Message Healthy at Home KY

Stella: [00:00:00] Well hey, everybody, it’s Stella with Kentucky SPIN. And I just wanted to take a few minutes on this beautiful day and just kind of be real with you for a little bit. You know, I know all of our families right now are really struggling with normalcy. What is the new normal? What are we experiencing right now that’s different than what we used to experience? Well, that’s pretty much everything. And you know, I have a 23 year old son with an intellectual disability whose life has also been turned upside down. He has a job, two, three jobs actually. He works for a cafeteria, he works for a daycare, and then he also does public speaking engagements. And he’s not able to do any of that right now. So he is really struggling.

So I wanted to be honest with you today and just say, you know, it’s okay to not be okay. But the one thing we have to do is be diligent in doing what our governor has asked us to do, and that is to have social distancing. But also to only [00:01:00] be with our families right now, and only leave when we have to go get those essential things. And that means not allowing our young adults or our children with disabilities, or any of our children for that matter, to congregate together, to have sleepovers, or to do those things that we feel like are normal. And, you know, sure, it’s tough right now, we all want to do things. We all want to be normal, but we have to begin to create a new normal.

Like my son, Clayton, he has a heart condition. He has extremely high blood pressure. So he has not left this house. He has stayed here. He’s not been with me out when I’ve gone to get our essential needs that we need from the grocery. He has stayed home because it’s important that I keep him healthy at home. It’s important right now that we keep all of our families healthy at home. Just know that when they want to begin… where they start to get that antsy feeling and they want to get out and do something, try to find a [00:02:00] new normal. Where Clayton can’t go to work now, we have him go to work here on the farm and to do some things here around the house, and to help out. Trying to keep things as normal as possible.

But just know we’re here to help you. Please reach out to us here at Kentucky SPIN. We all are parents or family members who have either a child or young adult with an intellectual developmental disability. We are here to help. Reach out and please, be safe at home.