2020-04-03 COVID-19 Pandemic and Cheam Services

Dear Cheam Members,

Cheam Administration wanted to provide a few updates on the pandemic and how we are responding to the needs of our Membership.

Cheam Leadership has stepped up to provide the following for membership: emergency funds distribution (already disbursed on Friday, Mar. 27/20), Food hampers and Preventive Cleaning Kits be done up and delivered to members, or available for pick up starting today (April 03^rd) and will be prepared for delivery or pick-up every second Friday.

Important Reminders to Members

• Please stay home and limit any outings to shopping and other necessary needs.
• Practice physical and social distancing. This means not holding public or family gatherings and staying approx. 6 feet away from others.
• Be mindful of where your children are playing – the playground is not recommended due to possible virus contamination.
• Careful hand washing – approx. 30 seconds with soap and water.
• Continue to disinfect and clean your home, door handles, etc. often.
• Please be aware of signs posted in the community and on residential doors asking visitors to stay away or keep a distance.
• Check in with your family and help each other with required needs.

Cheam to Provide Food and Cleaning Hampers to Members

With the current COVID crisis impacting members’ finances and ability to purchase supplies, Cheam Leaders and the Emergency Operations Centre developed will be providing members with an essential items Food Hamper, including cleaning/disinfectant supplies to all on reserve homes beginning on Friday, April 03 and continuing on bi-weekly each Friday. Each household can expect to receive one (1) Food/Cleaning Hamper per home.

Food Hamper Schedule for Delivery or Pick-Up:

• April 03, 2020
• April 17, 2020
• May 01, 2020

ON-RESERVE MEMBERS:

• Those living on reserve can expect to have the Food/Cleaning Supply Hampers delivered directly to their front door. Delivery times are uncertain – so please ensure someone is home every second Friday to receive the hamper delivery.

OFF-RESERVE MEMBERS:

• As deliveries to off-reserve members are logistically difficult – we are asking those members to make arrangements to pick up their hamper every second Friday from the Band Office – back door to the GYM.

Those with questions about Food Services can email [email protected] for more information.

Here are some of the Changes Identified

Effective March 23, 2020, the Band Office has been closed to the public. Essential services such as Doctor/Nurse appointments, Food and Emergency Services Coordination, Income Assistance Cheque runs, will be handled remotely and partly in the Administration wing with no access to the general public. Finance operations will also continue via remote work from home and limited days in the Administrative Wing of the office. Cheam First Nation will continue to operate from the Health Wing at the Band Office, partly from home and in the office with reduced hours.

As we will have no staff manning reception desks, all health and social-related essential services will be operated from the Health Wing – side door of the band Office Building.

Doctor, Nurse, Wellness, and Homecare Services

• Seabird Island Health is open for appointments Monday through Friday at any time. Please call Seabird Health at 604-796-2165 to book an appointment.
• The Doctors office in Cheam will be open by appointment only on Thursdays, from 8:30 am to 11:00 am.Dr. Fox will be providing his services via phone appointments. He will see patients in person if its something that needs to be seen by the Doctor.

  Anyone needing to physically see Dr. Fox will undergo a COVID screening prior to seeing the doctor. Patients who are NOT COVID symptomatic will be seen by the Doctor. All patients that would like to be seen by the doctor need to be truthful with their medical history or if they have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

  To book an appointment – call Seabird Health at 604-796-2165. Your appointment will be booked via telephone

• Seabird Nursing will be accessible to patients Monday through Friday:
  Seabird Nursing, Direct Phone Line: 604-794-7171
  Lead LPN/CHR – Marlana Peters can be contacted at 604-798-3584 between 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
• Wellness Counselor – Julie Peters will be doing drive-bys throughout the community. If you see her car or she sees you, she will stop.
• The Harm Reduction Bus will be on Cheam parking lot, parked close to the Health Wing door on April 18th and every Saturday thereafter, from 11:30am – 1:30pm.
• Cheam Home Care are limiting in-home services, but will be completing check-ins with clients via phone. Home care visits will be provided if necessary or emergency, but ultimately done via phone call check-ins.

Social Development – Income Assistance

Eligible Clients will still receive supports from the Income Assistance program. The next cheque date will be April 22, 2020. Cheque distribution will be done the same way as the last run.

