Dear Clients and Friends,
This week marked 10 weeks of New York’s Executive Order for NYS to be on "pause" and 10 weeks of working from home for all CHC staff. I don’t think that when we left CHC on March 17 we anticipated being gone for so long, but all of us at CHC were and are committed to doing everything possible to help mitigate Covid-19 in NYC to help decrease the numbers of individuals stricken with the virus. Our hearts go out to all of our friends in our community who were sick themselves, cared for sick family members, and of course, to any who lost family and friends.
Doing our part over these past many weeks has included providing all of our therapies via telehealth and providing as many audiological and hearing aid services as possible using a variety of remote means. We have written many different blogs, starting in the first week of NYS on "Pause" to help educate both consumers and professionals on accessibility issues for individuals with hearing loss in terms of videoconferencing, remote learning, and especially the challenges of communicating with masks in place. We have collaborated with other organizations in order to maximize our reach. As always, throughout our 110 year history, we have been here for you, our friends, clients, and supporters, and we always will be.
We are currently planning what CHC will look like when the Governor declares it safe to begin opening the city. We are planning what services will resume on-site and what services will remain remote. We are developing all the recommended protocols so that when we open, we will do so safely, as the safety of our clients and staff is paramount in our minds.
We are anticipating that as the city and our surrounding areas open in stages, and as more and more people return to work, it will not be business as usual. While we all will need to adjust to the “new normal” particularly for people with hearing loss, new challenges in communication are likely to emerge that will require learning new techniques. What will not be new is that CHC will continue to provide the highest caliber of clinical services and outreach with the goal of helping all stay connected to life.
We look forward to seeing you all soon.
Hear and Connect Resources
