Speaker 0 00:00:06 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:01:00 Um, good evening. Thank you for joining disability and progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show. Thanks so much for tuning in. Thanks so much for Annie Harvey, who is my engineer? Shoveling doll was my research team and tonight, Oh, and also, uh, just a couple of announcements before I announced tonight. Um, if you want to be on my email or you may email
[email protected] and I will add you to the list and we have a Facebook page. Yay. Charlene, did you get to add to the Facebook page today?
Speaker 1 00:01:43 Well, I'm trying. Oh, I see you. Haven't added new territories for me. Okay. So I will hopefully get the URL. I think it is. Um, I think it is Facebook dot disability or Facebook. What is it? facebook.com/disability and progress. I think that's what it is. So I will have that for you for sure. Next week. Uh, so thanks for joining us tonight. We are talking about learning with more that's M O H R members caring for individuals with disabilities, uh, with the COVID shutdown of services. So, um, we will be speaking to a number of people, uh, genie, CalVet, Deni. Are you here? Yes, I'm here. Is it Jean or Jeanie? Do you prefer Janie CalVet. Genie is a director of interact, uh, center for the visual performing arts in st. Paul and we are also with Dan Reed. Good evening down. Hey, how are you?
Speaker 1 00:02:55 Good. Thank you. Dan is from choice and in Prairie. Dan is remote learning developer, I believe. Right. Did I get that right? Um, Megan Mo is also with us good Meghan that evening. Megan is the developer of remote learning for M R C I in Mankato. I am familiar with MRC, but I can't tell you how. Um, and of course we have Sherri Wallace, Sherry's from the Wallace group. And, um, I want to start out by first of all, Sherry, do you want to do an introduction of how you are involved with this and what does Moore stand for for all those who are new and don't know?
Speaker 2 00:03:43 Well, it's so nice to have, uh, this program and again, to work with you and Charlene Sam, uh, more stands for Minnesota organization of habilitation and rehabilitation. It's a simpler way to say it. It is de TRO training programs, uh, across Minnesota, about a hundred over a hundred programs that provide, um, training for education and life skills and employment for individuals with disabilities. Uh, it's been around a long time and it is serving in a wide variety of ways. And the one unique thing is its flexibility to respond when there is a COVID that is on the horizon. Um, that's, that's the real remarkable thing about this organization. They, they act like a, uh, uh, a nonprofit, a business in which they are looking for solutions because their charge is to take care of the needs of people with disabilities during the day. And they go back home to their residents or to their family or to their, uh, house, but it is, uh, important that they provide training and, uh, whether that be training of just personal, uh, life skills or how to survive in a really good employment opportunity for them. So it's, it's very exciting, uh, what these programs have done with COVID coming up. So that, that is, uh, that is why I wanted this program to happen. My role is to show off what more organizations are doing around the state.
Speaker 1 00:05:43 Excellent. Thank you so much. I think Dan, we lost down there. Hopefully he'll be back in, um, I want to start out by having each of you, um, just give a brief background for the other of, Oh, there Dan is of who you are and what your background was before you came to the job that you're doing now. And we'll start with genie.
Speaker 3 00:06:11 Uh, yes. Um, before I found it interact center, uh, I come from an arts background. Um, I studied theater and visual arts in Europe. I lived there for 10 years and I just kind of happened into the whole disability field. Cause my friend Greg glace from wilderness inquiry invited me and my partner to do a workshop up in, in 1980, a theater workshop with people with disabilities up at a camp for people with developmental disabilities. And I put placed on for the first time. I'd never worked with people with disabilities and it just became a mission. And I really had been doing it ever since in some form and founded interact, um, 25 years ago. So
Speaker 1 00:06:58 Dan great. Thank you, Dan. How about you? What was your background before you came to do what you're doing now?
Speaker 4 00:07:05 Well, um, I would probably in the last person who ever thought would have done this sort of thing, I used to have my own company and, uh, uh, and uh, I had a partner and, but he had cancer and we had to sell the business and I got involved with another business and lost all my money and I was, I had to find a job. And so I applied to be a marketing director at a program, um, in st. Paul and I was the least qualified person for it. Again, I grew up, I went to Catholic schools. We didn't have people with disabilities around, I never around people disabilities. And they gave me the job and I couldn't, I quit every day for six months until I realized that this is what I was absolutely supposed to do. And I've never looked back since.
Speaker 1 00:07:58 So what a, what a great learning experience for you?
Speaker 4 00:08:01 Well, it was funny. I, I, I started, um, I quit every day for six months, as I said, and I started just writing notes down just to kind of calm myself down and all of a sudden I had the makings of a book and I wrote a book about it. So.
Speaker 1 00:08:17 Excellent. Um, Megan, how about you?
Speaker 3 00:08:21 Hi, started, um, working with adults diagnosed with disabilities when I was younger. Um, my mom actually kind of helped me become passionate about that. Um, she provided music classes for adults diagnosed with disabilities, so I would go with her and volunteer and, um, that's where I kind of found my passion and I, I knew from a young age that, um, I wanted to help provide opportunities for people.
Speaker 1 00:08:50 Excellent. Um, okay. So now it's time for you guys to give the voice to
Speaker 5 00:08:56 What the program is in the location that you are, that you're at and the program that you're involved with. So we'll start with Dan.
Speaker 4 00:09:08 Okay. So I work with a company called choice incorporated. Uh, it's based in the Western suburbs. It's kind of funny. It started out as a little old DAC in Eastern Carver County and, uh, over 50 years ago. And now it's really one of the, it's a premier, uh, program in Carver County and an Eden Prairie Minnetonka and, uh, maple Grove,
Speaker 5 00:09:37 Megan.
Speaker 3 00:09:40 Um, I am a service coordinator with MRC. I am RCI stands for manage resource connections, inc. And we, um, provide opportunities, um, for adults diagnosed with disabilities in the Metro and Southern areas of Minnesota
Speaker 5 00:09:58 And genie. Um,
Speaker 3 00:10:01 Our location now is in st. Paul and it's a visual and performing arts center. So we have a theater there too, where we rehearse, but we perform out in the community at the Guthrie at the lab theater at mixed blood. Uh, we have our studio for our visual artists, but they also, uh, exhibit their work in the community at leading galleries and around the country. Now, of course everything is remote, but, uh, I found it interact in, um, because there, I wanted to give options for creative people with disabilities that see art and theater as their, uh, work as their mission and is their passion. So it it's a professionally run, um, visual and performing arts center for professional artists with disabilities.
Speaker 5 00:10:54 Can you each talk about your connection to the remote training program? Um, I guess as either a director or a program developer,
Speaker 3 00:11:07 Uh, well, I'll start. Well, we knew we knew nothing about remote programming, but not all my staff have 25 staff. They're all our artists professional, you know, and I think they're good at, you know, making a lemonade out of lemons. Artists are always are. And, uh, we just, we just started, uh,
Speaker 3 00:11:31 We just started, uh, experimenting and, uh, creating all kinds of classes and asking the artists what they would like and had brainstorming sessions with them on soon and just started doing it in, we're kind of refining it now we're getting better and better, but, uh, we were, uh, you know, it was a little rough, a little bumpy in the beginning, but we've really taken off now and we have 50 classes a week, uh, in there. I mean, we have up to sometimes, uh, 30, even up to 60 people in a class, but we have lots of staff. It's a one to four ratio.
Speaker 5 00:12:10 Okay. Dan, how about you?
Speaker 4 00:12:13 Uh, well, I knew less about a remote, uh, education or whatever you wanna call it, then Jeannie did. So, um, but fortunately, uh, I worked with great people and, um, program manager goes, maybe we would put some of these classes online. I go, okay. That's okay. So, you know, I I've served genius in the same way. I didn't know what zoom was in Martin. I'm an expert at it. It's just, It's just goofy. But, um, yeah, so it that's how we, that's how we started. And, um, the response from our, our members and participants was terrific right from the get-go
Speaker 5 00:12:58 And Megan.
Speaker 3 00:13:01 Um, so I, as a day service coordinator, I helped develop and implement the virtual programming. And we have a day service manager named Angela Lolich, who has started to create the curriculum and provide virtual services to a small group of clients. When I joined in may, I assisted in growing our services and our curriculum. Um, and then we had a group of day service coordinators who contacted all of our previous clients, um, to share about our virtual programming and in order to grow it
Speaker 5 00:13:34 Hi, yes. As everyone is frantically doing now, if they weren't doing it in March, they are definitely doing it now, or they're drowning. I want to kind of now, now we can get into kind of the, what types of classes or learning classes that you guys each offer. And, um, sounds like some of you have many, but how many, you know, are you, how many classes are you teaching and what, what types of classes,
Speaker 3 00:14:09 Oh, you want me to start? Go ahead. Well, we have 50 classes and, um, I, you know, I'm, I, I go into the first one every day and there are different seems like awesome stories, indirect stories about the 25 years of history and fun things. And former artists, uh, I that's the only class I really run there cause they have 25 staff and they're teaching everything from, um, uh, stretch and sketch, painting, drawing, ceramics, uh, cooking, uh, visual, performing arts. We have, uh, creative writing, singing, music, dancing, uh, character development playwriting, and we mix it up and we, we have a brainstorming session in the morning. So we're always looking, um, we're asking our artists for new ideas of things that they would like to do. A lot of our artists are now teaching in presenting in some of the workshops. So it's very collaborative.
