CALGARY, Alta, March 16, 2020 – At Distress Centre Calgary, we’re closely monitoring the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) situation and will continue to closely follow the guidance from the City of Calgary, Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada as the situation evolves.
We have activated our Business Continuity Plan and have taken measure to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our volunteers, staff and clients to ensure that we can continue to respond to the needs of the community.
Here are the measures we are working on to ensure we are prepared for the coming days and weeks:
- We have updated our visitor protocol and are no longer accepting outside visitors to our office
- We are asking those who are sick to stay home and those who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to self-isolate and fill out the COVID-19 Self Assessment
- We are putting measures in place to ensure that continuous crisis and 211 support is available in the coming days and weeks so that we can maintain or even scale-up capacity according to need
- Our counselling team will be working remotely and all intakes from our crisis line and online intake form will be responded to. We ask for patience as we work to respond to the changing and growing needs in the community
- The 211 Community Resource Database Team will be staggering their days and hours of work to enable Community Resource Specialists to update information and resources in real time, 7 days a week from 9am-9pm
We know that this uncertainty can lead to feelings of anxiety, stress and a whole range of emotions and we are doing everything we can to ensure continuous availability of our services for Calgarians who are feeling distressed or needing resources in this difficult time. If someone is struggling with the situation and needs support, they can contact us by phone 24/7 at 403-266-4357 or by online chat available at distresscentre.com. To connect with other resources in Calgary, 211 is available by phone text and chat: www.ab.211.ca
Our services will never close but there may be a delay if our contact volumes increase significantly. We are working hard to mitigate any issues we’re experiencing so we can best serve Calgarians during this challenging time.
For information on managing anxiety and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s webpage.
Contact:
Diane Jones Konihowski,
Director, Fund Development & Communications:
Email: dianejk@distresscentre.com
About Distress Centre: Distress Centre Calgary (DCC) has provided 24 hour crisis support in Calgary and southern Alberta since 1970. We do this through our 24 hour crisis line, email, daily chat, and daily text for our youth. We also have professional counselling for clients with issues that cannot be resolved over the phone. If you need help finding a social, community or government service, 211 is available by phone and online chat. Our Coordinated Access and Assessment (CAA) program serves Calgarians experiencing homelessness out of the Safe Communities Opportunity and Resource Centre (SORCe). All of our services are free.
