NEW PHILADELPHIA With workshops and the Starlight School closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, officials with the Tuscarawas County Board of Developmental Disabilities have had to come up with new ways to provide serves to its clients, utilizing such things as in-home visits and new technology.

“It has been tough, but despite the challenges I've seen staff, providers and the community really rally together like I've never seen before,” said Nate Kamban, superintendent of the county board. “That level of collaboration has been awesome, even at the local level with local leaders and other agencies. I know I'm biased because I'm from here, but really this community has done a good job.’

On March 21, Gov. Mike DeWine announced the closing of all adult day service settings for people with developmental disabilities. The order applied to centers that served more than 10 people.

(This story is being provided for free as a public service to our readers during the coronavirus outbreak. Please support local journalism by subscribing to The Times-Reporter at timesreporter.com/subscribenow)

Kamban said that was a major change, but many of the people that his agency serves have compromised immune systems, and being in a large-group setting didn’t make sense.

“What we've seen happening, which has been really neat, is that some of those provider agencies, like Stepping Stones, Horizons, Starlight and others, they've redeployed their staff from working in large-group setting to going into individual's homes one-on-one,” he said. “They're actually helping out other providers who maybe do residential services in smaller groups. So we've seen that type of collaboration take place.”

New technology is helping the county board and local providers meet the needs of their clients.

"What we've done is provided the provider agency with Zoom (an online conference platform), so that they can touch base with their clients on a regular basis,“ Kamban said. ”They can shift some of their services remotely as well. What we're also doing for the providers is we're developing a support plan for them, because many of these agencies rely on county board funding to exist to continue to serve people.“

Other things are moving online as well.

Socialization is important for people with developmental disabilities, who see their friends every day in workshop settings. Confined at home, they don’t get to see their friends, so the county board is providing them with Zoom so they can chat online. A book club has shifted to online, and the county board is looking for a way to have movie nights online as well.

“We're trying to find those small ways of creating community in a digital format,” Kamban said.

The governor’s order also meant the closing of Starlight School. He noted that some of the students that the school serves have more intensive needs. For them, a day-to-day routine is important.

To help the families of those students, county board employees are contacting them each week to ask them what they need and how the board can help.

The agency is also doing some video curriculum online, and it has online Zoom conferences with parents when their child’s behavior is escalating.

The county board has also been working with local health departments and the Tuscarawas County Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency to come up with a plan on what to do if many people in a group home setting become infected with COVID-19 but don't need to go to the hospital, and there's not enough staff to take care of them in that residential home.

The agency is looking into utilizing the Starlight School, since it is not being used now.

“Obviously, we hope that we don't get there, but we want to be prepared in case that happens so that our most vulnerable people have a place to go and they're getting the staff that they need,” he said.

The county board is not ignoring the needs of its employees and workers at provider agencies. The Service and Support Center in New Philadelphia is closed, with employees working from home. For workers who go into homes, the county is buying Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for them.

“We hear a lot about nurses and doctors being on the front line, which is absolutely correct, but in the DD field we have what are called Direct Service Professionals, or DSPs,” Kamban said. “These are people who work one-on-one with families or work in group home settings.

“They're an essential business, so they're being asked to still go out and work with families and individuals who are some of our most vulnerable people in this community. So they are also put in this very difficult position of having to risk themselves and their families to serve some of our most vulnerable people.”

For the benefit of the families that it serves, the board is putting out positive videos on its Facebook page and creating support groups online. There is also information on the board’s website that explains what coronavirus is in a manner that people with disabilities can understand.

"A lot of families are doing well, but they’re missing that social aspect which is huge for the people we serve,“ he said.