COVID Care Teams to assist residents

COVID Care Team members are dispatching across the state to help neighborhoods recover from the social and emotional health challenges of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services (MHARS) Board has launched Lorain County’s team to offer communitybased outreach and education to relieve stress and anxiety, especially if those stresses are or may become health concerns, according to a news release.

COVID Care Team members provide free, friendly advice and connections to local resources.

Officially known as a Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program, the local COVID Care Team has trained, knowledgeable Care Counselors ready to help people navigate issues that are causing them stress and anxiety, or to find treatment for anxiety-related concerns, the release said.

Elaine Georgas, MHARS Board interim director, describes the personal connection and resourcefulness of the COVID care counselors as “extraordinary.”

Georgas said the teams already have helped navigate people through everything from lack of hot meals, to fear over COVID-19 like symptoms, to unemployment challenges to grief and loneliness due to being physically separated from family members.

“These are all things that were causing people anxiety that could lead to health conditions or challenges,” she said. “A member of our COVID Care Team listened, and helped.”

This is a local partnership between the MHARS Board, El Centro De Servicios Soc and Elyria YWCA, and is part of Ohio’s COVID Care program from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

The Lorain County COVID Care Team is part of a federally funded shortterm disaster relief grant awarded to states after a presidential disaster declaration.

The grant supports community-based outreach, counseling and other mental health services during the pandemic.

The neighbor-to-neighbor approach of the COVID Care Team also inspires the community to get involved in supporting each other, Georgas said.

Community conversations have led to food drives, check-ins on elderly residents and other connections that can be a protection to an individual’s mental health and well-being, she said.

“The beauty of this assistance is that it is for everybody,” said Tim Williams, who is leading the CARE Counselors at the YWCA. “So often when communities receive this type of support, it’s like, ‘Do you qualify? No, you don’t meet all of this eligibility criteria.’

“The COVID Care Team recognizes that everyone is struggling in some way right now; everyone has anxieties. We are here as a friendly resource, for anyone who lives in Lorain County.”

Williams said his team has supported people who are homeless, and those running businesses.

He said the COVID Care Team can help regardless of a person’s walk of life, and the team is serving people countywide.

Thelma Cruz, who is with the El Centro outreach group, echoed Williams’ remarks.

“We are here to help, whether you speak English or Spanish, are employed or unemployed, are a mom, dad, live alone,” Cruz said. “We offer help where you are, and hope when you need it.”