When an enormous portion of your job centers around coordinating large scale events and legislative advocacy groups, what do you do when a pandemic limits people’s ability to safely come together in groups? If you are Lynette Johnson, Events Coordinator for Home and Community Options, you create virtual events and leverage technology to involve all the individuals and staff throughout the agency in various interests from afar.

COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on people with disabilities. In the spring, many of the individuals HCO supports were suddenly unable to work. Staff were quickly rerouted from other worksites to provide more care and support for people who were now at home during the day and were looking for ways to stay active and engaged. Lynette loves to travel, so back in March, she began creating daily themed activities as learning opportunities. Want to go to France or Australia? You can, with Lynette’s travel packets sent to each house. They include something for everyone, including coloring pages, word finds, and interesting facts about these faraway places. Through June, there has been more than 100 straight days of different themed activities shared with HCO houses.

When HCO first procured iPads for the individuals in the organization to use to stay connected with friends and loved ones, there was some apprehension. However, it didn’t take long before everyone was merrily joining in during the daily and weekly virtual events. “Technology has enabled us all to still come together. During this time of uncertainty, I have heard a lot more laughing together than I imagined I would,” Lynette comments. “Now that everyone has gotten more comfortable with seeing their friends virtually, we can continue to help them build on those independent skills and find ways for them to take on more ownership and help more with planning, leading, and engaging with each other.”

One thing Lynette has always loved about her job is her work with the Grassroots Advocacy Task Force, which follows legislative issues impacting disability services. She enjoys supporting people as they build confidence and skills to advocate for things they are passionate about. During COVID-19, she has been able to help people continue to grow and take on leadership roles in other ways. Lynette has frequent calls with individuals to see how they are doing, brainstorm fun activities, or talk about ways that they would like to get involved. “I ask them what they’d like to do, and then I try to find a way to help them make it happen.” Individuals began sharing new talents, building different skills, and showing more independence. Several people have taken on planning specific activities, or assisting with leading parts of events like being a timekeeper, or hosting. “One individual I was talking with recently played the piano for me beautifully. I never knew they even played because they had never shared that before. Out of that, we came up with the idea to have a Talent Show for our individuals to showcase their many different skills to all of their friends.”

The variety of games and other remote activities has continued to expand. “We try to find popular activities or brainstorm new ideas of various things people would be able to do together normally. Then we try to find ways to adapt these ideas for a large virtual group or make them more interactive,” Lynette shares. One favorite is virtual birthday parties. They include crafting of birthday cards, singing, and seeing all your friends from other programs. Fitness activities like Chair Yoga, Adaptive Dance, and recreational competitions like toss tournaments help to get people up and moving while getting to compete with friends, cheer each other on, and provide a feeling of being right alongside one another. There have been scavenger hunts, Bingo games, crafts, contests, and trips around the world – all without leaving home. They’ve had virtual bake-offs, a virtual BBQ, and a cooking show.  “As time has gone on and the length of time people are staying at home grows, we are trying to provide even more activities to help people stay positive and to feel mentally and socially fulfilled.”

One of Lynette’s roles at HCO is to coordinate various internships and volunteers across the agency. This spring, fast moving COVID-19 restrictions had Lynette unexpectedly recreating new internships from scratch for prospective interns. For four Therapeutic Recreation Majors interning during their spring and summer semesters, technology is being used as a resource to communicate remotely with those HCO serves. Instead of providing musical support on stage, each of these interns have a caseload of calls to individuals to make and activities to lead. “It’s fun for the individuals to make new friends. They like spending time with each other,” Lynette says, “and it’s fun for the interns to stretch their creative and leadership abilities within the new Zoom format.” One of the interns found out an individual she calls likes to play Farkle, so now they have some pretty competitive contests together over the computer. The pandemic has pushed HCO to utilize volunteers in different ways too, like providing socializing video calls to residents or sewing face masks for HCO’s programs. “It is important for us to be able to follow through with our commitments to our interns and volunteers, and find new ways to still provide quality experiences for them and our programs.”

