Ensuring marginalised groups are cared for during pandemic
AS communities rally together to quell the threat of the coronavirus, Wexford Local Development ( WLD) is working to ensure the most marginalised members of our society aren’t excluded from this group effort.
However, the very nature of this pandemic, and the restrictions it has placed upon us all, has made liaising with those from disadvantaged areas that little bit more difficult.
Marie Louise Byrne is the Community Development Coordinator at WLD and she explains the challenges they have faced since the outbreak of Covid-19.
‘Most of our work is relationship based, face to face. Now that we’re doing everything over the phone we’ve had to get some of our clients set up on pay-as-yougo packages.’
One of the most vulnerable groups WLD deal with is the travelling community. And educating and informing those in this ethnic group about the dangers of the coronavirus is of the utmost concern to Marie Louise.
‘The local Traveller Health Unit (THU) have been a godsend. They’ve produced a video about the coronavirus specifically for travellers, giving advice on the measures to take during the pandemic.
‘We also have nine Traveller Community Health workers, they’re members of the travelling community themselves, so they’ve been getting the word out there,’ says Maire Louise.
Yet adhering to the guidelines passed down from the medical experts is not always straightforward for those living in what are often challenging circumstances.
‘Those in the travelling community face particular challenges during the virus,’ says Marie Louise. ‘ Some of the people there would have chronic health conditions and then their living conditions might not be great.
‘We’ve been liasing with the Local Authority on that and had some good outcomes; for example there’s no point telling people to wash their hands if there’s no running water on site. But we’ve managed to get that sorted in some instances.’
Categorised as a particularly at-risk group by the HSE, members of these tight-knit communities are having to make changes to their way of living, some of them at odds with longheld traditions.
‘It’s very difficult for those in the traveller community to self-isolate,’ says Marie Louise. ‘The family unit is very important. There’s a lot of anxiety there. As a community they tend to be very close to their older family members, and there’s also a lot of children with special needs.
‘Travellers have been categorised as a vulnerable group and because of this if they have two or more symptoms they’re listed as a high priority for testing. Thankfully there’s been no positive test results for travellers in Wexford so far.’
In addition to its work with the traveller community, WLD is also assisting those living in Direct Provision in the county.
‘We’ve been helping those living in the hotels in Courtown and Rosslare. There’s lot of kids in those facilities, and for the parents their bit of escapism was getting out and doing the courses we’d set up for them.
‘That’s all been disrupted. And Internet access for them, in rural Wexford, isn’t great. Going forward there’s going to be massive issues with mental health there,’ says Marie Louise.
Of further concern is the ongoing uncertainty surrounding this year’s Leaving Cert. With no confirmation as to whether the exams will go ahead as planned in June, Marie Louise believes many young people will suffer if the Leaving Cert isn’t postponed.
‘If the Leaving Cert does go ahead at the scheduled time a lot of children will be in trouble. not all of them have access to a laptop or the Internet, they might only have a smartphone.’
To counteract this, and to ensure all students have access to educational tools while out of school, WLD has launched a series of online grinds through the The Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP).
With teachers from Enniscorthy Vocational School providing classes in English, Maths, Irish and Business, all of which can be accessed on YouTube, Marie Louise is hopeful students who would otherwise miss out can avail of these educational tools.
But she says inequality is something which has always been prevalent in our society, and these issues have simply been heightened because of the coronavirus and the restrictions is has placed upon us all.
‘These issues have always been present, they’re just being exacerbated now. But we’re all in this together, the less people who get this illness the better. I just hope that this sense of unity continues after this.’