RESOURCES FOR RESPONDING TO COVD-19
COVID-19 vaccine
Living creatively and joyfully with children (even indoors)
Mennonite Central Committee invites you to explore a collection of ideas taken from or adapted from the book, Parent Trek, commissioned by MCC . They were compiled in March 2020. Some have been adapted and some additions were added for this time when many families are remaining at home because of the threat of COVID-19.
Housing Resources During Covid-19
COVID-19 coronavirus restrictions will leave many families with reduced or no income. As a result, paying for housing will become a challenge for some.
There are resources available to help Philadelphia renters and homeowners facing housing issues. There are also steps we can take to help housing markets recover from the impact of COVID-19. Click here for more.
Información sobre el COVID-19 en español
Esta página ofrece información en español sobre el coronavirus COVID-19 y la respuesta de la Ciudad.
Caretakers of Children Can Get Daily Advice About COVID-19
Sign up to receive daily tips in your inbox about how to support kids during the COVID-19 crisis. Child Mind Institute clinicians will share advice about structuring the day when kids are stuck at home, managing behavior, balancing work and child care, practicing mindfulness, and much more.
The Pandemic Toolkit Parents Need:
8 expert tips to help families stay regulated
https://www.psychologytoday.
A Survival Guide for Parenting Through the Global Pandemic
Psychologist provides a guide on helping families through the crisis.
Resources for Immigrants during the coronavirus crisis
UNIVERSAL MASKING
On April 3, Governor Wolf recommended that all Pennsylvanians wear a mask if they must leave their homes.
Members of the general public don’t need a surgical mask – we need those for our health care workers and first responders. Instead, they are encouraged to wear homemade fabric or cloth masks.
Homemade masks limit the spread of infectious droplets in the air by containing coughs and sneezes. When a homemade mask can’t be acquired a scarf or bandana can be utilized. By implementing community use of these homemade fabric or cloth masks, everyone will have a higher degree of protection from this virus.
When to Wear a Mask
Those who are staying home and have no close contacts who are infected with COIVID-19 don’t need a mask most of the time. However, wearing a nonmedical or homemade mask may be helpful in certain situations or for certain populations.
- Shopping at essential businesses, like grocery stores or pharmacies.
- While visiting your health care provider.
- Traveling on public transportation.
- Interacting with customers/clients at essential businesses.
- When feeling sick, coughing, or sneezing.
Because homemade masks protect everyone else from the droplets created by the wearer, it is important that as many people as possible wear these masks when leaving their homes.
This helps prevent those who may be infectious but are only mildly symptomatic or not symptomatic from spreading the virus to others in the community.
Everyone should remember the phrase: “My mask protects you, your mask protects me.” By increasing the overall number of people who are containing their coughs, sneezes, and other droplets, it will help us control the overall spread of the virus.
Best Practices for Homemade Masks
The best practices for making and wearing fabric or cloth masks include:
- Consider buying materials online to avoid exposure in public places.
- Purchase masks made by small businesses, saving medical masks for health care workers.
- Before putting on a mask, clean hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.
- The mask should fit snugly around the mouth and nose.
- If the mask has a metal wire it should be fitted snuggly to the bridge of the nose.
- Avoid touching the mask while using it, if you do wash your hands with soap and water or
alcohol-based hand rub. - Made out of two layers of tightly woven 100% cotton fabric.
- Be discarded or washed after every use.
- Should not be worn damp or when wet from spit or mucus.
- To remove the mask: remove it from behind, do not touch the front of mask.
- The wearer should immediately wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds after
removing the mask.
How to Make a Homemade Mask
Here’s how to make a mask at home.
Materials needed:
- Fabric (100% cotton is most effective)
- Fabric Ties
- Scissors
- Sewing machine or a needle and thread
Instructions:
- Measure and cut two pieces of fabric in a rectangle pattern to fit snugly around the face (size 12 inches by 6 inches is standard for adults).
- Tightly sew both layers together on all edges.
- Cut fabric ties to fit around the ears.
- Sew the ties to the insides of the mask on the smaller edge, repeat on both sides.