Any other year, the middle of June marks the culmination of at least a year’s worth of work when the HCO musical opens on stage at Saint Mary’s Page Theatre. Without the musical this year, Lynette’s first thought was how much she was going to miss seeing individuals every night during rehearsals, but she has been pleasantly surprised to find that she’s seeing more of them now than ever before. Time away from the production has provided Lynette with a unique opportunity to get creative and develop activities that provide new ways to interact and engage with those HCO supports. Some individuals who were uninterested or unable to attend events in the past are now becoming involved through the computer. Inclusion is a vital part of HCO’s work, and Lynette believes that a number of virtual events will continue beyond the effects of COVID-19 due to the opportunities it has provided to engage new participants.

Lynette says that she has learned a lot through this new way of doing things. “I have known some of the individuals HCO serves for years, but I have been able to really build a deeper relationship with them during COVID-19. I love that I’m still able to make an impact on their lives.  That’s why I have the job I have,” she says.

Everyone at HCO has experienced a huge change since the initial Stay-At-Home order in reaction to COVID-19. It has been Dan Milian’s job over the past few months to help HCO maximize the technology it has available to safely operate during the pandemic.

Dan acts as the IT Desk for the agency. His role used to have him in and out of HCO’s various houses numerous times on a weekly basis, fixing computers or rotating out equipment. While he continues to help out staff at the programs work on faxing or scanning important files and papers, visits to the houses in person are now only occurring in an emergency. These days he is office-bound, walking people through computer problems on the phone.

At the beginning of March, the agency was already talking through various phases of their pandemic plan, assessing critical agency functions and the roles of its main office employees. Who was cross-trained and would be able to step in should someone become ill? Who would be able to take on new roles? Who could provide additional support to program staff and their supervisors in the event of positive COVID cases?

At times, it feels like almost business as usual at the Central Office – with a few exceptions. Bottles of hand sanitizer and disinfectant cleaner are stationed throughout the building. Symptom and temperature screenings are completed by staff in masks when they arrive. The main office is used to seeing staff and individuals HCO supports stop by regularly to drop off paperwork or pick up supplies, head downstairs into the office kitchen to work on cooking skills, make art in the resource area, or just pop their head in for a quick hello to catch up. Now, doors to offices are closed up, and traffic throughout the building has been restricted. Central Office staff rarely have face-to-face interactions with each other, and in their place is an abundance of communication through phone and video.

About a week before the mid-March Stay-At-Home order, Dan already had a pretty good idea of how much things were likely to change. “I started thinking about what could be done to mitigate the problems a quarantine would present,” he shared. One of his first projects was to make sure that the needed technology and equipment was in place so HCO’s management personnel and office staff could function without coming into contact with each other. Would they need to quarantine? What would a worst-case scenario look like? After careful consideration, their team at the main office was able to make a number of adjustments to processes that put safety, social distancing, and infection control systems in place, which enabled minimal disruption to the building’s staff and duties.

A number of the adjustments HCO had to take were made easier by steps that were already being worked on since last year. In HCO’s homes, being able to stay connected through Zoom has been a life changer. Through it, multiple people can attend a virtual face-to-face meeting. HCO had already begun introducing Zoom for Healthcare last fall as a way to deal with reducing costs in areas that have consistently been a challenge for agencies like HCO: underfunded mileage expenses, additional staffing support needs at program sites, and the potential for growing training capacity utilizing the new technology. Implementation was scheduled to roll out slowly, with limited programs piloting the software for use before expanding to encompass the whole agency. When the pandemic hit, as Dan described it, “instead of tip-toeing down the hill, we got pushed over the cliff.” Everyone had to get up to speed on how to use video communication – very quickly.