Speaker 3 00:15:14 I would say it's more collaborative than when we were in house. Um, and we have a survey at the end of every week and people say which classes they like. And even when they like the class after about two or three weeks, we'd like to switch it up, keep it really, uh, keep it really fun for everybody. Cause it does get to be exhausting sitting in front of a screen four to five hours a day. So we just want to keep it as fun as possible. We have a lot of guest artists too. We've had Kevin clinic come in and visit visit. So that keeps people interested too.
Speaker 5 00:15:53 I have to ask cooking could seem like a, a very tricky one. I'm guessing they all get to watch somebody cook and they write down the recipe or something. Or how do you
Speaker 3 00:16:06 Artist has given cooking class and she has for her phone? Uh, I think she has, um, her sister, someone, your family hold the phone while she's cooking different in describing how she makes things. That's how it works.
Speaker 5 00:16:23 All right. So Megan, go ahead. So
Speaker 3 00:16:29 I have five sessions per day, Monday through Friday, we have one session that is a social hour throughout the day. And that's for individuals who, um, want to try out our virtual services prior to scheduling. Um, we typically have four to six clients in each group and we cover, um, we want our sessions to be interest based on, but we also want to teach at the same time. So we have some main topics that we cover, like social skills, independent living skills, money management, but we also have some fun topics every week, like travel Tuesday or games and gab on Friday, um, where we're able to provide that social interaction piece as well.
Speaker 5 00:17:14 Okay. And about how many classes did you say you would have?
Speaker 3 00:17:18 Um, we have, um, five class, five sessions throughout the day. And with each session we have five to six groups of four to six clients at a time, our social hours, the only group where anyone could join, because so we could have 15 participants at a time joined on that social hour.
Speaker 5 00:17:37 But do you have various other classes that you do,
Speaker 3 00:17:41 Um, throughout the day? Yeah, we have, um, four other sessions throughout the day, which are, um, our scheduled sessions. Where were participants signed
Speaker 2 00:17:50 Up for? Um, how many days they'd like to participate and the times during the day as well.
Speaker 1 00:17:56 Dan, how about you?
Speaker 4 00:17:58 Well, we do about, uh, 45 classes a week and some days we do a few more than others, but, uh, we haven't thrown off the day and uh, just like other people have mentioned, um, they arranged everything from the social skills part, just the social, like we call it connect conversation just where the theme is, you know, uh, as we surveyed our families and our participants, the loneliness factor was such a huge issue and just not being able to see people directly and that, so we really focus on that. They can connect and express their frustrations or their happiness or whatever, and it, it builds a lot of camaraderie, which is good. And then we, um, a big portion of ours is health and wellness. Uh, uh, it's always been a big part of the programming and it really, and that actually works really well remotely.
Speaker 4 00:18:52 And then we have, we have games and stuff too when, uh, card sharks and scavenger hunts. Uh, we, you know, one, guy's a, he's a beekeeper, it's one of our most popular classes is beekeeping. And it's just a lot of sensory integration, um, meditation. Um, and, uh, in our cooking classes, uh, the participants cook at home, they, we set up the cameras and so then, you know, that they're, they can watch and then we, you know, they know what the ingredients are, so they make the stuff for the at to me. And that's, that's been really good too, that it's really, it's, it's really good, healthy food and alternatives. And it just blends really in our mission of being healthy.
Speaker 1 00:19:42 I'm wondering are all of you now remote, as far as are all your classes, are they all remote and if so, did all the people you have that were in person, they did they all kind of go to remote or did you lose some here or there? Um, let's start with you, Megan.
Speaker 2 00:20:03 We, we have not been able to provide remote or virtual sessions for all clients. Unfortunately, um, we realized that technology is a barrier, was providing remote learning. Um, there have been some participants who are focusing more on the employment side and employment out in the community, which is great. Um, so I would say we, we haven't been able to provide services for everyone who we were previously
Speaker 1 00:20:31 About how many participants total are involved in remote in your remote rehab,
Speaker 2 00:20:37 Around 120 clients who participate throughout the week and in our virtual sessions.
Speaker 1 00:20:43 And Dan, how about you?
Speaker 4 00:20:46 Well, we, uh, we actually brought some people in house to, um, the department of human services allowed us to bring it what they call cohorts. So we had different cohorts groups that would come in. Um, and, uh, and honestly those cohorts, they did independent stuff, but they also came in and joined remote at the same time just to break it up and do different things. So we support about 200, uh, clients at choice, and there's less than 20 that are not involved. Almost everybody
Speaker 5 00:21:20 You're in houses about ready to close, right.
Speaker 4 00:21:23 Yeah. For, yeah. It's, you know, so we, we opened it up. It was going really well. And of course, now we're going to, we're going to close it down or in the process of closing it down again. But again, because of, of remote services, um, all of the people that are going to be going to have to stay at home, we'll still, they're still gonna have their cohorts. There's just gonna be virtual.
Speaker 3 00:21:47 Well, when we first started, we had what we have 120 artists and about a half of them transitioned to the remote. Um, we, not, all of them had computers, so we got, we got computers for people. Um, we got them trained in. We, unfortunately we lost some people just didn't transition. We call them regularly, try to get them involved. Some of them have joined, but the good thing, I guess, is we're, we're growing, we're taking a lot more artists. We've been literally, we have a long waiting list of people that have lost their jobs, or also we're reaching out way beyond the twin cities. Now, the good thing about remote is you don't have to worry about the rides. So we're getting a lot of demand. In fact, we've got so much demand now, uh, we've had to pick a start hiring more staff because we, we don't have enough. We have to have a four to one ratio. If we want to get the paid, you know, halfway the right to be halfway decent. So we actually need more staff than we did before. So
Speaker 5 00:22:57 I wanted to ask, like, what were, um, like some of the positive, um, things that have happened with remote with your doing the learning program was remote for your participants and your staff. And sounds like that was a part, a very positive thing that you were reaching out more and more, and you have a whole lot more than what you had before.
Speaker 3 00:23:24 Yeah. We wouldn't have been able to take this many people in because you know of our license. So now we're taking more people in, um, and people that would not have been able to get because of the, the length of the commute, we're getting a lot of people are that had, uh, their disability prevented them from being in a long ride because they
Speaker 2 00:23:46 Had, you know, some health issues. So we taking P I think it actually expanded access in a way. Yeah. Which is great. It sounds like too, you're hiring people, we're hiring. So are you currently still looking and should people go to website too? If they qualify? Yeah, sure. We are. We're looking at, and you know, we're looking for substitutes cause you know, the are the staff need to take vacations, people get sick. So we're, we're looking for substitutes, you know, to come in on a, on a day and be part of the, you know, be part of the classes. So yeah, we are, we're doing, we're looking for people and Dan, so Dan you're next? So the positive impact of this remote programs that have, what have they had on the participants in the staff?
Speaker 4 00:24:40 Well, one of the things that Jeannie mentioned was really, uh, uh, relevant to us too, is the transportation in the sense that, you know, they don't have to get on the vans. They don't have to wait for their Metro rise it's that that really has helped. Um, uh, it, you know, the, uh, the knowledge level of the technology of our participants is unbelievable. There's so much more comfortable in front of the computers. I mean, it's just like nothing to them now. And they, they've learned so much about the computer that, that, uh, that's really, really gratifying and, uh, exciting because now we're going to push much more into the technology component of it as we expand that that's a major focus because they want to be more independent.
Speaker 2 00:25:30 And Megan, how about you? Um, I think that something that we've continued to hear from support teams is that virtual programming has given individuals an opportunity, um, to connect with their peers and then also something to look forward to throughout their day, even if it is just an hour or two a day, that they're joining on sessions, they're socializing with their peers. Um, and, and something else is that since we've combined all of the sites for remote learning, we've provided an opportunity for individuals to get to know people from different areas of Minnesota, um, make those connections and gain new friendships as well. I'm wondering how you guys both formally and informally measure the success of the remote classes that are happening. Uh, why don't you start Dan?
Speaker 4 00:26:28 Well, it's, it's, it's great. Um, one nice thing about, uh, about having options for people they vote with their feet, if they don't, if they don't like the class, come to the class,
Speaker 4 00:26:42 Like, you know, I can just turn you off. And, but, uh, we, uh, we survey people almost continually because, uh, we, we don't want it to classes to get boring. We don't want them to get mundane. Uh, and, um, and honestly the more we ask, the more they want from us. So it's great. Um, and we're just diversifying so much more into programming and, and supports. Uh, so, um, so that's really it. I mean, it's, uh, we can tell right away if, if people like the classes, cause honestly our classes fill up so quickly that, um, yeah, we can tell, in fact, one thing that we noticed, I don't know if you noticed this, you other folks making a genie that, um, last week was really bad week. We had a lot of no shows. Well, a lot of people were sick last week. Uh, but now it's up again this week. It really, it really, it, it made us nervous. It's like, Oh my gosh, what's going on? Well, the COVID is more prevalent now and it's, it's affecting, it's starting to affect our numbers a little bit. Now this week we were better, but it really, it was highly unusual. So I just wondered how people are feeling with that. Megan, how about you? How are you guys measuring this informally informally?
