My family and I have been affected in a few ways. First, I lost my job with first transit( Trolly) second, my car broke down and it was our only means of transportation. 3rd my son (17) suffers with mental health issues and wasn’t able to get his 30 day meds, instead they gave him 15. Now we are waiting on a appointment so he’ll be able to get the rest of his meds, and as you know no one is taking clients. We both suffer from anxiety, and he also suffers with severe depression. Inspite of EVERYTHING that is going on,we are trusting God to see us through.
Gender: Female
Living in Ongoing Emergency Roll
My job tasks have changed, putting aside usual management tasks. I am completely focused on helping keep our programs operational and filling in where needed. I try to keep up to date on changes and new services to share with staff.
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…..
ANTIQUE DESK STORY
I WAS ABLE TO TAKE THE LAST 2 WEEKS OFF W/PTO & USE THEM WELL. I CLEARED O/AN ANTIQUE DESK THAT REALLY NEEDED IT & NOW AM IN THE PROCESS OF SHREDDING OLD, UNNECESSARY DOCUMENTS.
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.
Missing my Mermaids
I am a Aqua Zumba Dance instructor. Every Sat. I go to 55+ Communities and teach Zumba in the pool. My Mermaids love the class and look forward to it. I feel terrible they are missing maybe the only class they can do. The ages range from 50-90. Hopefully, we can resume the pool classes soon. My Mermaids make me happy and I make them happy.
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.
10 (Story #64)
The coronavirus have infected my life a lot I am very depressed I do the crossing guard for the school and I’m not getting paid and only the teachers getting paid they say we going to go by April 15th but that’s no guarantee because I’m I got a very good feeling it’s only a month left for school to May 30th so they probably not going to even go back I don’t know how I’m going to pay my next bill I don’t know what the next time you coming from because most of the crossing guards get pensions and they get Social Security Im only 60 so I don’t get my Social Security yet so my little cross and got money is the only little money that I have to depend on how I take care of my grandson with mental problems he’s a challenge to so I’m trying to keep his spirits up why is he out of school and I’m trying to do the best that I could not knowing what a next dime coming from but it’s very hard to smile when you got all these bills coming from week to week and you don’t know where the next time it’s coming from and I rate my story a 10
I need help
Are used to work under the table when I cant work under the table because I have a son and I cant bring him with me that was the extra money to make me get through the whole month Im not good at school work and I have anxiety issues and Im not good at math or anything they gave him less its just really stressing me out and then Im worried about my family health is a lot