Occupational Therapy News OTnews May 2020 | Page 19

COVID-19 FEATURE
time when we are all looking to gain some control in a situation that
allows so little.
Responding to those most isolated
We quickly responded to the needs of the most isolated by
delivering meals. We organised telephone befriending for people,
either with one of our team or a volunteer. We began learning how
to develop and online programme, along with how to connect
people with IT equipment and remote support.
It became apparent how much we take for granted that people
have access to technology and have the skills to use it, another
inequality that we had previously not addressed.
Not only did we need to distribute tablets to connect people
online, but also set up remote IT support. This has almost
instantaneously connected people to us, each other, and a whole
host of online resources in a meaningful way.
The meals we are providing are not just about meeting a
basic need; meals at Jami have always been about connection,
belonging, sharing something with others, and crucially, social
interaction.
Therefore, our lunch delivery also gives us the opportunity
to have a doorstep chat at a two-meter distance. A gesture
that says: ‘we are in this together and we are not alone’.
This has been an emerging mutual support system, as our
frontline key staff and volunteers have also gained a feeling of
connection and purpose.
The impact on ourselves
Our next thoughts turned to the impact this crisis is having on
us, our families, the wider community, on society, globally. We
are all facing unprecedented uncertainty, fear, panic, isolation,
financial insecurity, disruption to our roles, routine and meaningful
occupations.
This cuts through all layers of society and culture. Although, the
impact on people with little or no financial and/or social resources,
is exponentially higher.
Inadequate welfare system, access to health services and lack
of affordable housing have become almost an accepted part of
illness and disability in our society. The age of austerity has left
us ill equipped to face the enormous burden on public services
we are facing now, and yet this crisis is unlocking resources to
support the most vulnerable.
We can learn a lot from those
who have been facing these
issues as part of their ‘normal’
life. We can gain hope from
the resilience and wisdom
developed by people
who have had to
face the impact
of inequality,
inaccessibility and
discrimination.
Design and delivery of services
Peer support and the value of lived experience are integral to
the design and delivery of services. Additionally, we need to gain
a better understanding, we need to change our attitudes, our
communities, organisational structures and society. We need to
stop marginalising people and preventing them access to full and
authentic inclusion.
It incredible how workplaces globally have adjusted to remote
working, flexibility for working parents, especially with the closure
of schools, for people who have caring responsibilities to elderly
relatives or family with health conditions.
Working parents, people experiencing mental distress, people
with physical illness or disability have long been fighting for
reasonable adjustments and flexible working. Campaigning for a
culture that supports and encourages – not one that makes your
feel like you need to work twice as hard to prove yourself.
The speed and agility to which we have turned our focus to
creating online connections and how to connect people to them is
inspiring, but also saddening. Why have we not engaged people
in this way before? How beneficial could this have been for people
who are housebound with significant mental and physical health
needs?
The hope is that now we will see our service provision as the
problem to accessibility, not the person who is unable to access us.
A shift to a place of mutual support
Online resources, from virtual museum tours to musicals and
education, have been made available. I can only imagine how
frustrating this is to those previously excluded from these
experiences.
Communities are reaching out more than ever, with neighbours
helping those in need – there
were people in need before
COVID-19.
The misuse of power
and tackling head-
on inequality and
discrimination have
been key themes
in our fight for
It seems that overnight
parity and
we have shifted to a place
against how
‘‘
of
mutual support, where we
have a collective experience
to make sense of.
OTnews May 2020 19
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