Items

• 
  2020-03-31

  Locked down, Locked in

  I was a SSG in the US Army when the lockdown hit. The isolation let my personal demons almost get the best of me, but lessons were certainly learned and I pray we never get to that point ever again.
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  2020-05-08

  Scaling Mountains - Overcoming Obstacles (and New Englands peaks) During the Covid-19 Pandemic

  During the pandemic, I was lucky that I didn't lose anyone close to me. I know many people around me and in the world who watched their loved ones die from COVID-19. It has also had long-lasting health effects on many people as well. It is an ongoing conversation because people are still contracting the virus daily. Lockdown was a surreal moment for many in our ordinarily fast-paced world. The entire world stopped, and for once, we couldn't rely on our usual entertainment and schedules for distraction. This led to the development of new habits, which, unfortunately for me, were not just board games and binge-watching Netflix. Alcoholism had been at my doorstep since my senior year of high school, with my dependence on the substance worsening as the years passed. This is a genetic condition, and I have had countless family members struggle and die because of substance abuse, mainly alcohol. When the pandemic hit, I drank nearly every day, and this continued during lockdown with my roommate and a few friends. Not only was this dangerous because of the spreading pandemic, but it also worsened my mental health. Soon, my college shut down, and I had to move back home, where my substance abuse continued. My relationship had fallen apart when my ex moved back to India as he was on a student visa. The drinking and emotional isolation/strife led to a breakdown wherein intrusive suicidal thoughts plagued me. Something had to change; one night, I quit all substances and contacted my PCP about a mental health evaluation. I know my diagnosis was wrong, but it got me on the medication I needed to forget the intrusive thoughts and piece my life back together. My saving grace was my father and, eventually, my friends, who decided to pick me up and give me a distraction. This distraction became hiking mountains, a shared hobby of previous substance abusers. The chemicals released in the brain during these hikes and the physical exercise filled the void alcohol used to. It served it and began to heal the void left by years of mental health struggles and abuse. Like in this picture, the world's problems and my own seemed small when I was on top of a mountain. Not only that but also hiking is a very social-distance-friendly activity. The love for hiking fostered in my childhood was rekindled during the pandemic and remains one of my favorite things to do. My father and I are attempting to walk up all New England's notable peaks.
• 
  2020-04-13

  Mental Health and the Covid-19 Pandemic

  Uncertain prognoses, looming severe shortages of resources for testing and treatment and for protecting responders and health care providers from infection, imposition of unfamiliar public health measures that infringe on personal freedoms, large and growing financial losses, and conflicting messages from authorities are among the major stressors that undoubtedly will contribute to widespread emotional distress and increased risk for psychiatric illness associated with Covid-19. Health care providers have an important role in addressing these emotional outcomes as part of the pandemic response.
• 
  2020-06-18

  Is Another Public Health Crisis Brewing Beneath the COVID-19 Pandemic?

  An article from the Canadian Journal of Public Health that discusses the risk of substance abuse problems becoming worse across Canada due to the trauma and stress of the pandemic.
• 
  03/26/2020

  Abner Bonilla Oral History, 2020/03/26

  As part of Everyday Boston's Essential People Project on YouTube, Aunnesha Bhowmick interviews Abner Bonilla, a Roslindale mail carrier. Abner describes what it's like to deliver mail to more than 1,000 people during a pandemic, including his concerns about the lack of social distancing; his worry for his elderly customers; and the outpouring of gratitude he and other mail carriers have gotten.
• 
  2020-05-08

  Physically Distanced Line-up outside LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario)

  A line of people queue using tape lines on the sidewalk 2 meters apart in front of the LCBO location at the Ottawa Trainyards. Those retail spaces allowed to open are limited in the number of people they can hold at one time to permit physical distancing, meaning any additional shoppers must wait outside for other customers to leave. Despite some backlash liquor stores were listed as essential businesses by the province of Ontario from the beginning of the state of emergency in late March. This was in acknowledgement of that fact that there are those within Ontario society with a physical dependency on alcohol and if their access was restricted it might result in an unnecessary strain on the health care system. Not only would time and resources be used if an individual required medical assistance due to withdrawal, they might also be unnecessarily exposed to the virus while seeking treatment. Some industry services have been limited, however; the Beer Store, the only store which buys back empty bottles, is no longer doing so. This is a blow to those who collect bottles on the street or from recycling bins as an income.