John's Usual Excuses & Apologies--
I hope that everyone is well. It is hard to know Ohio's DD system will want providers like CLI to do as things begin to reopen in May. Right now we are still allowed to operate very small isolated hubs (up to 8 clients/2 staff), but honestly so far 95% of people seem to be doing fine at home. CLI is operating at 1/3 staffing right now-- supporting people in their homes, redesigning programs, and slowly expanding activities. As we open back up, CLI's services will have to look very different. A few changes for sure:
- Universal precautions-- CLI will be practicing & teaching universal precautions (including social distancing). Learn to love wearing a mask. On the upside, pimples are invisible now.
- We will be allowed to use the workshop building, but will have to treat it like any other "hub" space, which means that there will never be more than 2 separate groups of up to 8 people in the building.
- 38 West Seminary & 16 West Main Street will be only be available to individuals whose support needs require a building. All other CLI services will need to be provided in separate spaces.
- Transportation will look a lot different too since it's no longer acceptable to expose people to each other in the vans. The goal will be to have the staff assigned to a day's activities also provide the transportation to/from that activity. The name of the game is limiting exposure.
- Visitors to/from CLI spaces will be extremely limited. Best practice will be for us to help people step outside our spaces to meet with visitors for the summer. Obviously we'll need to sort this out better by the fall when it starts getting cold again.
There are LOTS of other details sort out. As you know, Ohio pays CLI for day programs in large 12-person groups. Now that those large groups are no longer legal, it's anyone's guess as to what the state is going to do to support programs-- especially in light of the huge amount of money Ohio and the rest of the US have thrown at this problem this spring. However, the opportunity to change is (almost) never a bad thing in my book. We'll figure this out together.
Whatever comes at us, CLI is in this for you and for the larger community. Please ask for help if you need it-- or if your family or your neighbors need it. We aren't worried about eligibility at the moment. CLI is fortunate to have resources to help right now, but those resources are only as good as the use we make out of them. We want to be part of the bigger solution.
That's it for now. Stay safe. We look forward to seeing everyone soon.
