March 24, 2020
Dear Friends,
Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is still available to help serve our community during these challenging times, as we work together to try to “flatten the curve” of the novel Corona Virus (COVID-19).
If you need our services, please contact us!
Our physical office is closed, so we have a different system for how we are working with our clients and community.
Here is how you can contact us, and what our process will be for working with you or anyone else who needs our help:
- We are closing our office, but we are continuing to work with clients. Our office will be functionally closed, but we will continue to help clients who contact us. We will do our best to work with clients over the phone and/or email, to avoid in-person appointments.
- If you need our services, please call or email us. You can call us at 217-352-6533, or send us an email at cchcc@cchcc-il.org [1], and we will respond as soon as we can, and we will work with you to find out what you need and whether we can work with your remotely. Please leave us a message, and please be patient – we will contact you as soon as we can. Because we are working remotely, our Staff have a little more work to do in order to communicate amongst ourselves and to coordinate our responses, but we will get back to everyone who contacts us!
Our regularly scheduled meetings are or will be canceled. Please stay tuned to our email and Facebook page for updates on cancelations of meetings and/or alternate plans for carrying out the work of our task forces and coalitions.
Now, we wanted to share some resources and articles with you, in case these can be helpful.
1. How to clean your home for Corona Virus [2]
2. A one-page guide for preparing to shelter at home. [3]
3. If Corona virus scares you, a guide to help manage anxiety. [4]
NOTE: This article makes reference to CBT without explaining what it stands for. CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. A cognitive behavioral approach to managing anxiety involves being aware of your thoughts and feelings and then adjusting your behaviors.
4. Food safety and coronavirus. [5]
NOTE: If you scroll down within this article, you will see a section with specific questions (and answers) that you can click on or scroll through.
5. Social Distancing: This is not a snow day. [6]
6. Flattening the Curve. [7]
NOTE: Some people are saying that flattening the curve extends the period of time that the corona virus is around, and therefore it is not a good idea. In actuality, flattening the curve is imperative because, even though it may somewhat extend the time that the virus is around, it will keep it from being as deadly for all of us. Flattening the curve means that we will keep the health care system from being overwhelmed. If the health care system is overwhelmed, more people WILL die from COVID-19 (think about a lack of enough respirators if too many people become critically ill all at once) and this includes front line health care workers (could be your doctor or nurse, for example). We need to protect patients AND health care providers. It also includes people who need other health care services unrelated to COVID-19 – think heart attacks, appendicitis, etc. that might not be able to get the care they need if the health care system is overwhelmed. We need to see efforts to flatten the curve as a long-term investment in our health care system and in saving people’s lives. People should NOT have to die because of other people’s unwillingness to take the precautions being prescribed!
7. Opinion piece: Fourteen Days. That’s the most time we have to defeat the corona virus. [8]
If you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to contact us by email or by phone.
Please stay home if you can. The key to survival during the COVID-19 pandemic is to practice excellent hygiene and serious social distancing – this is to protect your health and to keep from spreading the virus to vulnerable persons (you never know if you might be vulnerable yourself). And we MUST avoid overburdening the health care system.
Stay tuned for more information.
Thank you and take care,
Champaign County Health Care Consumers