Coping During COVID


How Our Community Stays Sane in Crazy Times


Nancy Hanson felt like she was being held hostage. Alan Moonsammy battled depression. Nadine Boyce struggled with anxiousness and isolation. Claudia Grubler was terrified. For each of these wheelchair users, and for the majority of the world’s population, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year triggered a range of potentially harmful emotions along with challenging new logistical obstacles and a maddening uncertainty that combined to threaten our sanity. Over a year later, we’re still figuring out how to adjust and cope, but in navigating our way through the last 14 months, we’ve learned a great deal.

Creative Peer Support

When COVID-19 started ramping up in the United States, Hanson, 64 and an incomplete C5 quadriplegic, was still struggling with her husband’s death in a 2019 plane crash. Her siblings and adult children had been taking turns staying in her Queens, New York, home to provide solace and assistance, but the visits quickly ended. “The initial information was, if you caught it you were basically going to the hospital and you were going to die, so my family stopped coming for fear they might be asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic carriers,” says Hanson. “This was especially scary for my adult children because they had just lost their dad, and now they couldn’t visit me. … It was like I was being held hostage.”

Zoom groups and meetings provided an unexpected lifeline for Nancy Hanson when the isolation of COVID-19 threatened her mental health.
Zoom groups and meetings provided an unexpected lifeline for Nancy Hanson when the isolation of COVID-19 threatened her mental health.

Hanson’s situation was far from unique, according to Angela Riccobono, the senior clinical psychologist at Mount Sinai Rehab Hospital in New York City. “We were right in the thick of things when COVID hit last year. We were hit hard and fast,” says Riccobono. Inpatients received expedited discharges to make room for COVID cases, and in April the hospital was forced to temporarily close its SCI unit.

Riccobono recognized the importance of peer support and connecting with other people with disabilities, and the potential damage that could be done to the community by losing both. When COVID restrictions led to the cancellation of Transitions, a long-running SCI support group, she wasted no time getting in touch with the New York City chapter of United Spinal along with other local advocates and coordinators to create an online version of the group using Zoom.

“When Transitions came online, people were thrilled to see each other in those little boxes on the computer screen and know they are there and safe. They were so happy that they were almost crying,” she says. “These days they refer to the group as their lifeline.”

Certain themes quickly emerged in the online Transitions meetings — feelings of confinement, loneliness, frustration, anxiety, agitation and facing an uncertain future with no control. “These are all feelings that people often experience when they are first injured and going through rehab. People’s memories of their injury and rehab were being re-triggered, which was like a double whammy on top of COVID,” says Riccobono. In addition, members shared that in lockdown their lives had no structure or routine, and they were having trouble sleeping and losing track of dates and time beyond the noon meeting of Transitions every Wednesday.

Barb Zablotney was out of work for over three months as she battled the long-term effects of COVID-19.
See also:
Fighting COVID-19: A First Person Report

Moonsammy, a T8 paraplegic, was one of the many Transitions family members trying to find a new equilibrium. “The first month of lockdown was really depressing, and looking at the news was getting me down,” says Moonsammy, 47, from Queens, New York. “When COVID hit, the main thing affected for me was not being able to attend the Transitions SCI meetings at Mount Sinai and not being able work on outpatient physical therapy.” Additionally, he was concerned about remembering all the things he learned three and a half years earlier in inpatient therapy — things he needed to do to stay healthy.

Hanson was wrestling with the same issues. Before COVID, she had focused her time and energy on attending physical, occupational and massage therapy. “COVID shut down my ability to be around my family, and it shut down my physical ability to work to regain function and rehabilitate my body, something I’d done every day since my accident. By March, my body was imploding on itself,” she says.

