive for COVID-19.<\/p>\n

At least two residents have subsequently died. While waiting for test results, staff did not show up for work and that left staffing levels critically low over Easter weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so sad. I can\u2019t imagine that scenario,\u201d Hanley said. \u201cYou can really see how fast [COVID-19] travels. And [the situation] really shines a light on developmental services and the challenges we face.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a blog on the agency website<\/a> where Hanley has been forthcoming about the situation at CLGW, the suspected cases of COVID-19 among staff, and the eventual confirmation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in being transparent,\u201d she said. \u201cI would rather give people information and then they know. Because without facts, it\u2019s too easy for misinformation to spread.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want people to know our staff is incredible, we\u2019re here, and we\u2019re working hard to keep people safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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WELLINGTON COUNTY \u2013 Protective measures have tightened up at Community Living Guelph Wellington (CLGW) ever since a state of emergency was declared in mid-March \u2013 and certainly since one staff member was diagnosed with COVID-19 on April 8 and a second on April 14. \u201cIt is a worry,\u201d said Laura Hanley, executive director of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[120,162,161,157],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12027"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16529,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12027\/revisions\/16529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airpurifierspecialist.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}