Sybil and the entire Administrative Team at RISE are grateful and appreciative of the work and dedication of the staff during this difficult time.
Executive Director of RISE Housing and Support Services, Sybil Newell, has found herself in the unenviable position of leading a non-profit social service agency in the time of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Yet she has found several silver linings in today’s state of affairs.
When the shutdown happened last spring, there was much fear and anxiety in the community, leaving (RISE) and other social service agencies to figure out how to conduct business despite the uncertainty. RISE had to be creative in how services were delivered and in how staff engaged with recipients of these services. As Sybil explains, “Many of the individuals we serve are some of our community’s most vulnerable. They needed someone to continue to oversee their care and provide a sense of safety in the middle of the uncertainty.” Staff, being deemed essential by the state, pulled together, put many of their own concerns aside, and focused on how to continue providing services while keeping one another safe.
Staff began working remotely via phone and video chat allowing for the flexibility to care for their own families and to keep themselves and the people they work with safe. Because of the more flexible ways staff could deliver services, the agency experienced an increase in engagement between RISE staff and our service recipients. “It surprised many of us,” Sybil explains, “that people began to feel even more connected to their counselors and care managers when they could do so without leaving the safety of their homes.”
However, there were specific programs that could not be managed remotely.
RISE oversees four Community Residences (or group homes) that are staffed 24/7. Although the agency was fortunate to have not had an outbreak in our group homes, several staff members were willing to quarantine themselves within the residences, possibly for weeks at a time, to keep Covid-19 from spreading in the event that any residents tested positive.
Sybil acknowledges, “Despite the difficulties resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, RISE has experienced several positive outcomes including increased awareness of services, greater flexibility in how we provide services and witnessing incredible staff teamwork and dedication.”
Sybil and the entire Administrative Team at RISE are grateful and appreciative of the work and dedication of the staff during this difficult time.