COVID-19 in facilities
DRNC’s Investigations and Monitoring (I&M) Team is leading DRNC’s efforts to ensure that people with disabilities who live in facilities stay safe and their rights are protected during the COVID-19 crisis. We are using phone, email and video calls to connect with service providers and people with disabilities, focusing on facilities with reported cases of COVID-19. The safety of all involved is important to us! We hope that the community will reach out to us with concerns.
Please contact us if you live, work, or have a loved one in a facility, and see or experience any of these problems:
- You have not been given information about the signs of COVID-19, how to stay safe, and how staff will help you stay safe.
- Staff and visitors are coming into the facility with symptoms of COVID-19 (coughing, fever, shortness of breath) or are not being screened for symptoms at the door. Information about COVID-19 should be posted at the entrance and around the facility.
- There are staffing shortages in the facility.
- You live in a small facility or group home where someone is sick and you can’t get physical distance to be safe.
- Staff aren’t being careful with personal hygiene to protect against COVID-19 (washing hands frequently or using hand sanitizer, staying 6 feet away when possible, wearing protective gear if caring for someone who is ill).
- You don’t have access to medications, food or other necessary items.
- You are being abused or neglected, including extreme isolation, lack of human contact, and/or over–medication.