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OHP is documenting the Effect of Covid-19 on the Greenwich Community

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By Anne W. Semmes

In step with the Library of Congress’s nationwide efforts, the Greenwich Library Oral History Project (OHP) has been building from last fall a collection of interviews to document the “Effect of Covid-19 on the Greenwich Community.” To date, some 44 interviews have been recorded.

“Our interviews range from 15 minutes to 60 minutes,” said OHP Co-Chair Mary Ellen LeBien, but she noted, “This project is a work in progress with ongoing interviews – with some narrators possibly re-interviewed as the course of the pandemic changes.”

So, what are some of the findings coming out of those interviews on the effect of Covid-19? “The theme of working together was alive in all my interviews,” said OHP volunteer Sally McHale. State Rep. Harry Arora had shared with McHale his pride in being part of the Connecticut State Government working together, she said, regardless of politics to save lives.

OHP volunteer Connie Gibb has found, “More than one head of a social service agency said to me that one of the best things to come out of this pandemic is that they have all helped each other and collaborated in ways they never had before, providing food when some group is quarantined or just helping each other make sure that needs are met, and alerting each other when they become aware of a need or a problem.”

How our adaptations during Covid are becoming permanent changes is another theme the interviewers found. With the lockdown on traveling, McHale learned from Jay Feinsod of Feinsod Hardware, how inflatable toy purchases soared in the summer of 2020. “People were creating their own resorts at home,” she said.

Gibb learned in her interview with Bennie Wallace of Backcountry Jazz of the effectiveness of his innovative weekly outdoor concerts last summer in residents back yards (and large estates). “They are planning to continue with those concerts this summer,” she said, “and maybe always, because they were such a success.”

At the Smilow Cancer Center at Greenwich Hospital, Gibb saw the positive impact of the Center’s use of telehealth. “They have patients who have difficulty getting to the hospital to see their doctor, but now those patients can check in without the same issues remotely. Telemedicine allows people to see their provider without having to get transportation, sometimes without even leaving one’s job, just taking a break for an hour.”

The challenge that Covid brought in its early stages to health workers was clearly shown in McHale’s interview with Colin Bassett, director of Quality Assurance and a paramedic with GEMS. How those first responders would treat the first Covid cases would evolve was likened, said McHale, “to trying to teach people to fly the airplane while it was being built.”

From Ryan Keller, an EMT also with GEMS who does vaccinations in his free time, Gibb learned of his often hearing the strange and false stories people were reading on social media about vaccines. “One week lots of people said they had to have their second shot in the opposite arm from their first shot. Not true, but apparently it was all over Facebook.”

Gibb was moved by the account of a Byram resident and Covid 19 patient who spent almost 40 days in the hospital. “He survived thanks to the extraordinary efforts of his caregivers, the doctors and nurses, but his story is terrifying. He was only 44 so those who think that Covid can’t hurt them because of their age, should read his story.”

OHP co-chair and volunteer Susanna Trudeau learned of “the incredible difficulty” of protecting nursing home patients from a Covid outbreak from a physician who works in a local nursing home. “Many residents share rooms and doors often left open because some residents have mobility issues. The doors do not seal like hospital doors so air can easily circulate when doors open and close. When the disease first appeared, it spread very quickly, and it was hard to keep everyone separated.” But the ability now to vaccinate the elderly, “makes the future look very hopeful.”

Gibb did find optimism from her interviews on the pandemic’s effect on seniors. “I have been bowled over by the creativity and dedication of those who work with this population. They have come up with endless creative ways to relieve the isolation, bring joy, activity, and even sometimes a sense of being able to contribute during this lockdown.”

In Trudeau’s interview with Police Chief Jim Heavey, she was made aware that the police were “in some ways prepared to deal with Covid given that they are trained first responders,” and that they were “well supported with safety equipment.” Heavey had cited the generosity of the Greenwich community in stepping up with food donations for his officers when businesses were closed, she shared, when it was hard for the officers to get food during their shifts.

Heavey also cited the pandemic for bringing a significant increase in vehicle theft. “This is partly due to local residents leaving vehicles unlocked with key fobs inside,” says Trudeau, “and criminals who may have more free time to commit car thefts.”

The difficulty of schools transitioning to fully remote learning when the pandemic began came from Trudeau’s interview of an elementary school teacher. “There was a huge learning curve for both the students and teachers to overcome. Initially assignments were posted for students to work on independently. Some students flourished and embraced the freedom to work on their own schedule, but many became disengaged.”

Further negatives of remote learning were, “being in the same space working all the time, too much screen time and not enough face-to-face interaction,” and added to that, “the lack of after school opportunities” impacted the social/emotional well-being of students. But there were positives of remote learning: “Extra sleep (no travel time to and from school), assignments can be done more efficiently, better food options…A meal distribution program was made available and supported by school staff who helped give out the meals.”

More positives from that Trudeau interview: “This school year has gone well in terms of students being very good about following the new rules about mask wearing and social distancing.” And this bit of humor learned by McHale, of “elementary school kids playing ‘it’ where ‘it’ is COVID,” and the good of high school students “feeling sympathy for older teachers less facile with technology.”

How families were coping with Covid came from McHale’s interview with a full-time working mother of four under the age of ten. “She gave thanks to the Greenwich public elementary schools for staying open, and to the counselors for their help in managing kids’ reactions to this uniquely difficult time.” And there was that day in the difficult summer of 2020 on the beach of Greenwich Point, of her telling her four kids, they could have as many toppings as they wanted on their ice cream. “It was an ode to joy!”

One further finding from McHale: “Families growing closer during the lockdown from spending more time together.”

To contact the Greenwich Library Oral History Project, visit www.glohistory.org.

OHP COVID Project

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