By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The director of Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas said he continues to look for positives despite the dark cloud of COVID-19.
Jerry Michaud, DSNWK executive director, spoke to the Hays Chamber Membership Luncheon on Friday with a follow-up interview with the Hays Post.
"One of the biggest challenges has been remaining diligent to the point we actually had a conflict in values," he said.
The value of freedom and access and the need to protect people who may be medically vulnerable are in direct opposition at times, Michaud said.
Many of the people DSNWK serves both have developmental disabilities and medical conditions.
"This is what I was talking about in this rub between how do you honor and facilitate choice and freedoms to just move about and be about and in community with the responsibility to make sure people aren't at risk and put at risk," he said.
Michaud said DSNWK, as is the rest of society, is trying to do the best it can.
"We've struggled trying to know what is the right, what is enough, what is not enough," he said. "That struggle is real. We have experienced the negative effect of this virus on people we serve. We know the reality of what that can mean in their passing."
Michaud said he is trying to to see the glass as half full, but he and the DSNWK family all long for a solution to the pandemic.
"It has forced us to do things to respond in a way that is counter to inclusion," he said.
DSNWK is doing its due diligence to try to keep both its clients and workers safe, he said. This has included extra cleaning, social distancing, wearing masks and, at times, restricting visitors to homes or limiting the number of clients in its day center, the Reed Center.
Michaud said DSNWK has had to be flexible during the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been times the Reed Center has been closed entirely. Right now, the Reed Center is working with a type of hybrid model.
People in certain living groups are limited to certain days at the center or separate living groups are isolated in different parts of the building.
Residences have had to close to outside visitors at times depending on positive cases or quarantines. The organizations have used alternate sites when it has had residents who were COVID positive and negative living in the same home.
Michaud said as the virus slows, DSNWK has tried to open back up facilities.
"We have to be nibble enough to throw the brakes on pretty fast," he said, " and we do that."
Restricting families access to their loved ones has been especially tough. At the beginning of the pandemic, some families choose to take their loved ones out of services and keep them at home.
"It has been hard just as family members trying to go visit a nursing facility where the doors are closed," he said. "It's a struggle."
Technology has been used to help keep people connected with services, and families and clients with friends. The tech was used for telemedicine visits as well.
DSNWK has received grant funds to assist in the purchase of some of this technology.
Michaud said the pandemic has been difficult on DSNWK staff too. Some have been concerned about working in a home where residents are COVID-19 positive.
However, staff members stepped up at those homes to work longer shifts to reduce the number of people who were exposed to clients.
Staff also did caravans outside of homes that had to closed for COVID precautions to keep clients connected.
"Our staff has been absolutely stellar," he said, "in the midst of what can be pretty scary individually, because each of them had their own health situation. ...
"We've landed at this is about people. They need us, and they need our support whether they might be testing positive or not."
DSNWK is a non-profit agency. It received Payroll Protection Program funding and Ellis County SPARK CARES Act funding, which has been helpful in covering wages and purchasing PPE.
However, it has also seen a decrease in revenue as some families chose to keep loved ones home from services.
Disabled services have historically received reimbursements from the state that are lower than the cost of providing services, which means wages for workers have been low.
Service providers were supposed to receive a funding increase in July, but that has been rescinded because lower state revenues, Michaud said.
"In light of the pandemic, and it can almost serve as a dark cloud over things," Michaud said, "but in spite of that there have been some beautiful moments where you get to the core of what is really important.
"Some of those relationships with our families have become a little bit more solid because when you can't have something — the regular contact — boy do you treasure it when you do."
He added, "I long for the day we can be back to a day with better sense of connections with each other, because people miss them, miss each other.
"People miss their friends. ... We are using technology to keep people connected. It is different than the normal rhythms of life, but we'll get through it."