Quarantine Catch-up

The kids and C are still home and the governor has instituted a Shelter in Place order. That means that all non-essential movement is now a misdemeanor. Unfortunately some a-holes still have a pretty generous idea of what "essential" means. And we're all getting real judgey and snarky over here. C keeps yelling out the window "SIX FEET" when he sees people congregating.

I'm still going to work (and sometimes it feels like I'm the only one) (cue snark). I'm so awed by how tirelessly some people have been working to figure out how we try to keep our patients healthy and the virus out of the prison, and simultaneously frustrated by how quickly some people made it clear how unessential they thought their jobs were. I'm also acknowledging that I am getting really burnt out with the long hours and complete lack of any historical precedent for how to manage the mental health program in a prison full of older and medically fragile people, while still being held to court standards and protocols. Nearly half of my leadership has been designated as "high risk" including my upper management. I feel like I'm making it up as I go and without a lot of resources to bounce ideas off of. I'm exhausted and a little resentful, if I'm really honest. I'm frequently muttering under my breath, "and the cheese stands alone." I'm hoping that this week we can settle into our "new normal" and that I and my staff can all take a breath and lean in. I shut down a significant amount of program, so I'm hoping the patients tolerate the lack of structure well. To be honest, I think they'd all really like it if we all just stayed away. Imagine if you were on social distancing and people kept walking through your house. There's no COVID in the prison (yet), so it's up to us to try to keep it out. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes right now. Today I walked through a few units trying to do some basic education about social distancing and hand-washing. I've been trying to stop in and talk to the clinical staff as much as I can. My non-clinical staff are all teleworking. I hope it helps? I don't know. Honestly, I'm making it up as I go. I'm trying not to be whiny but honestly I'm kind of over it and wish that I could stay home with everyone else. I won't, because I owe it to my staff to show up, but damn, some moments I'd really like to. Also, I really hate the commercials and billboards for places we can’t go. That just feels like adding insult to injury. But I digress (in a very un-stoic way.)

Back on the home front, no one has gone feral yet so that's good! The weekend was lovely. We took a long walk on Saturday with the dogs. The kids swam. C and I braved Walmart.

The kids built a fort under the stairs. Screens in a fort is a memory! 

We sacrificed  repurposed a bunch of crappy crayons in the interest of crafts

Local stores are really getting the hang of managing panic shoppers

So thrilled :) 

It's looking like the kids may not be going back to school this year. I panic ordered chromebooks for the two that didn't have one, plus an extra for the adults to use. The library extended everyone's due dates until June which is maybe the hardest hit I've gotten so far. There's some silver linings. I love not being so busy. My people are making some really fun memories. Traffic is AMAZING.