In another stroke of luck, HCO was in the process of purchasing iPads for its residential programs when the first cases of COVID-19 began appearing throughout the country. While originally acquired for the purposes of supporting nursing, documentation, and training needs at HCO’s various sites, the iPads have found multiple other uses in the wake of the pandemic. They are providing a critical doorway for friends and family to stay connected with their loved ones in HCO’s care. It’s also been an engaging way for HCO’s individuals – many of whom lead very active and productive social lives before the pandemic – to participate in various types of events and activities. Classes in chair yoga and adaptive dance, bingo games, scavenger hunts, and craft projects like window and door decorating for Easter or Mother’s Day are providing fun throughout the day while HCO residents are at home and unable to work. The most fun of all are the birthday parties, where HCO individuals across all houses get together through Zoom to sing happy birthday to one another.

COVID-19 has been likened as people having to “fly the plane while its being built,” but the experience has provided a number of opportunities for innovation and creativity. Dan has been active in finding ways to help other departments leverage technology to implement new ideas. A recent project involved working with Amazon to get HCO registered as an essential business providing health care. The designation, an idea he credits to coworker Ashly Bissen, enabled HCO to get prioritized access to additional sources of PPE (personal protective equipment), such as gloves, masks, and hazardous waste bags.

It has been a struggle on and off for HCO to secure more than just PPE. Dan’s work to procure technology equipment to enable teams to do their jobs without risking their own health and safety was also a challenge early on. With the state’s move to distance learning for children in school, families and friends using video software to stay in touch with loved ones, and other businesses doing their best to continue working where they can, he had to get creative in finding sources for purchasing things like video cables, webcams and audio headsets. “Technology equipment was really hard to come by for a while,” Dan shared. “Third party sellers have been charging 3-4 times what they would have for a webcam 6 months ago. A lot of electronics stores have been sold out or have very limited quantities. We had some difficulty in the beginning finding what we needed, but it’s gotten better.”

Dan thinks that in the future we can expect to see a continuation of more virtual meetings and less in-person gathering. “We’re all here for the individuals,” he says, “so it’s been a struggle. People are really missing each other!” For that reason, he hopes that at some point HCO will be able to resume some level of in-person meetings and visits in the future.

For Ashly Bissen, the job of Communication Coordinator for Home and Community Options has undertaken a number of changes in the wake of COVID-19. What was once a role geared towards marketing, promotion, artistic design, and fundraising has shifted from a primarily external focus to an internal one.

Ashly is working closely with Executive Director, Suzanne Horstman, and HCO’s Management Team as they develop new plans and implement best practices based on directives from the CDC, Minnesota Department of Health, Department of Human Services, and local healthcare providers. As more information is learned about COVID-19, agency processes can change almost daily, and at times it can be a challenge to keep up. “One part of my job that I’ve always enjoyed has been taking complicated concepts and developing ways to share them with others in a simple, engaging, and understandable way.” How she does this now looks a little different, and with A LOT more people. “With COVID-19, I’ve had the opportunity to learn so many new things about the inner workings of our agency and the disability services industry as a whole. Being able to put that knowledge into context with the medical, economic, and social impacts we are seeing in our community has been eye-opening,” she shared. “While I’ve always known that HCO takes a proactive and innovative approach to providing services, it’s been fascinating to see that approach in action firsthand with something like this.”

Staff members, individuals, families, and case managers are turning to the communication office as an information hub, and Ashly has become a one-stop-shop for those seeking information about HCO’s services as it relates to the virus. While she’s still doing some of her typical work, much of what she now handles is managing and routing correspondence across various departments and helping to field questions. What is HCO is doing to protect my loved one? Is anyone ill? How can I communicate with my loved one safely? What does HCO need? What can I do to help?

As directives surrounding COVID-19 change, she is tasked with opening up a dialogue with all of HCO’s stakeholders to convey these changes and make sure everyone in the agency is on the same page. “There will always be nuances to each specific situation as we roll out something new, but it’s helped us provide a bit of consistency where we can in an increasingly inconsistent time,” she said. The temporary change has also helped HCO supervisors keep their focus on the care needs of those HCO serves and implementing critical changes as quickly as possible rather than fielding questions. “If a staff member has a question, they typically go directly to their supervisor with that question. With COVID-19, it’s likely we have a number of staff members across all of our programs who have the same question as well.” HCO’s efforts to centralize where their information comes from has ensured that communication has been consistent and helped them get a better idea of where people are at with processing through that information. “I’ve been able to look for trends in what people want to know, which helps us determine where we as an agency need to provide more information. And because things are moving so fast, we don’t always have the answers right away. We sometimes have to say: That’s a very good question and I don’t know the answer – but we’re going to go and find out.”

The agency’s annual musical (which accounts for a huge percentage of the donations that HCO receives annually) is typically a large part of Ashly’s job. With this year’s musical postponed to 2021, HCO’s approach to fundraising looks very different as well. Many non-profits like HCO are now tasked with exploring other avenues for fundraising and are all vying for the same dollars at the same time. “We want to be sensitive to the fact that many of the families and businesses that have been so generous with HCO in the past may not be in a financial position to support us on the same level this year. There are so many new needs we are facing with COVID-19: PPE shortages, the increased need for service hours with less staff to provide care, and countless new costs without funding sources to pay for them. We’ve had a number of people who would typically contribute to our musical that have still chosen to give to our organization, and we are exploring ideas for other ways that the community can continue to help us meet our mission. Our families and the community as a whole have always been so supportive of HCO, and we are so lucky to have them. I’m optimistic that those who can support us will continue to do so.”

Where she would normally be making musical flyers or calling sponsors about their ticket reservations, much of Ashly’s time these days is spent in conversations with families and staff, helping establish communication surrounding new agency protocols, or talking through future challenges and potential solutions during the pandemic. “I’ve been able to provide a lot of support with the implementation of technology and video conferencing software in a way that we as an agency haven’t used before, which has been really interesting for me to watch play out,” she said. “We were lucky to have been already in the process of establishing these systems shortly before COVID-19 started, and we were able to pivot this project quite quickly to meet very different needs from what was originally intended. Seeing this technology now being used to help our staff hold remote meetings or provide the ability for those we serve to stay connected to each other and their loved ones from afar has been amazing.”

While some of these changes have been easy to see coming, others have come as a surprise. “Professionally speaking, I’ve learned that while being able to help our stakeholders understand what steps we are taking as an agency is extremely important, helping them also understand WHY we are taking those steps has been just as critical. It’s been the catalyst to helping people work through some of their fears and feel confident that we are doing the very best that we can to protect and care for our individuals and our staff,” Ashly said. “There’s been a definitive shift in how I connect with others. The conversations I’m having with people now feel much more real – more authentic,” she shared, “both personally and professionally. By its very nature, this pandemic has taken a lot of control and feelings of safety away from all of us over the past few months. Everyone is at a very different level of understanding, processing, and responding to COVID-19. I’ve enjoyed being able to listen to other people’s concerns and help them work through those feelings. I’ve gotten to know some new people and have also built deeper relationships with others in ways that I wasn’t expecting.”

Who knows when the medical and economic climate will return to some semblance of normal, but in the meantime, HCO staff such as Ashly are proving to be flexible and resilient in these unprecedented times.

Kate Elberson, Support Staff

It was the spring of 2014, I was a sophomore in college and was looking for a new job to challenge myself. My best friend told me about the place she had started working at called HCO and told me I should apply. I had some experience working with people with disabilities in my neighborhood back home, so I figured I would give it a shot. By the end of the week, I had a job with HCO as a Direct Support Professional.

Within a few short months, I fell in love with my work and the four (now 5) gentlemen I worked for. A job that started as a part-time gig, turned into a real passion. My guys taught me so much about what it meant to care for others. So, when the chance came to excel further in the form of a promotion at another program, I felt like I had yet another opportunity to challenge myself. The transition was crazy and sometimes chaotic, but I caught on quickly and settled in to my new role. Now I work with 27 exceptional young adults, varying in age from 15 to 41, and one special lady who’s 71. We work with a range of disabilities from autism spectrum disorder to fetal alcohol syndrome, epilepsy and psychotic disorder. My work has challenged me in that it hasn’t just made me a better person to serve others – it has made me a better person to serve myself. The stresses I have encountered through this job have allowed me to discover healthy coping skills for myself that I will transfer in every aspect of my life moving forward.

