CatholicCare during COVID-19: A blessing for people with disability

By Debra Vermeer

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unique challenges for many people with disability, but for James Collins and his family, the dedication and responsiveness of CatholicCare Broken Bay staff throughout the crisis has been a lifesaver.

Eighteen-year-old James was born with an intellectual disability which means he has both the physical and intellectual capacity of a baby. He had just made the big transition from school to post-school day programs when the pandemic hit.

“James can’t walk far and he’s non-verbal and can’t toilet himself, but he’s a beautiful boy, a really beautiful boy,” his mum, Charmaine Collins says.

“He’s classified as requiring a one-on-one carer because he’s a bit unbalanced on his feet and has high needs. For instance, he couldn’t give himself a drink if he needed one.

“He operates on a very strict routine so that he knows what is coming next in his day, and we know as well.”

Charmaine says it was a big step to go from his schooling environment, where he was familiar and comfortable, to the new world of day programs with disability care services. At the beginning of the year he started with CatholicCare at Brookvale for three days and another provider for two days.

But when the pandemic arrived, and schools, training facilities, hospitality venues and other parts of the community began to shut down, so too did some disability care providers. provider saying they would be closing their centre from the following day and the family would have to make new arrangements for James.

“We basically just got a message saying don’t come in tomorrow,” Charmaine recalls. “We’ve got two other teenagers – one in Year 12 and one in Year 10 – and they were learning at home. My husband was suddenly working from home and I work two days a week. It was crazy and when this happened with James, I honestly did not know how we’d manage.”

In desperation, Charmaine rang CatholicCare, with whom the family has had a relationship since James was five, and asked for their help.

“They were fantastic,” she says. “They stepped in right away and took James on for the extra two days. They didn’t ever really shut down and it was such a relief.

“They told me that nobody was allowed to come into the centre during the lockdown, so they would come to us instead and provide one-on-one care. For us, it worked out perfectly. It was a lifesaver.

“Someone from CatholicCare came each day and picked him up from home and dropped him back in the afternoon. They took him out into the community, going for walks and doing activities. James loves listening to children’s books, so I would pack his lunch and his audio books and a drink and off they’d go.

As the restrictions eased, they were allowed to have four people in the car for outings and James would go out with his carer and another young man and his carer.

“It was nice because it was someone other than us to socialise with,” Charmaine says.

“I give Simone and Lynn at CatholicCare great credit for really understanding the needs of our family and other families and knowing how important it is for James and other people with intellectual disability to keep their structure and their day going, because it’s all they have really.

“I think that without the help from CatholicCare during this period we would not have managed quite frankly.” CatholicCare Disability Futures Area Coordinator Lynn Murphy says it became obvious as the pandemic gained speed in March that with more families pulling their family members out of attending CatholicCare’s centre, they would need to find different ways of continuing to offer support.

“But it was challenging. With our one-on-one visits we had to be very aware of infection controls and sanitising,” she says. “Our staff would come in and clean the CatholicCare car before setting off and then while they were out they’d clean the playground equipment, toilets, seats, anything they came into contact with.

“In the early days our staff were also questioned by police or council officers, so we had to get certificates showing that we were classed as an essential service to provide care if we were asked.” While it was a testing period, Lynn says many lessons learned during the COVID experience can be carried into the future.

“We do feel more comfortable now that if we go into lockdown again for any reason, we can mobilise quickly to keep our services running,” she says.

CatholicCare Broken Bay’s General Manager for Children’s Services, Disability Futures and Seniors, Monique Beange, says at the outset of the crisis, CatholicCare had two main aims: to maintain and support their valued client base and to keep staff working.

“So we did everything we could for our clients to keep them engaged and connected,” she says.

“Apart from the one-on-one visits we also provided a lot of online activities. We did art classes online, dance, living skills, personal skills and communication. One of our staff members, Simone, would read books, play music and hold discussion groups online.

“The lockdown gave our staff the opportunity to do more training or catch up with programs. I’m very grateful that we have a team of people who are very agile and adaptable.

“The challenge now is to keep that energy going, particularly in the area of infection control, sanitisation and helping our clients with these additional hygiene needs. It’s been a big learning experience, but in lots of ways a really positive experience too.”