Speaker 3 00:28:00 So, um, we measure it kind of the same way that Dan was seeing, um, where we are asking the participants weekly, um, things that they want to learn more about. Um, we did send out a survey recently, um, to kind of measure where people are at with services, ways that we can improve and also learn about their favorite things about virtual programming to make sure that we continue to do so. Um, something that we've noticed is, um, some people are hesitant to enjoy in virtual programming. It's really new to a lot of people. Um, so we have some people who maybe sign up for two sessions per week, and then by the end of the week, they're requesting to join on more sessions. And, um, that's shown us a lot that, um, that people are enjoying the services and Jenny, how you, uh, we have a survey that goes out at the end of the week and we also go over it verbally for people that don't fit, you know, fill out the survey.
Speaker 3 00:28:59 And then, um, you know, it's interesting cause we, we, we have sometimes up to 60 people, like when Kevin Kling did it, some of the more popular classes, uh, 60 people show up. And so we know wow, that, that, that teacher's really popular and that's popular. And then people get a little competitive cause they, they want so, uh, it's it's yeah, we just keep refining it. And um, but as I said, one of my, our collaborators in Australia, our sister organization that we helped, uh, create, they started their remote before us, because in Australia they got funding immediately. It wasn't a problem like here and they didn't get a rate cut either. So I asked my friend how she said, the one thing I can tell you is even when you do pot things that people like a lot mix it up every few weeks because people there's kind of a zoom fatigue. And so novelty try to always keep it fresh and be creative and take ideas from your, from your participants of things that they want. So we, we do that just to freshen it up and keep it interesting. So,
Speaker 5 00:30:16 Hmm. What has been some of the drawbacks, um, you have had, uh, with the remote learning? Um, let's start with Megan.
Speaker 3 00:30:30 Something that I touched on before, um, as I think one of the drawbacks would be technology. Um, although technology is a great tool, um, not everyone has access to it. Um, maybe do, but they don't have a systems that are compatible with the platform that we use. Although it's been a drawback, we've seen a lot of, um, guardians case managers, support team members work to provide that technology in order for people to participate, which has been great. I think it's been a learning experience for everyone and, um, it's helped provide some of those independent living skills as well for the, for the participants. Um, technology is very prevalent in our society and we're only going to continue to use it more.
Speaker 5 00:31:18 Uh, Dan, what you okay.
Speaker 4 00:31:21 Well, I think the biggest drawback, unfortunately it ties back to money and the fact that, uh, the rate cuts that we had from, from our funding, which is through DHS, uh, it's uh, where as well as we're doing with, with connect, which is our program, it's still a fraction of what we used to bring in monthly and, you know, uh, and it can't sustain itself. Um, and, um, it's it, you know, people are gonna have to look at the whole thing differently because there's a lot of work that goes involved with the money as a problem genie.
Speaker 3 00:32:07 Oh, I, I echo that. I think, uh, you know, the only reason we're still in business as we got a lot of those COVID grants, we got like $600,000 worth of COVID grants and loans. And if we were just, uh, dependent on the billing, uh, yeah, we wouldn't be in such good shape, so it is not sustainable. That's, that's the reality. And we, I don't know what we're gonna, what we're going to do about that, but we hopefully will keep getting COVID grants. And we do a lot of fundraising that is, um, definitely why you have to have four people, you have to have a higher percentage of staff than you do when you're new, your physical space is, is bizarre. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Right. So we have it, you know, um, and it, it just it's, it's like, do, do they want us to go out of business? I mean, somebody didn't think this through, right? Yeah. And that's why a lot of people are going out of business. It's, it's just, uh, we're going to have to keep working to get a better rate. Um, so that was a big negative, yeah.
Speaker 5 00:33:19 Uh, something I've kind of seen as a teacher with people with disabilities on some of the people who have, you know, I'd say if they have any, um, learning disabilities or the, even like they have some kind of anxiety or depression, they had, they have done it, but they have reacted a little bit rough. I'd say, you know, because they were so used to me coming there and now they just want to be able to see me. And that seems that transition was hard. And how common was that for each of you?
Speaker 3 00:33:59 Um, well, in the beginning, the people didn't like the remote as much. I think they missed seeing it, but it's like after a few weeks, people just, people just got kind of used to it. And, you know, we have those social hours, we had coffee and chat where people are drinking their coffee and hi, how's it going? And, and now it's just kind of like people say, this is our little zoom community. So it was awkward in the beginning. And for some people, they really did struggle with the technology, but we, we got them help and we, um, people are very resilient, you know,
Speaker 5 00:34:37 Megan,
Speaker 3 00:34:40 I agree. I think it was difficult at first. I was a confusing time for many people wondering why we couldn't see each other in person and we couldn't go back to our centers. And I think we've worked through that. And like Jamie said, people are resilient. Um, and that's something that we've noticed is that resiliency, um, which is great. And we, we just continue to, um, prompt and provide those opportunities for socialization, even in a virtual type setting.
Speaker 5 00:35:10 Dan, how about you? I think you maybe mentioned that you've seen some of that too.
