SaskAbilities has been closed since March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, serving their clients through virtual programming. With restrictions gradually lifting, SaskAbilities is opening up, with programs slowly taking place in person, with precautions in place to protect clients and staff. Partners in Mental Health and Well-Being, Partners in Employment, Respite Services, and Day Program have all reopened with new guidelines.
Aleks Hoeber, program manager with SaskAbilities said that they took a very gradual approach to opening, staggering openings and having staff practice protocols before clients were welcomed back.
鈥淚鈥檓 glad that we took that approach, because it allowed us to test out our new protocols and procedures before we decided to move on to the next program.鈥�
Staff were welcomed back before clients were, in order to better get familiar and comfortable with new procedures, and Hoeber said that it has been a team effort to reopen safely.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 feel rushed, and we have the opportunity to really communicate and engage the caregivers and the people we support in making the decisions.鈥�
Each program looks a bit different. Partners in Employment saw staff reconfigure the office to promote social distancing, as well as set a limit to the number of people served in the board room, at six. Clients are screened when they come in, and have temperature checks. Everything is handled by appointment.
With Partners in Mental Health and Well-Being, there is now a limit on the number of people who can use the Mental Health Drop-in Centre, at 8-10 people, to allow social distancing. Programs are now pre-registered, using Acuity, and anyone can check out the programs available and sign up. When they initially reopened, it was one group per day, but has since increased to two per day, and they plan on adding a community meet up in August.
The Day Program has reopened as well, designed to continue to serve the over 50 clients who regularly use it while still maintaining social distancing. There are now three separate areas with individual entrances, each area serving a maximum of eight individuals plus staff. They also split it into morning and afternoon groups 鈥� running from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. respectively 鈥� Hoeber explained, with an hour between to allow staff to clean and disinfect each area. Right now, there are not community outings, but all centre based activities.
鈥淭hat has been a big change, and we weren鈥檛 sure how many people were going to come back, but around 80 per cent of people who we serve returned.鈥�
Respite services have resumed, but the one-to-one services are resumed, while group respite has not. That means the summer fun program is going to go virtual. With the virtual programming, they are also meeting with other branches across the province, so youth with disabilities can meet up with others across the province.
Hoeber said that reopening has been amazing, and clients have been very understanding and cooperative when dealing with the new procedures and guidelines.
鈥淲here we can social distance, we do the client screening and service the individual. Where we cannot, we do have masks available that we can give to people we support, as well our staff wears masks in those cases and utilize proper PPE.鈥�
The benefits of being able to do in-person interaction are easy to see, Hoeber said.
鈥淲e have found that in the day program specifically, people have more energy when they鈥檙e coming when they鈥檙e here for half a day.鈥�
There is also opportunity to adapt the programming to what people want to see. She notes that with sign ups for the Mental Health Drop-in Centre, they have noticed some activities are quickly 鈥榮old out鈥� while others don鈥檛 have the same level of participation, so it鈥檚 an opportunity to see what programming to keep and what to change.
鈥淲e believe that gives us good feedback to what people are looking for.鈥�
