This past week, the BC government announced changes to its policy for essential visitors to hospitals and long-term care homes to make it clear that people with disabilities still need access to vital supports.

On Tuesday, Health Minister Adrian Dix acknowledged that many disabled people have been afraid to access health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, when only essential visitors have been allowed in hospitals and long-term care.

He said the province has now amended the visitor policy to make sure health-care providers give special consideration to designated representatives who help people with disabilities eat, communicate, get around and make decisions.

The changes come after outcry from disabled people and advocates about the death of 40-year-old Ariis Knight at Peace Arch Hospital. Knight, who had cerebral palsy, died of a respiratory illness on April 18, a few days after she was transferred to the hospital from the group home in South Surrey where she had lived for a decade.

Knight could not speak and depended on caregivers and family members to communicate. Because of visitor restrictions, none of Knight\’s caregivers or family members were allowed to be with her in the hospital, and she died alone.

People with disabilities have said they\’re afraid to go to the hospital because they worry about whether their support people will be allowed inside with them.

Hopefully, this change in policy will help enable greater awareness over illnesses that require medical attention.

Inclusion BC provided some further guidance on the policy change. See below –

How you can help  

With any large system, new policies can take time to reach the front lines, but you can help ensure it is applied fairly in your community.

1. Use the link \”Essential Visits – Template Letter to Hospitals\” to ensure local Medical Health Officers and hospitals that serve people with intellectual disabilities in your community know about the new policy and to offer your expertise as a community service agency with implementation, communication and troubleshooting.
   • Template Letter: Essential Visits – Template Letter to Hospitals
   • Contacts: Local BC Medical Health Officers
   • Contacts: BC Hospitals by community
2. Share some helpful tips we’ve compiled with the individuals and families you support so they can take proactive steps to avoid problems. See: Inclusion BC: #NotJustAVisitor Policy & Tips
3. Read and share Public Health Canada’s new national guide on protecting rights and safety of people with disabilities in #COVID19, developed with input from Minister Carla Qualtrough’s new federal COVID Disability Advisory Committee. See: COVID-19 and people with disabilities in Canada 

If further help is needed, individuals and families can contact our advocacy line for support.

• Inclusion BC Advocacy line: toll-free 1-844-488-4321
• Email: [email protected]

If there are difficulties with interpretation and implementation of the revised policy, you can also consider asking the Provincial Health Officer to advise the hospital:

Office of the Provincial Health Officer 
Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer
Dr. Danièle Behn Smith, Aboriginal Health Physician Advisor
Telephone: 250-952-1330

A pop-up clinic has started at SHARE’s Clarke street location in Port Moody.

All appropriate cleaning,  distancing  and patient assessment protocols are being followed in order to keep both the medical team and visiting clients safe.   The service is available both for people who are feeling unwell and may have COVID-like symptoms as well as people who have other medical concerns and do not have access to a family physician.

See the flyer below. If you require further information, please phone SHARE at 604.540.9161.

We wanted to share a great app we recently found to help with mindfulness and breathing called Mindshift. It provides free anxiety relief all through an app.

When you create an account you can read everything about anxiety and the different types you could experience but also it will track how you are doing and how you are coping. It acts like a little a journal for your mental health.

There is an area called The Chill Zone which has several types of guided breathing exercises for different types of situations. For example, they have Calm breathing, Test anxiety, and social anxiety, and a few more. It also has tools for the person who needs help with Healthy thinking and facing fears.

It\’s totally free so a great app to try out.

CVS wants to thank the generosity it has received from the community. We have received kind words across our community as well as offerings for support from a number of individuals as well as businesses. This means a lot to us as a non-profit and we greatly appreciate it. Most recently, we wanted to acknowledge the following donations provided to CVS during this challenging time –

1. Thank you to Stellava Ventures Inc. (owners of Purp City in Port Moody) who kindly donated a substantial supply of hand sanitizer to CVS.
2. Thank you to the Rotary Club of Port Moody who has donated cloth masks to CVS.
3. Thank you to Pat McNinch, one of CVS\’ staff, who went above and beyond to sew and donate approximately 50 masks to CVS.

While the COVID-19 situation has been challenging for all of us, it really has brought together so many of us across the community. This is something we, at CVS, are truly grateful for.

Thank you again to everyone who has offered support and thanks so much to the individuals and companies mentioned above! Your help means the world to us, our staff, the individuals we serve & their families.

It was announced this week that The Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) is establishing an Emergency Relief Support Fund for children and youth with special needs and their families. The fund will provide a direct payment of $225 per month to eligible families over the next three months (to June 30, 2020).

Inclusion BC highlighted details about the fund, which are detailed below.

How to Apply: Contact your CYSN Worker
Families are encouraged to reach out to their Children and Youth with Special Needs (CYSN) worker to see if they can benefit from this emergency help during the COVID-19. Using a needs-based approach, the emergency funding will support families that are currently awaiting services. This payment can be used to purchase supports that help alleviate stress. These could include:

• meal preparation and grocery shopping assistance;
• homemaking services;
• caregiver relief support (e.g., funded support to allow a family member to provide temporary care for a child or youth);
• counselling services, online or by phone; and
• other services that support family functioning.

Flexible Guidelines: Emergency Access
Policy guidelines for many Children and Youth with Special Needs services will be more flexible to ensure families continue to benefit from other funding and supports, even as access to many in-person school and community-based services remain limited:

• Families with children in care on a special needs agreement or a voluntary care agreement will not have to make monthly maintenance payments for the duration of the pandemic period. This will provide temporary relief to parents who may be struggling with income or housing insecurity related to the pandemic.
• Supported Child Development and Aboriginal Supported Child Development programs will be able to extend extra staffing during school hours to help with the reduced availability of school-based services. Children of parents who are essential service providers and need extra staffing supports for their child will continue to receive those throughout the pandemic period.
• Eligibility and access to At Home Program medical benefits will be relaxed, and any families receiving benefits will continue to do so without the need for a reassessment during the pandemic period.
• Parameters on services purchased with Autism Funding will be expanded, allowing families to use up to 35% of funding to purchase equipment and items that assist in home learning and virtual instructional approaches.
• Families may direct their child’s Autism Funding to access family counselling and therapy services with a qualified provider for all age categories accessing the Autism Funding program.

The ministry recognizes that each child and family faces unique circumstances and has unique needs. Families are encouraged to reach out to their CYSN worker to see if they can benefit.

For more information, please click here.

We recognize that this is a challenging time for everyone and, for some, this may mean sleepless nights. To help you with having a good nights sleep, we thought that we would share this mindful sleep meditation from Catherine Orzech, MA, LMFT and William H. Moorcroft, PhD.

To access the recording, please click here.

This meditation is under 10 minutes and very effective. Enjoy!