Riccobono saw the problem. “Transitions was helpful, but they needed more,” she says. “The primary difficulty that kept coming up was stress and loss of control, so I reached out and found some fantastic meditation instructors who volunteered to teach and lead online meditation classes every Monday.” The next issue she addressed was that people in the group were saying they weren’t getting any exercise.  “I reached out and another person created an online exercise group called ‘Sitness,’ and elite trainer Alex Bundt — Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn’s trainer — volunteered his time to lead group. That’s a thing about New York: This crazy, scary time really brought out the best in people. They were pulling together and tried to help in any way.”

Hanson and Moonsammy both signed up for the new offerings and enjoyed immediate returns. “The meditation and breathing class was a brand new healing possibility. I learned through breathing that my diaphragm is part of my core, which was extremely powerful in my emotional well-being and my physical recovery,” says Hanson. “The fitness class has helped me build muscle and endurance.”

Moonsammy incorporated all of Mount Sinai’s Zoom classes into his weekly routine. “The online classes are very important,” he says. “They help me mentally and keep me stable and focused on things in a positive light with a daily structure that make me feel good about myself because every day I know I’m accomplishing things. Every day is a challenge, and the challenge for me the last year has been to stay as healthy as possible.”

He credits the online classes with helping him make it through the past year with a positive outlook. “The Zoom classes are a blessing in disguise, as being able to attend the classes and meetings online brings everybody together,” he says. Hanson concurs, “Interestingly, COVID sort of forced certain classes on me, like meditation. I’ve learned things that I never would have done or perhaps heard about if COVID hadn’t led to the Zoom classes. The people who are leading these classes are the greatest and have made a very positive impact on my physical and mental health.”

Wayne Bennett and his pandemic puppy, Arya, have used the downtime to get to know each other.
Wayne Bennett and his pandemic puppy, Arya, have used the downtime to get to know each other.

From Stress to Self-Improvement

Thousands of miles away in San Francisco, Grubler, 45, found similar relief via locally-hosted Zoom classes. A C5-6 quadriplegic for 30 years, Grubler was terrified about the prospect of ending up on a ventilator because of COVID. “Two years ago, I caught pneumonia and ended up on a ventilator,” she recalls. “I vividly remember my panic as I gasped for air in the ER. I lost consciousness and while I was being intubated, the noise of the machine woke me up. It was a horrible experience that I don’t want to go through again.”

To avoid that possibility, she stayed in her house and backyard, except for an occasional visit to her 84-year-old neighbor. “COVID isolation stole the little glimpses of happiness I had, like going to the gym and the farmer’s market, being around people, smelling fresh baked bread,” she says. “The isolation became really stressful, and I went into a horrible depression.” Online seated exercise classes through NorCal SCI and Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program helped pull Grubler out of the spiral of stress and depression. “Prior to COVID I was going to a seated exercise classes at the local YMCA. The online exercise classes produce feel-good chemicals in my brain that calms my stress, makes me feel better and enables me to sleep soundly at night,” she says. “In addition to the exercise, it motivates me to do something on a schedule, and I see and interact with other people on my computer screen, which is very important to me.”

Grubler also found a way other than group meetings to use video chat to boost her pandemic productivity. “About six months ago, my friend called and asked what I’ve been up to,” she recalls. “And I said, ‘Oh not much, just binge-watching on Netflix.’” When her friend asked about some watercolor paint she had sent three years earlier, Grubler decided to give them a try. “We set up a video chat every Saturday for her to teach me,” she says. “I’m learning, and I’m really enjoying having my mind focused on something positive and creative.”

The pandemic provided a perfect time for Nadine Boyce to reflect and work on self improvement.
The pandemic provided a perfect time for Nadine Boyce to reflect and work on self improvement.

Staying positive became increasingly difficult for Boyce, 57, as the pandemic wore on. “I live alone, intentionally, and I’m happy by myself, but COVID was starting to make me feel isolated and anxious,” says Boyce, who’s in her 14th year as a hemiplegic stroke survivor. “Watching the constant barrage of COVID coverage was really getting to me. I made the decision to cut back on my news intake and also switch to a Japanese news station, NHK, that to me has more science-based information, versus politics or opinion.”

