July 24, 2020
Once stay-at-home orders were issued, the COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges for the staff of Clovernook Center for the Blind & Visually Impaired – especially for those charged with ensuring employees’ safety upon their return. More than 40% of Clovernook Center’s staff is blind or visually impaired, so this means additional considerations to protect staff. In the case of Quality Control Manager Isaac Ferguson and the entire IT and Facilities Safety Operations Team, herculean efforts have ensured a safe environment to continue Clovernook Center’s critical work to help others.
Once shutdown began, Isaac spent nearly every waking moment researching not only everything he could about COVID-19, but every possible protocol to ensure employee safety. This included researching CDC, State of Ohio and Hamilton County Health Department guidance and cross-referencing information from the Journal of the American Medical Association, Johns Hopkins University, and Harvard Medicine. His dedication did not stop at preparing protocols. Isaac found and ordered all Clovernook Center’s personal protective equipment (PPE). This included tracking down a missing order of 8,000 disposable facemasks and picking it up himself!
Isaac researched and located sanitizing and disinfecting products, reading manufacturers’ manuals and reaching out to manufacturers if he was unclear about a product’s usage. All the common areas throughout the Clovernook Center had to be cleaned, a 60-plus hour effort to make sure the facility was as healthy as possible for every employee returning.
Isaac was an essential part of reconfiguring Clovernook Center’s Social Enterprise working area to ensure proper social distancing. With his guidance, hand sanitizer stations were installed, and his team resurfaced and painted all the blind and visually impaired walking paths. Staff and volunteers can now safely take breaks as a result of staggered schedules guaranteeing no more than eight people in the room at one time, one of several protocols enacted on behalf of everyone’s health. These protocols also include daily verbal health screens, employee temperature checks, and all staff wearing facemasks in both public areas or another person’s workspace. High travel/touch areas are disinfected three times a day, and tables and chairs and are placed strategically to avoid germ passage.
Despite the many challenges still ahead, Clovernook Center remains committed to the health and safety of our employees and all those who benefit from our services. We are grateful for the selfless dedication of people like Isaac, his staff, and all employees who have put the well-being of others ahead of themselves. Thank you for all you do, Isaac!