We will also be providing an emergency supplement to those eligible to apply and meet the requirements. This will be assessed case by case. Who is eligible to apply for this supplement? A family unit that is eligible for income assistance, disability assistance, medical services only or hardship assistance and for children in home of a relative if the following apply:

• the family unit or a person in the family unit requires the supplement to meet an unexpected expense or obtain an item unexpectedly needed due to the identified emergency/disaster (e.g. moving or storage costs due to evacuation notice);
• the family unit or person in the family is unable to meet the expense or obtain the item because resources are not available to the family unit due to the identified emergency/disaster, and
• failure to meet the expense or obtain the item will result in imminent financial loss or danger to the physical health of any person in the family unit due to the identified emergency/disaster.

To contact Martha Fredette Call Tuesday – Thursday from 10-2 daily as she will be in the office during those times. You can alternatively contact her via email or you can leave a message with your full contact info, and she will return your call Monday – Friday between 8:30 am-4:30pm.

Weekly Food Services for Vulnerable People

• There will be a modified food services program out of the Health wing similar to the carry out lunch people have been recently accustomed to receiving.
• Dates for lunches will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Service will be provided outside the side door of the Health wing. There will be garbage bins located outside by the picnic table.  Please use garbage bins for your waste.  Failure to do so may jeopardize the program delivery.
• There will not be a Pancake breakfast or a modified breakfast program. Instead there will be a bagged lunch.
• Meals on Wheels clients will still receive a delivered meal. If you happen to be unable to receive your meal, or you have fallen too sick to eat the meal; then either call one of the Health Staff or Martha Fredette to inform them as soon as possible.

Finance Operations:

• Finance staff will be working both remotely and on designated days within the office to stay on top of all Financial processing needs.
• Accounts Receivables and Elder Bills – Debbie Ormandy is asking any Elders that submit utility bills to take a photo using their phones of the actual bill and email to [email protected] or text the photo to 604-798-6170.

Cheam Garbage Collection

• Due to the ongoing situation regarding COVID-19, Public Works has decided to postpone community clean-up bins. Typically, we do not initiate this program until the end of April and we’ve had members asking when the bins will be placed. With the unknown lifespan of the virus on different materials, the bins will put the community at risk of spreading the virus. Therefore, the dates for Cheam Community Clean-Up Bins will be determined at a later date.
• White Disposal will continue to do their regular weekly garbage pickup, as they are considered an essential service. Please note that White Disposal will NOT do garbage collections if our bins are overflowing.
• Therefore, we are asking members to NOT overload the bins as this could impact our garbage collection services. Please assist us in keeping our community grounds clean.
• April 03/20 we received notification that we may not be able to receive garbage collection services as people are OVERLOADING the bins and all garbage is falling on to the ground. If White Disposal continues to see this – they WILL NOT pick up garbage. Please be respectful of the garbage bin sites. Ensure that you are not overloading the bins or leaving garbage on the ground around the bins. Again, this could impact Cheam Garbage Collection Services.

Cheam Newsletter Distribution

• To minimize the risk of spreading the coronavirus, we will no longer be distributing the weekly newsletter door-to-door.
• If you would like a copy emailed to you – please email Daphne Edwards at [email protected] to get your email address added to our email distribution list.

Cheam Staff Working Remotely from Home

Many of our staff have been able to continue with their regular duties as we have set-up remote access from home for them to continue working. Some of their projects and/or programs may be on hold due to the lack of open businesses and organizations within the Fraser Valley.

Based on your needs, please contact the staff during regular working hours (Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, unless of extreme emergency).

Other Emergency Services Contact Info:

• Government of Canada Coronavirus Information
• 911 – Emergencies Only (not for COVID-19 concerns)
• Agassiz RCMP: 604-796-2211 (non-emergency line)
• Chilliwack RCMP: 604-792-4611 (non-emergency line)
• Seabird Island Health: 604-796-2165
• Chilliwack Hospital: 604-795-4141
• Agassiz Food Bank: 604-796-2585
• Chilliwack Food Bank: 604-792-0001
• Flood/Water/Septic: Chris McIntosh (Cheam Public Works Supervisor), 604-316-5977
• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or Text 686868
• Move Forward Counselling – Isolation Support: 1-778-321-3054
• Fraser Health Authority: Please connect with Tracy or Tegan if you need help or information.
  • Tracy Steere: Social Programs (food security, shelters, homeless populations, childcare, overdose response). As well as connecting to mental health. [email protected]; 604-614-1268
  • Tegan Becker: Clinical Services including all primary care sites, community clinical sites and partner clinical programing. [email protected]; 604-916-2550