Speaker 4 00:35:16 Definitely. And one of the things that I think really helped was, um, was people didn't do anything for a couple of weeks or longer. Cause it took a while to get things going and then they could see it in other parts of society. It was the same thing. It just wasn't people with disabilities.
Speaker 5 00:35:35 Right. It was kind of everyone. And then it's like,
Speaker 4 00:35:38 Well, this is better than nothing. You know what I mean? And then, and then they just got really comfortable with it. And so it it's, it's like the rest of us, it's like, you know, how corporate America, Cole, you know, how do they cope? All of a sudden nobody's in the office and everyone's at home and it's like, you know, this, you know, there's certain things that work great. Other things. It's just like, Oh my God, it's awful.
Speaker 1 00:36:04 What has been the, one of the things that has surprised you about the impact of remote learning? Let's start with you, Dan.
Speaker 4 00:36:13 Uh, the, um, I touched on a little bit before, is that the technology part and the fact that technology people displays technology has not been their friend, you know, uh, you know, you know, historically the, whether it's a talking computer or whatever, it just really crappy stuff. And now, uh, our people are super hipster with this stuff. They're like, they're teaching their family how to do zoom and stuff. I mean, it, it, you know, and, uh, where, um, and honestly, uh, like when things would crash and stuff and I'd be having a nervous breakdown, they were like super chill about it. It's like, you know, maybe they're right. Maybe, you know, just to take everything so seriously, but can I just say one more thing? The technology is going to open up a lot more opportunities for employment. Oh yeah. Go ahead, Jenny.
Speaker 3 00:37:16 Well, at interacts, it's interesting. Cause we have the visual artists who are in one place in the they're working on all their projects and they're getting ready for exhibitions and things like that. Then we have the performing artists in another part and they don't really mix that much, uh, in, everybody's so busy because we're always working on a show where, you know, shows and projects in classes. So people don't really get to talk a lot. And I think now it's great. We have the morning session, coffee and chat. So the visual and performing artists are kind of mixing. And so a lot of the visual artists are going into the performing art and trying some of the dancing and some of the, the theater music. And then the, some of the performing artists started doing fabulous, uh, visual art. And now one of the, our performing artists, I did, I had no idea. It was such a good artist is exhibiting in the visual arts show. So there's a lot, it's, there's a lot more collaboration and it's also, we have more time. The staff has more time just to talk and hang out with them in some of these, uh, zoom sessions. Where were we before? I couldn't just go in and sit there and talk for an hour with all the artists, because we're always so busy. So I think we've gotten to know each other more. So I think there actually is deeper bond
Speaker 2 00:38:36 Between the artist and the staff in the artist. Um, and it's more collaborative. It's much more collaborative than it was before. It sounds like you're seeing new talents and people are getting to try things that they wouldn't normally or have time to do. And I think they would have been shy before like the visual arts to go and performing order to do dancing. But now it's like, cause I'm at home and everybody else is doing it. It's not like, Oh, I have to get up and dance in front of her. So it's just people. It's just more, I have to say. I it's, it's the most creative time I think we've ever had because of this mixing everything up. Megan, how about you? What has surprised you? I think something that has surprised me, um, is the ability to create those relationships virtually where, when we, um, were in person before we were really, hands-on getting to know people and now in a virtual type setting, I wasn't sure how that relationship building or that rapport building would go. Um, but I've been pleasantly surprised at, um, the friendships and the relationships that have been built. And, um, we've still been able to get to know our participants, um, through a screen, which has been amazing. Yes.
Speaker 4 00:39:56 If I could add one thing, I actually wrote it down last week, I was writing on it for a grant. And I said, one thing that this has happened is going remotely is almost made us closer.
Speaker 2 00:40:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I totally agree. Yes, absolutely. I wonder. And I want each of you to contribute if you will, to this, um, when this passes and it will, as all things do, um, or, or change back to a little bit of what we know, what do you feel will not change? What's the one thing that now has happened that you feel like you won't be able to put back into the box or that, that will always kind of stay out there?
Speaker 4 00:40:49 I think the word listening because of being remote, we almost had to listen more intently and it's goes both ways.
Speaker 2 00:41:04 Yes. I completely agree. I, I think that, and just in an MRC standpoint, as we've, um, connected all of the sites, I think, um, we wish to stay connected and hopefully get together with other sites. Um, it's, it's been really great getting to know people from other areas. And, um, I completely agree with Dan though. It's, we've, we've been communicating, um, in a different way and on a different level.
Speaker 1 00:41:34 And how about you, Jenny? What, what will change? What will stay?
