Feature Article: Community support amid Covid-19

With the Coronavirus lock-down putting a stop to meetings and activities, local groups have had to be creative in finding ways to remain connected with their members. It is not always easy.  ‘I took my laptop and my DSLR and set it up at the back of the church and it didn’t work,’ recalls Chris Solly, 20, a retail employee who has been working hard to move the Christ Church South Cambs church online, to varying degrees of success. ‘I was told this [the lockdown] was going to happen about a week before it actually happened.’ Solly says the first week featured ’a live stream, it was actually from church while we were still at the venue. There was just this idea of “we should probably figure out how to live stream in case the country goes in to lockdown”. […] After that one practice that barely worked, it was “Oh right, its happened now, everyone’s in lockdown already, we really have to start streaming from this week”’.

They eventually set up group streaming using the newly popular program Zoom, which allows all members of the congregation to participate in the sermon. Despite these drastic changes, Chris explained that ‘attendance has gone up. Cos we have people who are immunosuppressed or who are not always able to get to church because they are unable to drive; and they’ve been able to join us every week […] we’ve even had some people who don’t usually come to church who have been able to zoom in because they’re in different parts of the country. Or even have a couple who live in Uganda […] they were able to come in a few weeks ago and watch the service.’

The Church has also been using other mediums to keep their congregation engaged. Their church Facebook group, which was previously intended for organising events and meetings, has turned into a community hub. Among the contents are song recommendations, riddles, and it’s even begun hosting weekly Lego competitions for the younger members and their families to enjoy. Chris confided that he had ‘started to run a church Minecraft server, which has been very popular among the younger members of the church. We run that for six hours every day, from three till nine. […] It’s all been bringing people together more during the pandemic when we’ve got little to do than it would be doing otherwise.’

On the 23th of March, the UK went into lockdown due to the Coronavirus, and a large percentage of its 66 million residents began their self-isolation. Nearly four weeks later Dominic Raab, deputising for PM Boris Johnson, said that lockdown measures will continue for ‘at least’ three more weeks.

In response, many communities such as churches, charities, schools and universities have been forced to move online. Like the Christ Church South Cambs congregation, many people have been flocking to online video communications platforms like Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams. Among those is Homeside: a caregiver project devoted to providing music and reading for people with dementia and their family or caregivers. These activities not only seek to provide an increased quality of life for people living with dementia, but also to decrease behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia itself.

The lockdown has particularly hampered this project because of how much face-to-face interaction can help stimulate the memories of people living with dementia. On Twitter, Ming Hung Hsu, music therapy lead of the national charity Methodist Homes and a senior researcher of the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy posted that ‘The HOMESIDE team […] are continuing to recruit participants and deliver our training & support online and via phone’ In addition, for those living with dementia who cannot access the online group are able to instead call the Alzheimer’s Societies Dementia Connect support line, further ensuring that their work and care can continue through the pandemic.

In addition to offering help for people living with dementia, the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy, which oversees Homeside, also works to educate and train caregivers of people with dementia to better help those under their care through the use of reading and music. To continue this training during the lockdown, they have made recordings of previous webinars available to access for free on the Eventbrite website.

Not everyone is finding the switch to online easy. Students in general have seen their education greatly affected by the virus, as classes of every kind have been either temporarily suspended or moved online using video chat programs such as Skype or Zoom. Cambridge, a city known for its many schools, has been particularly affected. The pandemic has been affecting schools far more than other communities due to the educational calendar does not allow for many delays due to the backlog of people moving up through primary, secondary education, college and university. With so much riding on its continued function during the pandemic, school life has been forced to continue in whatever form it can manage through the internet, however many students and teachers have been finding that online sessions are no substitute for in-class teaching.

Lucy Greenaway, 19, a student of English Literature at Anglia Ruskin University is one of many students who is having trouble with the sudden change to online learning, and the rushed job that many faculties have had to go through to keep the educational year running. ‘The majority of lecturers didn’t actually do any real lectures; they just gave us the option to type out some points on a discussion board,’ She said. While some teachers have been able to keep their timetables up using Zoom as a substitute to classroom learning, many teachers around the country including at Anglia Ruskin University simply do not have the resources, technology, or time to set up and maintain these classes. ‘I felt we were just left to get on with things ourselves which I really struggled with’.

