— Margy Mayfield
SALINAS, CA, USA, March 17, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — WHAT: When Stephanie Gonzalez joined Coastal Kids Home Care (CK) in July of 2019, she knew her job as a social employee would require severe dedication however had no clue of the firestorm that awaited her. And, Gonzalez, 29, undoubtedly didn’t know she must proceed placing on a courageous face for the households she served – even after tragedy struck her family.
Gonzalez is one in every of tens of hundreds of social employees who’ve been on the entrance traces coping with the ravages of the COVID-19 disaster. They present hope within the midst of loss and discover sources for many who have none. March is National Social Worker’s month and marks the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coastal Kids is California’s solely supplier of specialised pediatric dwelling well being companies for medically fragile kids. Their group of social employees, nurses and therapists present essential care and help to kids dwelling with sickness and incapacity and their households. They serve Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
Since COVID-19 hit, Gonzalez and her colleagues haven’t stopped working. CK noticed demand for pediatric palliative care triple due to the disaster. Hospitals have been, and proceed to be, a scary place for households with critically in poor health kids. Gonzalez and her colleagues helped purchasers determine monetary sources, and made quite a few changes, conducting remedy classes by way of telehealth and even outside relying on a household’s desire.
A self-described “folks individual,” Gonzalez loves interacting with mother and father and youngsters. COVID-19 made it onerous to supply the identical degree of intimacy that so typically helps wired households. Some households initially opted out of in-home visits. Other instances Gonzalez felt like an alien donning gloves and a hazmat go well with to reduce the danger of contaminating kids already scuffling with complicated well being issues.
One household Gonzalez helped was a mom and her 15-year-old son. After the mom advised Gonzalez she had renal failure, she supplied anticipatory grief counseling classes for the boy with the objective of paving the best way for a much less arduous grieving course of.
Then got here a frantic textual content from the mom. She’d been admitted to the ICU after testing constructive for COVID-19. She was being intubated and didn’t know what would possibly occur. Could Gonzalez assist put together her son for the worst-case situation? Could she be there for her son if she died? Gonzalez mentioned after all she would assist.
The boy’s mom died the following day.
Gonzalez met with {the teenager} at an outside picnic desk the place they performed with slime and talked via his experiences. Their established rapport was a bonus. She was capable of present continuity of care and mercifully, the boy was saved the ache of re-explaining the historical past to a brand new counselor.
Then, within the blink of an eye fixed Gonzalez was now not the social employee; she was a daughter mired in her personal loss.
In late December 2020, Gonzalez arrived at her mom’s dwelling to seek out Ofelia, 57, unresponsive on the ground. Gonzalez carried out CPR and tried to maintain her mom alive till an ambulance arrived. Feeling a way of panic rising from inside, she knew from working in emergency conditions, she needed to keep calm, needed to relay the essential info to first responders.
The subsequent time she met together with her younger teenage consumer, they have been each motherless. Although Gonzalez’s mom had initially suffered 9 uncommon mind aneurisms, she in the end died of COVID-related problems.
Within two weeks Gonzalez was again to work. “I didn’t have the posh to take a lot time without work and we didn’t understand how quickly my mom’s medical payments would arrive,” she mentioned. Still reeling from her loss, she returned to serving others, together with her teenage consumer. Building on their current relationship was a profit. So, in a bittersweet means, was their shared loss. “The one factor I noticed with him was a whole lot of withdrawal,” Gonzalez mentioned. “So, understanding I used to be somebody who additionally knew what it’s wish to lose a mother – and so not too long ago – allowed us to reconnect.”
“During the pandemic our social work group has labored tirelessly to make sure our pediatric sufferers and their households have the sources they should keep secure and wholesome,” mentioned Coastal Kids founder Margy Mayfield. “Many of our households are very remoted and the connection that social employees present turned a lifeline throughout COVID-19”
Other pertinent data:
Many CK mother and father who’re taking good care of kids with lifelong disabilities expertise nervousness and melancholy. “Plenty of our households are Latino who, historically don’t search emotional help, so it’s gratifying to have the ability to open a door that they’ve by no means thought-about,” mentioned Gonzalez. Providing this service at their dwelling and of their major language makes it extra accessible.
After Gonzalez raced behind her mom’s ambulance to the hospital, Ofelia was airlifted to San Jose Regional Hospital. She was not allowed to kiss or contact her mom. Gonzalez yelled ‘I like you, Mom’ as Ofelia was loaded right into a ready helicopter. “I didn’t know if she was aware, however I hoped she might hear me.” Once on the hospital, as a result of she’d examined COVID constructive, physicians declined her case.
WHO TO INTERVIEW:
– Kelly Mullen Brown: Development Director
– Stephanie Gonzalez: Social Worker with Coastal Kids Home Care
WHEN: Call media contacts to arrange a time.
WHERE:
1172 S. Main Street #125 Street
Salinas, CA 93901
Media Contacts:
Kelly Mullen Brown, Development Director, Coastal Kids Home Care
1-831-594-8826 | kbrown@coastalkidshomecare.org
Terry Downing, PRxDigital
(408) 838-0962 | terry_downing@prxdigital.com
About Coastal Kids Home Care
Margy Mayfield co-founded Coastal Kids Home Care in June of 2005. After greater than 20 years as a pediatric nurse, Mayfield knew what kids dwelling with severe sickness craved most – to easily be dwelling. Children thrive after they can sleep in their very own beds, eat their favourite meals and spend time with their associates. Mayfield’s thought was easy however revolutionary. With an unique give attention to pediatrics, Coastal Kids convey high-quality, compassionate dwelling care to kids with severe or life-limiting sickness – all at a low value to households and group healthcare {dollars}.
Terry Downing
PRxDigital
+1 408-838-0962
email us here
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