Speaker 3 00:41:40 One of the things we heard from early on, we had a lot of people that have like, um, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, or they have some, something that, uh, would prevent them from attending every day when they, you know, and so like usually in, in the winter, uh, we have a problem with people not showing up, uh, because it's extremely cold. Maybe they suffer from depression, they look out the window. They like, I'm not getting out of bed today. We all feel like that sometimes in the winter. And, um, we, they said really, you know, my attendance is way up because I don't have to get out of bed. If I'm feeling a little sluggish or I'm having pain, I don't have to get ready and get on that Metro mobility and a bumper around for an hour and have to get up like two hours early.
Speaker 3 00:42:34 So, um, there, a lot of the attendance has gone up. We wouldn't have to worry about snow days anymore where we can't open. So we, I talked to, um, commissioner harps did early on and I said this, I think we should keep the component because it increases access accessibility for people that ha have physical issues or they just live too far away from the program that they want to be in. And, uh, so I think that's something we should, we should keep along with the, you know, the in-house programming. So like almost have a two tiered program, or if people get sick, some of our people said, you know, I would have been out on medical leave this last month because I haven't been doing well, but they're sitting there in their bed taking part in the classes. So, and they say I would have been really depressed because that would have been sitting in my bed being bored. And now I wake up every day and I'm doing classes while I'm healing. So I wouldn't want to change it
Speaker 1 00:43:33 To capitalize on this then. Um, do you feel like the, the monetary part or the political part that, um, gives the money, will they accept having as much remote when things go back the other way and not push you into having to have everyone come in? Do you think that will be an issue?
Speaker 3 00:43:59 I talked to commissioner stead early on, you know, about this. And, um, I think they, she listened and, um, there was a letter sent out at one point mentioning that they believe because of the, um, added access accessibility for people, uh, that they, they are gonna consider continuing with the remote, even after w we can all be back in our programs. Plus we've taken so many extra people now, we're not going to have room for them.
Speaker 2 00:44:33 So we're going to have to come up with some kind of a solution and that I'd rather do that than have to rent some more space. So
Speaker 5 00:44:41 Megan, so speaking of space, Megan, my understanding is so correct me if I'm wrong that MRC has closed or it either is, or has closed some of their buildings, how is that going to affect their program? And is this just a temporary thing or is this a turnover to a new thing?
Speaker 2 00:45:02 Um, it is a turn over to a new thing. So currently we do have two of our locations open one in Mankato and one in new arm where we are providing some, um, in-house in center for, um, some clients who are at that retirement age, but we are moving to a completely community-based model going forward, um, where we will have everyone out in the community either participating in day services or working. Um, so we're also hoping that our virtual programming will be able to continue, um, to some degree moving forward for participants who maybe are joining in the community based model, um, half, half, um, throughout the week or a couple of days a week. And maybe they could also participate virtually a few times a week as well.
Speaker 5 00:45:58 So what any of you can answer this? What has doing this remote learning taught any of you that you would do differently when people come back in?
Speaker 4 00:46:13 Uh, I'd like to comment on that. I, I perceive that because we've already done this. I talked to briefly before about it, that we have our, our cohort group of say eight people in, you know, in a classroom. And then there'll be up to 20 people on the, uh, coming into the class via connect. They act like they're in the room. It doesn't, it doesn't, it is just, I'm sure that we will always offer this as an option because it w they don't care. I mean, you know, it works so well. Yeah. Don't you don't, you guys say that too.
Speaker 2 00:46:52 Totally. Yeah. Yes.
Speaker 5 00:46:58 And, and presumably Megan, your technology will get better and better with, you know, doing the remote because that's kind of what you guys are going toward.
Speaker 2 00:47:09 Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And we hope that we're, um, kind of like Jeannie said, we're hoping, we're hoping to, um, be able to provide services to people outside of our normal areas. Um, as we are remote, um, we should be able to provide services to anyone who are looking for them.
Speaker 5 00:47:28 So is there any more,
Speaker 1 00:47:30 Uh, anything else that anybody would like to add? I don't know if Charlene, if you had any questions, but is there anything else as well that you guys would like to add or any stories you wanna tell
Speaker 3 00:47:41 Sam? I, uh, encourage them all, all three of them to think of some, some, some short stories, uh, about what this has meant, or maybe some comments from families or comments from the individuals themselves. And I think that would just make it all come alive for us. We, we do that. Um, we take comments from, um, w quotes and comments a lot from our artists in some of our sessions, like, how did the zoom change your life? Or what do you love about it? And people are very eloquent, you know, they're really, are they, Oh, it changed my life because, uh, I was so alone, there was about a month where we didn't have services. Um, and that talked about being feeling despondent, hopeless, and how, you know, the zoom just brought them back to life. And, uh, we're going to be doing a zoom performance, uh, creating a zoom performance, uh, with our visual and performing artists together, um, and interacting together in bringing it multi, like a multi-platform visual, performing music, dance, everything. Uh, we were hiring someone to help us with this. Cause it's, it's quite, quite daunting. You know, we have to get cameras to everybody with it's, it's, it's kind of, uh, ambitious, but we're going to be doing a zoom, a big zoom performance, and it's going to be about this time in our history and how it's changed us all for the better, in some ways. So it's going to be like love in the time of Corona or something like that.