In order to supress the impact of the pandemic on the lives and grades of students, various mitigation or detriment policies have been implemented. Anglia Ruskin is no exception, allowing any student who can get a passing grade but who cannot get above their average for this year to increase their mark to their average. For some students, this is less than ideal. Due to the loss of loved ones, the increased fear and paranoia, or other life-altering factors, some students who were already not doing well are facing the fact that they are unable to reach a passing grade, which this detriment policy does not protect from.

Lucy also noted that students ’are still expected to pay the full tuition fees even though this isn’t what we are paying for’. Alongside the pandemic has been a general loss of learning. Even those who are able to get good marks on coursework, essays or exams are naturally suffering from losing valuable learning. For those attending universities, this is increasingly problematic, particularly if they have paid for their studies themselves. Unfortunately, no large UK university has implemented a policy or made a notable statement to address this issue.

The UK has recently recorded an excess of 30,000 fatalities from the 226,000 positive test cases of COVID-19. For those of us that remain here in lockdown, life goes on.

If you or a relative is suffering from dementia and are having problems during the lockdown or in general, then please call the Alzheimer’s Society support line at 0333 150 3456.

Here's my notes and drafts:

Sue has recommended to me that I do a news feature about how families are handling the lockdown. Included in this suggestion is the idea of including some of the governmental advice, as well as including quotes from a variety of families.

 

 

-          How easy/difficult a process was it to transition the church to online sermons?

o   How involved with this process have you been?

 

-          What technologies have allowed you to move online? (software and hardware)

 

-          How has service changed due to the virus and the move to online?

 

-          Are people adapting to this change?

 

-          Are there some people who no longer attend due to the online nature of the sessions?

 

-          Have there been any hang-ups or issues?

 

-          Churches work as a way of bringing people together. How does this statement apply to the pandemic?

o   Do you agree with it?

§  If so, how have people been brought together?

o   Is the virus often discussed at church? Tell me about that.

§  How have other members of the church been affected. Please give any and all examples you know of.

 

-          Aside from usual service, has the church been taking any extra action due to the virus (churches [of the not televised variety] tend to raise money to assist or take assisting action during a crisis such as this. Has that occurred? You could also talk about the MC server).

 

-          Some churches (in the clear minority) have chosen to stay open during this pandemic.

o   How does this make you feel?

§  [should you answer negatively] Is it a sin for them to leave their church open during this pandemic?

o   If you could speak to someone from such a church or who runs a church like that during this pandemic, what would you say?

-          ‘I was told this was going to happen about a week before it actually happened.’

-          ‘the first week we did a live stream, it was actually from church while we were still at the venue. There was just this idea of “we should probably figure out how to live stream in case the country goes in to lockdown”

-          ‘After that one practice that barely worked it was “oh right, its happened now, everyone’s in lockdown already, we really have to start streaming from this week”’.

-          ‘tim basically messaged me and said ‘Chris., you seem like a smart person and a tech-savvy person. Do you know anything about live-streaming? And I tentatively said yeeeeees? Because I’m familiar with open-broadcasted software OBS, which is primarily meant for streaming, and he said ‘okay, can you get us to go live this Sunday.’

-          ‘I took my laptop and my DSLR and set it up at the back of the church and it didn’t work.’

 

 

The MC server

Homeside – an ARU thing which gives music and readings to people with dementia. https://aru.ac.uk/cambridge-institute-for-music-therapy-research/our-research/older-people-dementia-and-stroke/homeside

 

Ok so plan for the feature –

Introduce the idea of people using the internet to escape/ deal with the lockdown.

Talk about the south cambs church, since I have quotes for it

Move to a brief talk about Homeside – an online thing for dementia patients to stay connected.

The MTG hobbyists have moved their in-person games to using Archidekt, communicating with discord.

Finally, wrap up using the student experience of transitioning to using Zoom and Teams.

 

 

 

 

Draft 1

On the 23^th of March, the UK went into lockdown due to the Coronavirus. Nearly four weeks later Dominic Raab, deputising for PM Boris Johnson, said that lockdown measures will continue for ‘at least’ three more weeks. Local communities that generally focus on face-to-face interaction have been struggling to cope with these measures, but many have been successfully transferring to the internet to keep connected in these troubling times.

‘I took my laptop and my DSLR and set it up at the back of the church and it didn’t work.’ Chris Solly, 20, retail employee has been working hard to move the Christ Church South Cambs church online, to varying degrees of success.