Like Grubler, Boyce also chose to use the downtime of the pandemic as an opportunity for self-improvement and reflection. “For the past 30 years, I’d been a mother and a wife but hadn’t taken the time to figure out who I was,” she recalls. “I decided to take the time to improve myself and took the time to develop a sense of self. I did this through meditation, journaling and doing lots of reading books on leadership and development.”

Boyce also started attending Spinal Network meetings online and an online group called Young Enthusiastic Stroke Survivors. “I’d been attending both groups prior to COVID, however they became even more important in Zoom form,” she says. “I got involved with Spinal Network’s outreach program and volunteered to be an advocate for people with new injuries. Nothing makes you feel better and takes your mind off of difficult times like volunteering and helping others.”

For Denver resident Wayne Bennett, 44, wheelchair sports had always been key to staying positive and happy. The pandemic forced Bennett, a T6 paraplegic, to adjust his usual schedule of flying to compete in tennis tournaments and working out regularly at the gym. “I stopped going to my local gym and even stopped using the gym at the complex where I live,” he says. “Instead, I got work out equipment for my place; medicine balls, dumbbells and TRX bands so I can work out at home.”

He took advantage of the fact that COVID didn’t impact his ability to handcycle. “Last year I rode 2,000 road miles on local bike trails,” he says. He also started riding the E-power assist mountain handcycles available through the Open Space and Mountain Parks adaptive program in Boulder, Colorado.

All that fitness still left Bennett with plenty of time to kill, and he found two very different but equally satisfying hobbies: dogs and books. What better time than quaran-time could there be to realize his goal of training a service dog? “I got an eight-week-old German Shepherd/Malamute mix puppy named Arya, and she is now 12 weeks old,” he says. “All my time and energy goes into training her, which keeps me in a really good mood. I hope to have her carrying my water around and towing me in my wheelchair.”

Well, not all of his time. When he’s not working out or playing with Arya, Bennett is likely buried in a book. “I’ve always been a reader and a writer, but my reading has really taken off during COVID,” he says. “I’ve read 76 books, including War and Peace, The Count of Monte Cristo, novels, detective books, spy books, political books and the King James Version of the Bible, which took me 32 days.”

No matter what happens with COVID, the positive changes and coping methods developed since its arrival aren’t going anywhere. “Even when COVID is over, I’m keeping the Zoom groups,” says Riccobono. “It opens these resources up to people that don’t have transportation, or access to top rehab facilities, or their power chair broke, or it’s snowing, or they are at home and bed-bound with a pressure sore, or they live in rural areas where there aren’t support groups. It’s a total game changer.”

Just as game changing, the skills and tactics we’ve used to survive the pandemic — whether that’s picking up a new hobby or adapting an old pastime to changing conditions — will be just as viable in a post-pandemic world.

Resources
• BORP Online fitness studio, borp.org/borp-online-fitness-studio

• Mount Sinai Spinal Cord Injury Virtual Groups Schedule, labs.icahn.mssm.edu/brycelab/weekly-virtual-events/

• For an invite to Transitions, email Woody Wood, richard.wood1@mountsinai.org

• NorCal SCI Adaptive Fitness for Quadriplegics, norcalsci.org/news/2020/10/18/adaptive-fitness-class

• Spinal Network, spinal-network.org

• Young Enthusiastic Stroke Survivors San Diego, stroke.org/en/stroke-groups/young-enthusiastic-stroke-survivors-san-diego

See also: Fighting COVID-19: A First-Person Report


Support New Mobility

Wait! Before you wander off to other parts of the internet, please consider supporting New Mobility. For more than three decades, New Mobility has published groundbreaking content for active wheelchair users. We share practical advice from wheelchair users across the country, review life-changing technology and demand equity in healthcare, travel and all facets of life. But none of this is cheap, easy or profitable. Your support helps us give wheelchair users the resources to build a fulfilling life.

donate today

Comments are closed.