Speaker 1 00:49:26 Send the info to me, uh, when you are going to do that. So we can get an email. I presume this will be a public performance. So people,
Speaker 3 00:49:36 Oh, absolutely. The good thing is, you know, we've have collaborators in Australia cause we've, we've done things in Australia. Uh, we have collaborators in Thailand, we have collaborators in Europe, so we're going to be inviting some of those groups that we've worked with to do like a scene in our show. So we can have like Thai dance as part of the show or, or some of the things that we've done in, in those countries and have them do a scene. So it'll be, we want to make it international. So
Speaker 1 00:50:13 Yeah, it's kind of amazing. You would have never sought to do this before this.
Speaker 3 00:50:18 No, well, it would have been really expensive to fly all those people. We couldn't have done it, but now we can just, they can film and we, it can be part
Speaker 2 00:50:28 Of our zoom thing and then they can share it with people in Australia so we can get a wider audience. You know, anybody else have anything they'd like to add? I think something that I've touched on before is just how virtual programming has given people the opportunity to look forward to something throughout their day. Um, we've received feedback from parents and guardians and re residential staff that our virtual meetings give people something to look forward to something, to get out of bed in the morning. Um, and we recognize that they do look forward to it. Um, when we start a session, we have people waiting in the lobby as you do. And we're able to see when someone first joins on and sometimes yes, waiting for 30 minutes or an hour for their session to start. And so, um, we're able to see that people are really excited and looking forward to see us
Speaker 4 00:51:24 To kind of add to that what we see is on the backend. So, so the class is an hour. A lot of times it goes an hour and a half hour, 45 minutes. There are no hurry to get off it at all. And that actually does help cause we, we can bill for that. But you know, I think I mentioned this when we were on the air before, but, uh, we had sent out a request for, um, feedback to submit to DHS, uh, about what, what connect was we call it meant to them. We got 12 pages of incredibly moving stories about how this has people say, well, this saved our family. This turned around so many things where we 18 be dramatic about it, but it's just unreal how people just loved it from the get-go. And then the ones that, that were, that were a little more nervous about it. Well, they heard so-and-so was on it, you know? And, uh, you know, th they're pioneers again, the people that, that we all work with are pioneers and they, you know, that this is a whole nother thing for them and it, it just, it makes, you know, I, I get to brag to my friends, how much I love my job. I tell very few people are very happy with their jobs right now.
Speaker 2 00:52:51 So I wonder, I think when we first started this, people were really worried about the financial part of it, keeping up with, you know, now that you've found where to do it, first of all, people were upset, worried about not having places stay open. And now that they're not, um, you know, and, and they were still worried about the financial part of it. So do, do you think the financial part will keep up with it?
Speaker 4 00:53:20 It's hard to tell where we're going to have. The response has been so overwhelmingly positive our families and by our participants that I think DHS is going to have to relook at how some of the funding is. Look don't you think you guys think that
Speaker 5 00:53:35 We have to, well, we have to push them. We have to communicate with them why this is so important. It sounds like, sounds like it's good for another advocating class, Sherry. Yeah. Well, um, I think we're just about at the end of our time. Is there anything else anybody wants to add?
Speaker 4 00:54:00 Well, I just want to thank you for this opportunity and congratulate Danny and Megan, is it fun to be part of this things? Cause people go, they go what?
Speaker 5 00:54:08 Oh yeah. It's really, really fun. It's really fun. It's nice to, sometimes you don't even want to get out of your pajamas. You can just be like, Oh, I got a class to start in five minutes, brush your hair. So I've done that. A lot of people have been doing that on a cold day, especially. Thank you guys very much. Thank you. Thank you, Jasmine. Thank you. All of you keep up the good work. This has been disability and progress. The views expressed on the show are not necessarily those of cafe or its board of directors. This is disability and progress. KFC I dot O R G Annie Harvey engineers. Thank you. Annie. Charlene doll is my research woman tonight. The topic was remote learning with more members, caring for individuals with disabilities. With the COVID shut down with services. We were speaking with genie CalVet. Jenny was from interact center for the performing arts in st. Paul also Dan Reed from choice in Eden Prairie. It was remote learning, um, developer. Also Megan Mo. Megan is the developer of remote learning for MRC I and Mankato. If you want to be on my email list again, you may email
[email protected] and check out our new Facebook page. Also check out our podcasts, which are growing. Thank you for joining me. Fresh fruit is up next good night. Good night.
Speaker 0 00:55:45 <inaudible> KPI.
