Above & Beyond
On March 18th, the Department of Developmental Disabilities closed all day programs in the state of NJ. Enable currently runs four day programs, providing service to 94 men and women. These consumers, some with significant behavioral and medical issues are now sheltering in place at their group homes.
Enable has 23 residential group homes located throughout Central NJ. With consumers being home 24/7, we need to make sure the houses are fully staffed at all times.
There are several staff, from three particular group homes, that have gone above and beyond during this time of crisis. Three of our homes had been quarantined for possible exposure to Covid-19. Thankfully, all testing came back negative and the staff and consumers were cleared, however prior to receiving the results, Enable had six staff that were quarantined to a group home for a period of 5-7 days.
We asked each of them to stay in the home with the consumers and all of them said yes. Not one person complained. We even had an additional staff person come in knowing that the house was under quarantine. One of the homes was a home for medically fragile non-ambulatory individuals who are on feeding tubes and catheters. Normally, group home shifts are 8 hours, these individuals worked round the clock with very little sleep. One staff even missed his son's 4th birthday. Direct Support Professionals (DSP) are the backbone to agencies such as Enable. These six individuals really stepped up in a big way and we are so thankful for their hard work and dedication to our consumers.
