Lorrie Arsenault, Community Living Quinte West’s Director of Supports and Services, has witnessed many changes and challenges of working with those with developmental and intellectual disabilities over the years.
But, in her 39 years of working within the agency, the past 30 years spent as a manager and now as a director, COVID-19 has presented an unprecedented challenge for the agency, staff and particularly for those within its care over the past two years.
For those living within the group homes under the auspices of CLQW, the COVID-19 restrictions have been more, well, restrictive than for others living in the community. The agency — serving Quinte West for more than 60 years — has been careful not to tread on the rights of those in its care during the pandemic, but it has been a delicate balancing act, admits Arsenault.
“We have had some major issues in terms of lockdowns and it’s one of the areas I would like to see improved at some point,” she said. “People in our community have all been affected by COVID, but the people we provide services to in our residential homes, the impact has been quite significantly increased. We’ve been mandated to secure lockdowns in our group homes. And those are all things that we feel from an agency perspective, although our goals is the safety of our staff and the people in service, we have to be careful that we’re not segregating and we’re not denying people the same rights and freedoms the rest of us have. We’re able to come and go as we please, unfortunately most of the people in our homes are not because of the COVID situation. So, that’s something I find difficult to swallow. It’s kind of a Catch-22: we want to keep people safe, but we don’t want to infringe on their everyday rights.”
As an example, Arsenault pointed out group home residents going for a ride in a car has been an exercise in restrictions. She’s hoping the provincial government’s moves to lessen restrictions on Jan. 31 will also provide some relief to group home residents.
“Just being able to go out for a drive is difficult with the restrictions that are put in place, that passengers can’t be in the front seat, they need to be placed so far behind the driver and they need to be masked. The restrictions have been heavy right now as they have been (throughout). We’re hoping as things are starting to reopen some of the restrictions will also be lifted for people in our care,” said Arsenault.
But, the story for 19 people living in CLQW group homes, and another 19 living in the community with supports has been challenging, yes, in the past two years with COVID-19 but hasn’t been without some measure of success. In fact, Arsenault has been pleasantly surprised how well the residents have coped.
She credits CLQW staff for thinking outside the box and using technology to engage residents.
“There are some issues with depression and whatnot, but for the most part our folks are doing an amazing job and are hanging in there,” said Arsenault. “A lot of it is credited to our staff as well. They have been able to set up a virtual spirit club program, so people from one home and one community can visit and virtually exercise in group classes just to burn off some energy and see other people. Embracing technology has certainly helped.
Arsenault is proud of the gains of the Community Living movement to make meaningful improvements over the years. The programs in place now within CLQW has enabled its clients to find jobs and to take steps to live as independently as they’re able.
To learn more about her journey, listen to the interview below.
