The corona virus has changed my method of teaching to remote, from home. I miss all of my students, but was able to meet with one third of my class this morning on Google Meet. My two college-aged daughters had to move out of their sorority house and dorm to come home and do online courses through the summer. Things have certainly changed overnight!
Emotional tone: Positive
To be human together
Ive been impacted by anxiety since childhood. When I was young, I felt a lot of shame about not being able to tell my brain to stop worrying (as well meaning adults suggested). When my two older children were in their early teens, they were both diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a condition that runs in both sides of my family. Although I had already worked on my anxiety in therapy, my childrens diagnoses motivated me to deepen my research, and do whatever I could to learn to manage my mental health and theirs. When their doctor wrote mindfulness meditation on a prescription pad and suggested it for all of us, I took it to heart. My children and I became vocal mental health advocates, and I trained in trauma-informed yoga and meditation to help others learn a skill which had helped me and my children. I went to work for non-profits focused on mental health and trauma, both as a yoga/meditation teacher and a mental health peer specialist. When people ask me what I do for work, I summarize it by saying I help both adults and children with big feelings by sharing my own experiences and tools that have helped me. Now with COVID-19, I cant interact with the people I serve face to face. Individual meetings have been replaced with phone calls. Classes have been replaced with YouTube videos and live video-conferencing. I am adapting everyday, as are the people I serve. It isnt easy, but Ive noticed a resilience coming to the surface. Ive noticed that skills that Ive developed over many years to manage my general anxiety (and trauma) are also helping me to manage this situational anxiety. I see the same in my children, my friends who identify as being in recovery from mental health conditions, and in many of the people I serve. It isnt universal. Others are really struggling. Seniors in isolation share their fears with me, and they are real and heavy. We practice breathing and grounding together (which is different on the phone but not impossible). We talk about gratitude and hope. We do what we did before, which was to be vulnerable, to sit with big feelings, empathize and acknowledge suffering. To be human together.
Family Forst
My boyfriend just moved to Florida and was excited to find a job. But cant find any openings. My sister works as a waitress. She lost her job as they closed. I am very fortunate to still have a job and am fortunate I can help them through this time, whether that is buying fresh veggies or paying for rent this month.
A New Reality: The Journey of a Second Grade Teacher Through the Pandemic
Hi. I’ll start at the beginning. I’m a elementary school teacher. A little more than two weeks ago I started to feel bad. Like I had the flu times 10. I wasn’t surprised because my children have been sick for over 3 weeks with the same symptoms as we’re talking about now. One I sent to the nurse had a high fever, wheezing, could barely stand up. He went home, and went to the hospital where they kept him overnight. He was out the next two days, then back in school, still sick. So, I started to have the same symptoms, minus the fever. Since then I’ve seen two doctors, two different rounds of antibiotics and no effect. I tested negative for the flu. Last Sunday I felt so bad, extremely weak, like I could barely walk. At the suggestion of the health department, I went to the hospital. My goal was to get tested. They quickly informed me that they had no testing kits and that no hospital in Palm Beach County had testing kits and that they didn’t even know of a drive thru place and that I probably wouldn’t be tested anyway because I’m not over 65 and have no underlying health conditions. They drew blood, took a chest xray, and told me I was basically healthy. I said, If I’m so healthy, why do I feel like crap? They said, Well, you probably have some kind of virus. They gave me a bag of IV fluids and after a while sent me on my way. They told me to come back if I started to turn blue. Yes, they really said that because those are the patients they are seeing now. Scary. Since Sunday, I’ve slowly started to feel better. Until last night. It’s like a wave. I am completely congested, coughing again, (dry cough) back pain like a knife, extremely tired, etc…. While this is all going on, I’ve had to order a new laptop because my current one isn’t up to par with what the school district is expecting us to accomplish. I’ve been watching countless live and recorded seminars on creating virtual classrooms, setting up links to assignments, hosting virtual meetings, participating in virtual meetings sometimes 2-3 day with my fellow teachers, calling, emailing and messaging my parents and students, trying to get them into my Google classroom. It’s exhausting. I’ve been on the computer until 11 every night looking at what my students are doing now, creating reading and math lessons for them, and learning a new format I didn’t expect to do, at least right now. But, I think we will all be a lot better at tech when this is all over. So, I’m grateful for that. I don’t want to sound like I’m whining. My brother-in-law got laid off this week from a job he’d been at for 20 years. There are people a lot worse off. I saw it when I was in the emergency room myself. I am grateful to still have my job, still be able to communicate with my friends and family, and still be able to hug my dog. Even though I’ve been completely isolated for over two weeks now and counting, it could be worse. Thank you for reading my story…..
