COPING WITH THE COVID CRISIS

You don’t have to catch the Coronavirus to be affected, everyone’s lives have changed during this COVID-19 crisis. It would be hard to find anyone in East Cobb who has not been affected in some way by the coronavirus emergency. We reached out to fellow East Cobbers asking for their COVID stories.

“I feel like I am washing my hands every 5 minutes!”

-JON WALKER BROWN
5TH Grade, Garrison Mill Elementary

“We have almost 1,000 students and we have been open for 40 years. We have been closed since March 13. Our Cinderella performances were cancelled. Our high school seniors were not able to perform their final show after 13 years of training with our studio. The Coronavirus has touched everyone, and we are all learning how to adapt. Our Artistic staff has had numerous conference calls and we have all worked together to connect with our students. We never dreamed we would be teaching our dancers from our basement, kitchen, garage, or driveway. . .via Zoom, live stream or recorded video. We are here for them in the good times and bad. We will make it and there will be more dancing in the future….”

– NANCY TOLBERT YILMAZArtistic Director, Roswell Dance Theatre

“I have a posse of tight girlfriends and we get together often throughout the week– lunch or happy hour or just stopping by one another’s houses to talk. Virtual get togethers are just not cutting it, I am a hugger! With a home office, a perk has been working without make up on or needing to get dressed up every day. Everyone seems to be switching over from phone calls to Zoom meetings. I have been forced to blow dry my hair and put on lipstick again!”

– CAROLYN POLAKOWSKI
President, Cay Communications

“I’m an inventor in Marietta. I was consulting for local businesses, to pay the rent, until COVID-19 shut them down. An unpaid home project just turned full-time. I’ve been designing robotic die cutting and gluing machines to mass produce a paper- based STEM product that I invented. . . . As I was working on this machine, I realized that it could also be used to mass produce face shields and masks. So, that’s my new mission.”

– CORY RUSSEK
Consultant/Inventor

“We are calling all of our current and past clients to make sure they have everything they need. We are helping them find gloves, get medications, order their food online. Here is a story about that:

Arthur* (not his real name) is 90 years old, and homebound. Calling the office one morning last week, Arthur sounded worried; he wanted to be reassured that his regular caregiver would be visiting the next day. His medicine was gone, and neither he nor his wife had any way to get to the pharmacy. Understanding the great importance of medication dosing consistency, Angel Companions’ senior case manager, Lisa Miller, took the call, and the lead, offering to leave the office and pick up and deliver the prescription that day.“Of course, of all days there was a gas main break,” Lisa recounted, which meant “traveling around the world just to get to his pharmacy,” she laughed. “I called him along the way to say that I was delayed and asked him if he needed anything else while I was at Publix. “He said, some orange juice.” Lisa was still driving when he called back to add oatmeal because he had an upset stomach.

After arriving at Arthur’s home, medications, and pleasantries complete, Arthur looked at Lisa and asked if he might have a hug. “I told him it would have to be a virtual hug,” she said with a smile. The coronavirus and social distancing may nix a hug, but it will never defeat the touch of compassion by another. Thank you, Lisa Miller; you wear those angel wings well!”

– PHIL CALTABIANO
Owner, Angel Companions

“Ours is not a typical household. Our ages range from 15 to 77. During this isolation we held a five-person birthday party for the youngest. She just turned 15. None of her gifts arrived on time so as we sang Happy Birthday, she unwrapped her one and only gift…the coveted high-demand item of the day: a carton of toilet paper! The 23- year- old just returned home from a five-week trip to Europe. He was welcomed home with pizza on a paper plate. It wasn’t on the kitchen table as you might expect but, on the sidewalk, – six feet away from all of us who just wanted to give him a welcome home hug. He’s been sent to his room for 14 days. Meals are delivered on paper plates with plastic silverware. Even the family dog has been kept at bay. It is a trying time, but we are surviving with one parent working from home, the other going to work each day. Meanwhile, I am the 77-year-old in the house, and I need to watch my back when the rations get low.”

– MARY KECK
Retired

“As a college sophomore, I am able to take a lot of my classes online. Not being able to hang out with my girlfriend is the biggest adjustment I have had to make during the COVID-crisis. I am able to keep myself busy while being “locked down” at home with video games and workingout.”

– ALEX BROWN
East Georgia State College

“Since being quarantined, I miss having a daily schedule and seeing all my friends at school. I am managing as best as I can by using all of the teacher provided resources and setting a schedule to get schoolwork completed. I am keeping myself busy by watching TV and walking often around the neighborhood!”

– PARKER O’SHAUGHNESSY
Senior, Pope High School

“When the schools closed, I set up the “VirusAtlanta” Facebook group. One of the first things we did was coordinate meals and food delivery and collecting laptops to give to families who had none. We also organized pizza delivery to some of the worst hit ICUs and ERs. When we became aware of the PPE (face mask, gloves and gowns) shortage and we all set to work finding ways to fix that problem. We ordered extra masks for delivery to hospitals. We had teams making their own masks. We had construction companies donate their stash of masks. I also post YouTube channels offering PE classes to kids off school, as well as workouts, cooking classes etc. I host watch parties whenever a Trump or Kemp did press conferences. Everyone in the group posted resources that might help others, too. Who knows how this will end. It’s very frightening and confusing for everyone.”