‘I was told this was going to happen about a week before it actually happened.’ He said in an interview. ‘The first week we did a live stream, it was actually from church while we were still at the venue. There was just this idea of “we should probably figure out how to live stream in case the country goes in to lockdown”. […] After that one practice that barely worked it was “oh right, its happened now, everyone’s in lockdown already, we really have to start streaming from this week”’.

They eventually set up group streaming using the newly popular program Zoom, which allows all members of the congregation to participate in the sermon. Despite these drastic changes, Chris explained that ‘attendance has gone up. Cos we have people who are immunosuppressed or who are not always able to get to church because they are unable to drive; and they’ve been able to join us every week […] we’ve even had some people who don’t usually come to church who have been able to zoom in because they’re in different parts of the country. Or even have a couple who live in Uganda […] they were able to come in a few weeks ago and watch the service.’

The Church has also been using other mediums to keep their congregation engaged. Their church Facebook group, which was previously intended for organising events and meetings, has turned into a community hub. Among the contents are song recommendations, riddles, and it’s even begun hosting weekly Lego competitions for the younger members and their families to enjoy. Chris told me that ‘I have started to run a church Minecraft server, which has been very popular among the younger members of the church. We run that for six hours every day, from three till nine. […] It’s all been bringing people together more during the pandemic when we’ve got little to do than it would be doing otherwise.’

Like the Christ Church South Cambs congregation, many people have been flocking to online video communications platforms like Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams. Among those is Homeside: a caregiver project devoted to providing music and reading for people with dementia and their family or caregivers. These activities not only seek to provide an increased quality of life for people living with dementia, but also to decrease behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia itself.

The lockdown has particularly hampered this project because of how much face-to-face interaction can help with the memories of people living with dementia. On Twitter, Ming Hung Hsu, music therapy lead of the national charity Methodist Homes and a senior researcher of the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy posted that ‘The HOMESIDE team […] are continuing to recruit participants and deliver our training & support online and via phone’ In addition, for those living with dementia who cannot access the online group are able to instead call the Alzheimer’s Societies Dementia Connect support line (0333 150 3456), further ensuring that their work and care can continue through the pandemic.

In addition to offering help for people living with dementia, the Cambridge Institute for Music Therapy, which oversees Homeside, also works to educate and train caregivers of people with dementia to better help those under their care through the use of reading and music. To continue this training during the lockdown, they have made recording of previous webinar available to access for free on the Eventbrite website.

Students in general have seen their education greatly affected by the virus, as classes of every kind have been either temporarily suspended or moved online using video chat programs such as Skype or Zoom. Cambridge, a city known for its large amount of schools, has been particularly affected. The pandemic has been affecting schools far more than other communities due to the educational calendar does not allow for many delays due to the backlog of people moving up through primary, secondary education, college and university. With so much riding on its continued function during the pandemic, school life has been forced to continue in whatever form it can manage through the internet, however many students and teachers have been finding that online sessions are no substitute for in-class teaching.

Lucy Greenaway, 19, student at Anglia Ruskin University is one of many students who is having trouble with the sudden change to online learning, and the rushed job that many faculties have had to go through to keep the educational year running. ‘the majority of lecturers didn’t actually do any real lectures; they just gave us the option to type out some points on a discussion board.’ While some teachers have been able to keep their timetables up using Zoom as a substitute to classroom learning, many teachers around the country including at Anglia Ruskin University simply do not have the resources, technology, or time to set up and maintain these classes. ‘I felt we were just left to get on with things ourselves which I really struggled with’.

In order to supress the impact of the pandemic on the lives and grades of students, various mitigation or detriment policies have been implemented. Anglia Ruskin is no exception, allowing any student who can get a passing grade but who cannot get above their average for this year to increase their mark to their average. For some students, this is less than ideal. Due to the loss of loved ones, the increased fear and paranoia, or other life-altering factors, some students who were already not doing well are facing the fact that they are unable to reach a passing grade, which this detriment policy does not protect from.

One last point raised by Lucy was that ‘we are still expected to pay the full tuition fees even though this isn’t what we are paying for’. Alongside the pandemic has been a general loss of learning. Even those who are able to get good marks on coursework, essays or exams are naturally suffering from losing valuable learning. For those attending universities, this is increasingly troublesome as they themselves paid for that learning. Unfortunately, no large UK university has implemented a policy or made a notable statement to address this issue.

Despite everyone remaining apart as much as they can, people are working together to support each other. And while, for some, it may not be going as well as it could be, getting through this pandemic remains a matter of continued cooperation.