- Resew the sides to ensure a tight seal between both pieces of fabric and the earpiece.
Check out this New York Times article for more tips on how to make your own homemade mask.
On Medical Masks
Do not purchase masks designed for health care professionals. N95 and surgical masks are designed to protect those who are working in high risk situations with a likelihood of exposure. Instead, make your own mask or purchase one from an online small business.
Businesses should consider purchasing homemade or cloth masks for their employees as part of their uniform or in recognition of good public health practices. Businesses should also consider non-punitive policies that encourage employees to wear masks while at work.
Find out more about the difference between homemade masks and masks for health care professionals.
The COVID-19 pandemic presents unique challenges for people with substance use disorders and in recovery. The following resources may help.
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
- Coping With Coronavirus: Managing Stress, Fear, and Anxiety, Director’s Blog
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- Virtual Recovery Resources for Substance Use and Mental Illness. Includes links to online meetings and recovery support resources offered by various mutual help groups and other organizations, as well as information on setting up a virtual meeting.
- Addiction Policy Forum and CHESS Health
- Connections App. Free research-based smartphone app to help people with recovery from substance use.
- Center on Addiction
- Resources for Parents, Families, and Caregivers. Provides mobile (phone- and text-based) education and support for family members struggling with a loved one’s addiction as well as links to other virtual resources.
- Faces and Voices of Recovery
- Faces & Voices of Recovery is dedicated to organizing and mobilizing the over 23 million Americans in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, their families, friends and allies into recovery community organizations and networks.
- Shatterproof
- Shatterproof is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the United States.
- How to Find a Virtual Recovery Meeting
- Unity Recovery, WeConnect, SOS Recovery, and Alano Club
- Offering online recovery support group meetings five times daily, a daily family and loved one recovery support meeting, and weekly LGBTQ+ and Women’s Only recovery meetings.
Guidance for Providers
- NIDAMED: Medical and Health Professionals
Justice System Resources
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
- The Marshall Project
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Vera Institute of Justice
Interim Guidance for COVID-19 and Persons with HIV
Stop Romanticizing the Lockdown – It’s a Mental Health Crisis in the Making
ACEs Connection
Join the movement to prevent ACEs, heal trauma and build resilience.
https://www.acesconnection.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
We are in this together, and help is always available. If you’re feeling alone and struggling, you can also reach out to The Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741 or National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.
Neurosequential Network Stress & Resilience video with Bruce Perry MD, PhD.
This brief (15 min) video discusses how the pattern of stress can determine risk or resilience. The importance of structure, predictability and moderation of daily stress is highlighted. The malleability of the capacity to demonstrate resilience is discussed.
https://www.neurosequential.
Bruce Perry, MD, PhD. Staying Emotionally Close In The Time of COVID19
How do we manage in the midst of COVID-19? I reached out to one of our field’s most inspiring figures: @BDPerry. Thanks, Dr. Perry for joining me on The Trauma Therapist Podcast at such short notice and for sharing your guidance for these crazy times.
Jim Mcingvale and Dr. Liz McIngvale talk with Dr. Bruce Perry about the impact the #Coronavirus has on children, families, and the community.
https://www.facebook.com/
Episode 12, Partnered with a Survivor Podcast (Special COVID-19 edition)
Ruth Stearns Mandel & David Mandel
In the first of a series of COVID-19 specific podcasts, David and Ruth talk about how the dynamics of domestic abuse are changing in the context of the COVID-19. Talking to both professionals and family members, Ruth offers insights from her own history related to being isolated with her abusers. The discussion about how we can best continue to partner with survivors and intervene with perpetrators follows with examples and practical steps.
https://
What Resets Our Nervous System After Trauma
With Peter Levine, PhD
A free report from NICABM
https://files.nicabm.com/Free-
Intimate partner violence
Staying safe during COVID-19 from The National Domestic Violence Hotline
24/7 Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (TTY 1-800-787-3224)
Food Resources during Covid-19
Epic Church Food Distribution for those over 60 years old
Where to Find Free & Nutritious Food during COVID-19 in Philadelphia
Food Pantry Locator in the Philadelphia Region from the Coalition Against Hunger