When I’m not at work, I like spending time with my friends and my two cats. I’m a huge Packer fan (I’m from Milwaukee – it’s not my fault) so I love watching and attending games whenever the opportunity arises. I love to travel and have been to several countries, including the UK, France, Ireland, and Thailand. I also like going to concerts and shows, mostly hip-hop and punk rock. I have ambitions to complete my masters in Occupational Therapy, which I plan to enroll in soon.

Keri, with daughters Kenley, Callie, and husband, Sam (right to left)

Keri Cada was introduced to HCO by her future husband, who was working at the Saehler Drive Resource Home. She and her husband have two little girls, ages 6 and 3. Keri, an Early Childhood/Elementary Education major at Winona State University (WSU), thought that working there would be good training for her future career. She started part time at Saehler in 2007. Little did she know that her future career would be at HCO.

After graduation from WSU in 2009, Keri taught at a childcare center in Rochester, but soon found that the drive from Winona and home again was pretty grueling. HCO was hiring a full-time Primary Counselor at the Saehler Drive program.  Since she had enjoyed her time working there previously, she decided to apply and was hired as the Primary Counselor. Keri was a primary counselor at Saehler for four years, then applied and was promoted to Coordinator for 1055 and 1117 (now 1301) programs in 2014.

The women at 1055 all work at DAC or ORC. Keri compares their relationship to that of college roommates. They get along well and when there are conflicts, they work them out. They have been together about 7 or 8 years. The men who live at 1301 actually arranged for themselves to be roommates. They were in other houses, but each wanted to find a better fit. They struck up a conversation, then approached HCO about becoming roommates. They get along well and have an active life.

Keri’s teaching training has been a perfect background for her job at HCO.  Part of the job of the support staff is to teach skills that will make the home lives of those they support run more smoothly and be positive experiences. Those in the homes have to understand that they all have their own needs, and they often need to be able to compromise to accommodate others’ needs. The staff also try to teach the individuals techniques to deal with conflicts when they arise. Keri says sometimes that can mean either walking away or keeping their comments to themselves.

Keri enjoys teaching and mentoring staff, both new and experienced. People don’t necessarily come to the job with the confidence to deal with the challenges they are met with each day. Teaching staff how to provide choices and alternatives to individuals so they have autonomy in making the best choices for their health and wellbeing, while also meeting their wants/needs is an important talent to have, says Keri. If an individual asks for a candy bar, for instance, when the time is not right, it is better to say, “Would you like a candy bar after supper?” instead of, “No.” Keri says all staff need mentoring in such redirection, which serves to prevent problems before they arise.

Oftentimes during the first six months, Keri says, new staff are trying to figure out how to take charge of their situation. Then something clicks, and they see that the techniques they have learned are working.

Keri is a member of the Training Committee, which is responsible for setting up agency trainings and making sure that paperwork is in compliance with licensing requirements of Minnesota’s Human Services Department. She is also a new hire trainer.

In addition to teaching and mentoring, Keri is responsible for staffing. There are about 20 staff in her programs, three of which are full-time. She said she likes to involve the staff in making sure that all of the shifts are covered and was gratified with how well they worked together to make sure that the holidays were properly staffed. Still, there are challenges in staffing when the unexpected happens, and they all have to adapt quickly.

Because of the number of part-time and student staff members, HCO is constantly seeking new applicants. Keri looks for certain qualities in applicants that she knows from experience will contribute to a more successful experience at HCO, such as patience, commitment to the job, compassion, the ability to care about people, and the ability to ask questions when needed.

She encourages people to get involved with HCO if they want a fun place to meet fun people. She says it is a good way to learn about the community, since staff are out in the community so much with the individuals they work with. They also get to participate in special activities such as professional sports games, camps, weekend trips, the musical, and other outings.

Keri has seen community support for HCO grow over the years and says it is gratifying to see the interaction between the community and HCO individuals. She feels lucky to be a part of it.