CCL Weekly Update – 3/20/2020
Wishing you well in these days of isolation and uncertainty
One thing you may absolutely be certain of, is that there are many people in our community working diligently and with heart, to assure our comfort and safety during this interesting time. Please read through the notes below, updated just this morning, ending with a special poem.
As I listen to the directives about washing, disinfecting and sanitizing, I think of the logic, and yet with the need to do this so often throughout the day, I wonder about the challenges it presents. People with sensitive skin often react to these harsh chemicals necessary to completely battle these germs. I’m reminded that people with addiction challenges may be adversely affected by the intense smells of the products used to sanitize. These issues complicate an already overwhelming and frustrating lifestyle change.
Be kind to yourself and to others, as we in Lyme are known to be, as we navigate the next weeks of lock-down.
Call us if you need anything! We have amazing teams ready to help.
With Love, Patty
603-795-0603 (CCL office)
Patty@cclyme.org
www.cclyme.org
Notes about local efforts to be keep us safe and healthy
A coordinated Lyme effort. Leaders across Lyme have come together as a COVID-19 Response Team, at the center (“hub”) of which are Margaret Caudill-Slosberg, Lyme’s Emergency Management Director, and Bill Waste, Lyme’s Public Information Officer. CommunityCare of Lyme is one of the “spokes” that include the FAST squad, parish nurses, fire department, schools, library, Lyme select board, churches, clinics, and business community. The collective wisdom, experience, connections, and commitment to our health and wellbeing is truly something. The team’s recommendations are, of course, driven by state and national directives. They also include the best judgments of the group to keep the community safe, amidst emerging information. CCL is following the team’s recommendations about community gatherings, communications, and other safety protocols. Recommendations will change, sometimes quickly, based on national and regional information about the spread and efforts to contain the virus.
Where to go for health-related information?
Watch for the numbered Lyme COVID-19 Community Updates on the listserv from Bill Waste. The latest as we post this message: Lyme COVID-19 Community Update #4 – 3/19/2020
The Town of Lyme COVID-19 Information Page includes additional detailed information.
The Converse Free Library’s COVID-19 Resource Page is Judy Russell’s ongoing effort to gather and present in an understandable way information to answer your health-related questions and become a more knowledgeable healthcare consumer. These resources do not replace the expert advice of a qualified healthcare professional. Please consult with a professional provider when making health-related decisions. If you are experiencing a health emergency, please call 911.
How to find the resources we need and stay socially connected, while we are physically distancing?
As school families are well aware, the Lyme School is doing extraordinary work providing education, connection and well-being support. Check out the Lyme School Website and Facebook Page for current information, uplifting stories, and other communications. Curb-side pickups of student lunches and supplies are offered twice a day, currently 11:30am-12:30pm and 3-5pm. Deliveries are being made to families who can’t make the trip to the school. CCL is part of the effort to help extend the services within and beyond the school community and help make connections to resources. If you would like to help, contact CommunityCare of Lyme (795-0603 or info@cclyme.org). Much more to come on .
The Judy Russell’s Lyme Library email communications show the dedication, expertise, and tremendous creativity of the whole Converse Free Library team. Platform Pickups have been stopped for now. There are LOTS of virtual services, with more offerings in the works. Watch for Judy’s emails!
The Valley News is temporarily available free online. Just click on the link for full access to news, a regional calendar, up-to-date listings of store open hours and special services, and more.
603-795-0603. The Lyme Community Help Line.
You may recognize this as the CommunityCare of Lyme phone line, where you also reach the Lyme Parish Nurses. Before today, the CCL team has been answering during office hours and checking messages on other days. Now, it’s being forwarded to our personal lines, so your calls can be answered live unless we are on the line or briefly away from the phone. We are here for you. With lots of new involvement, we are expanding our ability to be a conduit to answers, ways to volunteer, and help you may need. We are working to keep us all socially connected, even as we are physically distancing. You may also reply to this email or reach out to info@cclyme.org. Note that we have several email addresses, and they all get to us!
As many are offering help, CCL is involving volunteers in lots of ways. Two main ones are a safe delivery team and a big group of folks reaching out to check in with friends and neighbors. We’ll share more specifics soon. We are learning about specific needs every day and preparing together to connect everyone who is eager to help with meaningful ways to do that. In the meantime, contact us with offers or questions.
Don’t hesitate to let us know what can be helpful to you or someone you care about! If you haven’t already completed the form to let us know how best to keep in touch (distributed on the orange sheet at Town Meeting and in the Lyme Community & Church Newsletter), please click here to complete the form online. If you’re not a fan of online forms, give us a call and we’ll get you a paper form or, easier still, take your information over the phone.
Again this week, we are not including a list of upcoming events. We will continue our upkeep of the Lyme Events Calendar, adjusting entries when we learn about cancellations, postponements, or alternative ways of meeting. (Some gatherings will be streamed or convened as a video conference.) Because some changes are happening with little notice, we may not catch everything. Please watch the listserv and check in with program and event organizers about whether planned gatherings (large or small) will take place.
Virtual Gatherings and Inspirations
People are so caring, and so creative! We encourage you to look for and create opportunities to connect (and limit your exposure to the constant onslaught of scary news). Beyond the school and library offerings, there are many things bubbling up: book groups by Google Hangouts or Zoom; quick daily virtual check-ins (thank you, Barbara Wilson! See the listserv); online games, such as Words with Friends (a version of Scrabble) and cards. This may be a great time to test the ways you can communicate by computer and see friends and family members’ faces while you speak. If you don’t know how to get started, reach out for help.
There are also many people sharing poems and other inspirations on Facebook, Instagram, the listserv (what a boost, just this morning!), and in other ways. At the end of today’s quarterly partner meeting of the Public Health Council of the Upper Valley, board chair Rudy Fedrizzi, MD shared this poem, which feels just perfect now.
Turning to One Another
Margaret Wheatley, 2002
There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about.
Ask “What’s possible?” not “What’s wrong?” Keep asking.
Notice what you care about.
Assume that many others share your dreams.
Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.
Talk to people you know.
Talk to people you don’t know.
Talk to people you never talk to.
Be intrigued by the differences you hear.
Expect to be surprised.
Treasure curiosity more than certainty.
Invite in everybody who cares to work on what’s possible.
Acknowledge that everyone is an expert about something.
Know that creative solutions come from new connections.
Remember, you don’t fear people whose story you know.
Real listening always brings people closer together.
Trust that meaningful conversations can change your world.
Rely on human goodness. Stay together.
As always, We Are Here For You.
Please contact us if you have questions or there’s anything we can do to help.
We promise to stay in touch. Please do the same, and let us know if you have information, questions, concerns to share.
With love on behalf the whole, expanding CommunityCare of Lyme team,
Martha Tecca, President
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