Historic Snowstorm, Strong Community
Snow Days Go Smoothly at Citizens
As record-breaking snowstorms swept across Long Island this winter, the Citizens Options Unlimited community came together to share the experience and support one another.
“Me and my roommate Daniel Spiegel were just hibernating,” said Noah Ackereizen, who resides at Carol Street Individualized Residential Alternative (IRA) in West Hempstead. “I like the snow, but not the black ice!”
Across Citizens residences, people made the most of the snow days: spending time with friends and staff, enjoying movies, arts and crafts, cooking, and other activities.
Elsbeth Thomas, Assistant Director of Carol Street, said that games like bingo and UNO! were a hit, as well as some dancing that gave everyone a chance to exercise. Julian Harrigan, housemate, chose to spend time outside helping staff shovel the snow.
Over at the Shoreham Intermediate Care Facility (ICF), Mary Gilleran, Director, said the men and women living there didn’t miss a beat. “They were happy to be home and happy to be relaxing,” said Mary.
And great food helped make the day enjoyable for the housemates at the Village Drive in Medford IRA. “They love when I cook for them,” said Floyd McNeil, Assistant Manager of Village Drive. “I’m a retired chef, so that day I made spinach dip from scratch. It was a long day, and we did a couple dishes, cooking, and watched some movies. It was calm.”
Behind the scenes, staff across Citizens prepared carefully to ensure homes were stocked and ready before the storms arrived. “The staff are amazing,” said Deanna Allen, Director of Residential Services. “They get word of the snowstorm and they come in with extra bags of clothing so they have a chance to change. They are prepared to stay, because they know it’s not going to be easy to travel during that time and they know that it’s going to be dangerous. The men and women that live in the houses need someone to help them. They step up and they are the first to take care of the people during these types of storms. People really rely and count on them.”
When the Residential Services team gets word of a snowstorm, Deanna said, they begin preparing by communicating with all the IRAs to make sure they have enough food, water, and supplies like batteries, flashlights, blankets, salt melt, shovels, and any other items that might come in handy in case power is lost or travel becomes difficult.
“We do try to bring in maybe an extra staff member or two so that the staff can rotate, so that everyone gets a chance to take a break, especially with the last storm, the blizzard,” Deanna said. “It was almost two full days by the time the storm had started and ended, and the shifts coming had roads that weren’t really safe to travel, and people got plowed in.”
At the Shoreham ICF, Mary Gilleran and the team ensured there would be enough staff at the beginning of the storm so that there would be coverage. For the staff that would be snowed in for the two-day storm, sleeping spaces and meals were arranged so they could rest and recharge between shifts.
“It was good. They took turns doing what they needed to do,” Mary said. “It was a lot of teamwork here, a lot of supervisors were involved to ensure staff had what they needed. It was one of the smoothest storms I’ve ever seen here.”
Meanwhile, the maintenance department and residential team worked to clear parking lots, driveways, ramps, stairs, and sidewalks as snow piled up.
“It does take our maintenance department and our vendors some time to get to all the houses and all the buildings to make sure that everything is plowed out and cleaned out and our staff step in a lot of the times too to assist with shoveling egresses to make sure that if we have an emergency, people can get out,” Deanna said. “It’s a lot of communication and a lot of coordination to make sure we have all the things that we need to be successful throughout the storm.”
Thank you to everyone, including the maintenance department and staff, for your care and dedication this winter season.