Every day in April, one of the toughest month’s in our history, we have proven that all of us together make up the fabric of our TCFD community. There has never been compassion, love, determination, dedication, and innovation like that at TCFD.
Please take a look at some of this month’s highlights:
Letter of Hope from our President & CEO
This month our President and CEO, Patrick H. Dollard, shared his words of hope, inspiration, and community. His open letter was published in the Sullivan County Democrat alongside notes from New York State Senator Jen Metzger and New York State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther.
Patrick said there have been many signs of hope during this pandemic but none more breathtaking than the actions – big and small – of our staff.
“They absolutely refuse to stop,” Patrick wrote of our TCFD family, “I have never seen anything like it.”
“All of us are inspired by the work we do, by those we care for, and by those who care for them,” he further shared with the readers, “And we are sure that we will get through this together – and come out of it stronger than ever before. That is a hope we are sure will become a reality.”
Now More Than Ever
The safety of the children and adults, and staff at The Center for Discovery is driving everything that we are doing, and has meant staying diligently ahead of the curve in terms of planning and preparation.
Our teams work around the clock to manage, maintain, and stock critical supplies, even making our own face coverings and surgical masks. We have also opened our own Staff Co-Op Market (reference story below).
We are so happy to say our residents are well and safe, but we remain vigilant. And that vigilance comes at an incredible cost. We realize it is a difficult time for everyone but we humbly ask, if you can, that you please spread the word of this strain on our resources. Your support matters, now more than ever: https://thecenterfordiscovery.org/nowmorethanever/.
Keep Us in Mind
While shopping on Amazon, please support The Center for Discovery, through Amazon Smile, and help us advance The Center’s greatest needs as we move forward with our COVID-19 pandemic plan. Amazon Smile offers the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon, and will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from eligible products to The Center for Discovery.
New TCFD Staff Co-Op Market
We are thrilled that so many of our staff are taking advantage of the Co-Op Market service in order to stay safe.
Staff are able to utilize an online order form and choose from several produce, dairy, meat, miscellaneous grocery, personal care, toiletry, and cleaning supply items and complete their order by choosing to pick-up or have it delivered to six TCFD locations.
We are so grateful to our TCFD Teams in Purchasing, Environmental Maintenance, Environmental Services, Transportation, and the Office of Strategic Outreach and Partnerships, for their efforts in getting the market up and running.
Amanda Goddard, the manager of our Hurleyville Market and new TCFD Co-Op, said, “It’s such a humbling feeling that in probably one of the most stressful times we will see in our lives, that everyone can come together for the greater good. Staff members have shown great gratitude to us at the Co-Op, everyone who walks in the door, no matter how their day was, is so thankful and expresses it every single time. We’re so ecstatic to be helping.”
COVID-19 THINC-inc and Doing
True to our tenet that we never stop thinking and innovating here at The Center, our Technology Hub and Incubator (THINC) team saw an incredible need and filled it. Around two dozen staff members willing to trace a pattern, wield a scissor or finesse a sewing machine gathered at the THINC lab and the offices for clinical services, and made 650 orange N95 mask covers using a template approved by the Centers for Disease Control!
Our tireless team is now currently manufacturing 5,000 face shields for TCFD, local hospitals and health centers through a grant from the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan.
And, more recently, in an agency-wide effort to support our staff and in compliance with New York State guidelines, THINC and our Rehab Tech teams constructed reusable masks for personal use of staff.
Around The Center
Pandemic or not, we celebrate life here at The Center (now 6 feet apart of course) – every day.
Easter, Passover and Spring were not missed by our team of clinicians, teachers, music therapists, adapted physical education specialists and others!
A Message for Families
We would like to take a minute to acknowledge and honor the effects of this pandemic on all of our families.
For families and friends of The Center, we understand how challenging it must be to not to see your loved ones. Please know, now, more than ever, we are doing our best to be the extended family and connect you whenever and however we can.
For the loved ones of community school students, we know how challenging it is for your daughters and sons to be out of their routines and away from beloved TCFD teams and classroom friends. We hope the new online resources developed by our tireless education and clinical teams are helping bring new insights, support, learning, fun, and spirit into your days at home.
As we continue to follow our own data, that of New York State, and that of the federal government on the re-opening up of our society, we know that we will be together again soon.
In Case you Missed It
Our amazing teams have written a number of articles to help guide you if your loved one is home with you or you have a relative, friend or neighbor with a loved one at home.
Here are some quick links:
TCFD’s Adapted Physical Education Shares Baseball Tips for at Home
5 Tips for Families from TCFD’s Psychology Team
Simple Ways To Help Your Loved One While at Home
We are United
We are one united #TCFDStrong community! A huge thank you to one of our beloved families for having this displayed on a local highway in Sullivan County. We are beyond grateful for the continued love and support our Center for Discovery family shows us – always.
