Wellness line to help people with anxiety

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This article was published 26/05/2020 (1957 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new wellness line has been set up to help Manitobans with developmental disabilities and their caregivers cope with anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

St.Amant in Winnipeg will be operating the wellness line Mondays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Shared Health’s chief nursing officer, Lanette Siragusa, said Monday during the health briefing.

“At the best of times, we know that people with disabilities must manage stress and anxiety,” she said. “A pandemic adds to that stress as they deal with changes or disruption to the services that they require.”

The wellness line is open not only to those with developmental challenges, but also their families and caregivers, Siragusa said, adding those who monitor the help line have been trained to listen, share resources and provide advice to callers.

According to its website, St.Amant is a comprehensive resource for Manitobans with developmental disabilities and autism. The not-for-profit organization’s programs include a large residence for complex-care, more than 100 community sites and homes, the St.Amant Research Centre, the St.Amant School and River Road Child Care, a community child-care centre.

Although she acknowledged Manitoba already has a number of help lines for people to call, this service is geared specifically toward those with developmental issues.

“I assume there would be many of the same themes and principles, but just specific for that population,” Siragusa said.

The toll-free number for the wellness line is 1-877-858-7076.

Meanwhile, Siragusa said the number of non-travel-related positive cases among health-care workers and first responders so far in the pandemic remains at 26 and all but one have since recovered and returned to work.

Three new travel-related cases involving health-care workers were identified, bringing the number of those cases to 11 from eight. However, since the positive cases occurred early in the pandemic, all three have since recovered, Siragusa said.

As yard sale season begins, Manitoba’s chief public health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin, said there is nothing in the public health orders to stop them given the expansion of group-size limits to 50 outdoors. 

Still, people should maintain social distancing and wash their hands frequently after touching items on the sales tables, Roussin said Monday.

“I think that Manitobans have really flattened this curve,” he said. “I think that we’re starting to gradually reopen things —certainly not a return to normal.”

No new cases of COVID-19 were identified Monday, so the total number of lab-confirmed positive and probable positive cases in Manitoba remains at 292.

The number of confirmed cases in Prairie Mountain Health remains at 26.

As well, no people are in hospital or intensive care as a result of contracting the virus.

There are 17 active cases and 268 people have recovered from COVID-19 since the pandemic hit Manitoba in March.

» brobertson@brandonsun.com