As COVID-19 spreads, one thing is clear: the elderly, and those with underlying health issues, are most at risk for serious complications stemming from the novel coronavirus.
For CHATS (Community and Home Assistance to Seniors), which deals largely with a vulnerable population of seniors, that has been a huge concern.
As a result, the non-profit organization, which has offices in Aurora, Richmond Hill and Bradford, has decided to shut down non-essential programs and focus on ‘priority’ services for those most at risk.
“We are suspending some of our programs, at least until April 5,” said Christina Bisanz, CEO of CHATS.
As of last week, CHATS suspended all community wellness and lunch programs, caregiver and other support group meetings, and one-on-one counselling.
More recently, the decision was made to also suspend most of the Adult Day Programs offered by CHATS. Only the Aurora program is staying open at this time, and only for those clients deemed at risk if left at home alone.
“If we do determine there are more clients at high risk of being home alone, we will look at opening other centres,” Bisanz said, noting right now, the priority is to keep four key “essential services” operating during the COVID-19 crisis.
Those include:
Meals on Wheels, for clients who order 3 or more meals each week, who are alone and without access to cooking facilities, or who are at risk nutritionally.
Personal support and Home support services, in particular the assisted living program, and personal care, in areas of Skin Integrity, and Personal Care and Hygiene. Home-making services might be modified and scaled back, in situations that are not high need.
Telephone assurance, a volunteer program does not involve face-to-face contact, but frequent telephone contact to ensure the safety of seniors at home.
Transportation Services. “We will look at prioritizing drives,” explained Bisanz, with priority given to medical drives, for doctor’s appointments and dialysis, and in situations where no other source of transportation is available.
“Our drivers are well-trained on infection control measures,” she said – reducing concerns both for clients and the drivers themselves. “I want to assure our clients that our protocols that we follow, 365, 24/7 are very much in place.”
Out of “an abundance of caution,” CHATS is ‘pausing’ most of its volunteer activities, she said, or redeploying volunteers.
One area where more, not fewer, volunteers will be needed is the telephone assurance program, which will likely be expanding during the COVID-19 crisis.
With so many community programs halted, at least in the short term, there will be a need for more telephone contact, to ease the fears, concerns and isolation of clients.
“We’re also looking at how we might use things like webinars and skyping, for community outreach and caregiver support,” Bisanz said – engaging volunteers in creating “virtual connections.”
The organization is currently in talks with other agencies and service providers, such as local food pantries, to come up with ways to meet the needs of clients.
At this point in time, “we are not closing our offices,” Bisanz said. While some staff are working from home, others are still coming into the offices, where active screening measures are in place and hand-sanitizer is available.
However, she added, “We are discouraging any non-essential visits to the offices.”
There is growing anxiety in the community – and among clients - over the risk of exposure, especially in group settings, which was why CHATS cancelled programs that involved public gatherings.
Bisanz was reassuring.
“Our frontline staff are up to doing what it takes to make sure our clients are safe,” she said. “Of course, everything is changing so quickly. We’re carefully monitoring the information” from federal, provincial and regional health authorities.
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