Help those most in need in Lake Worth and PBC
Our gallery and studio are closed to the public. I come in most days to a thankfully empty town. The only people, for the most part, who are walking the streets are the homeless and those with cognitive disabilities. I drive past the tent city in John Prince Park and it breaks my heart to see so many homeless in close quarters. If nothing is done to help them it is only a matter of time. I worry about Patrick and the folks he feeds and their exposure. I sent this statement out in a letter to someone who might have the power to help. It is all I can think of. I will edit a few words out- but here is my suggestion: Every day I pass the tent city of homeless in John Prince park. This, and one other spot in Lake Worth is a petri dish of disease waiting to explode. Dave Kerner’s solution was inhuman in nature. This situation must be addressed in a humane way. I think you might be the key to this. I am a nobody when I make suggestions, but you have a voice that can and does make a big difference.Because our tourist industry is now dead- there are hundreds of motel room empty and available. I know some of those living there are bad characters because we canvassed there, but I also know there are scared helpless families. I have watched this tent city grow and grow, as I pass it every day.Could you get the county elected officials to pay motels and cleaning crews to sanitize these rooms and house and feed these families (and individuals) until this crisis is over. When the evasive testing kits become available, social services should test everyone. I am willing to bet many of these folks don’t even know about this crisis.I hope you heard Rodney Mayo’ s testimony before the WPB commission. Rodney’s workers could be employed by the county to feed those who need it most. He just laid off over 600 workers. The county needs food to go out to elderly, and all other hungry people- and his restaurants could be set up to do this. What better way to help a humanitarian like Rodney than to pay to use his restaurants to cook and deliver this food all over the county.
The struggle
The corona virus has impacted my life by the reduce hours at work. As, I am currently not working and worrying about paying my bills.lastly I have ate more then I usually do.
Count our blessings
I am feeling better now and all I can do is to stay focus on the needs of our children, families and staff. I am doing just that while trying to keep up with daily update at the state and local level pertaining to the virus. I attended various online meetings using Zoom and I am enjoying them. This online meeting could be the new normal for us at For The Children Inc. It is a learning curve and we are learning as much as we can to continue to keep our children and parent engage. We are in this together and we will rise up victorious as the end of this pandemic.
COVID-19 and Me
The virus hasn’t really had an impact on me. I am just taking precautionary measures when going out into the public. I keep hand sanitizer with me and wipes in my car. I come back home and boil lime peels/orange peels with salt to stand over in order to inhale the steam because I know that the nostrils and the throat are the two places that this virus can reside, it being the coolest two places. I have always been an introvert and just the week before I had got approved to work from home when needed and this was just what I needed in order to do some of the things for my place of employment. I now cook a little more, I walk, I sing and I study the word of God now that I have time. But I am also looking at the people within my reach. I notice that they are not handling this work-at-home thing too well. I in a sense feel sorry for them because it is now exposing what is going on in the homes. It’s exposing that they are not as strong as they appear in the workplace. I am seeing a different side of people that I have never seen before. The worried and frantic looks and hearing their stories. This is what makes me sad when others are not happy.
Thankful transitions
Normally an active family involved in gym, sports and therapies we have been halted in our tracks. Our lives have transitioned to finding how to do the things we love within the confines of our home. Our youngest son is a transplant recipient, on immunosuppressant medicine for the rest of his life, so the threat is very real to us. It saddens me that more people are not taking this seriously.
EJSJB2020 (Story #31)
I have to find funds to fed my family and going to the stores is a scary thing. Work has been slow and when trying to support others its hard because of the distance we have to keep