May 21, 2021 8 min read

“They’re going to teach her to put her pawas on her lap or stomach to help her de-escalate, those are the two major ones, and she’ll also sense when katie’s going to escalate and rosey will hlep her before she reaches the escalatoin. we don’t want to confuse it with emotional support dog, shat rosey’s going to be trainaed to do is help her de-secalate. DONT CONFUSE with 

sspokesmodel award for a speech she did on autism, i was the most proud of that because for a child with autism to get up and give a speech and at the end of the speech she said I’m Katie Jankowski and I have autism, and I speak. and iw as for a mom, wow, that’s the best. that’s what i’ve worked all my life to do. She has her moments, where it’s like why do I have autism. she has some very good friends who take her for who she is, she has acquainteances who see her ups and downs, so it’s tough, 

Message: I would say just keep fighting, be patient, fifht for your child be paqtient, and perseversnce. The diagnosis wasn’t hard, got in third grade, I will tell you at canon-mac i have been truly blessed that the school has been amazaing . do your research, reach otu ot other families with autism, and orgnaioations. The biggest challeng for me was knwoing where to get the help, through school, through mental health, through doign researh and reaching out to orgainzations liek Autism Open. that’s 100 percent the hardest part. Was blessed to run into someone…Courtney was katie’s mobile therapist, who i begged for, had courtney not been in my life, I don’t know where katie would be, do reasaearch, reach out to wheverv your can, find outwha’ts best for your child. I d’ say that’s the key to everything. Knwoing who you can tourn to and how you can get help, and just keep fighitin . Had we not go that test and i wouldn’t have run into tourcnrye and courntey wouldn’t have bene able to hep us and we wouldn’t be where we are today. 

Connellsville Senior Center – secretary Arlene Leonard, 80, of Dunbar, by Pechins, well, used to seeing the senrioes in here eveyr day eating their lunch, plabying bingo sespecilay, now we have no one, I’m the secreatry or whatever they need me to do.

I got my first shot, second shot tomorrow, i’m thirlled to death.  Right now it’s not going to change too much, becuase ueyou still gotta wear the mask, doesn’t bother me at all, i’m used to it, i don’t have to wear

Live in my home, theres a lot of people I went and got my own groceris my self, folowed the rulse, wore mask and stayed 6 bfeet behind someone, i didn’t have much trouble at all, takled wit h family members on teh phone . I would go out once in a while before this, they do have the where you drive through , DQ, 

Maybe going to church in the beginning, member of church, closed, tehy started seating 6 feet apart, Definitely, people’s trying to be back to normal now. 

, 21 years employee, you get old. activities, gambling, Not since the COVID, go to go gamblihng if i have a little exra money, you forget everyting, mostly the 7s, slot game, don’t undersand teh other games, money goes, 

I have no children, got a bunch of great nieces and great great that i miss, when we have little family get-togethers when ne know everybody’s ok. 

I thought it was terrible, it’s a shame so many people lost their lives when they didn’t have to, if our ex-president would have taken things in his hands 

I’ve seen a lot and whent through a lot and this younger generation donesnt’ understand, they’re selfish this younger generation, tey think of themselves and noone else, they don’t understand sacrrifice, give me give me Thank god its coming to an edn and it will come to an end and people shouldn’t b disgusted and want to go without taking precautions, at at ime like his stis’ about the end and stick to it so it doesn’t go highter, if they just have a little mroe patietnsce. 

World War II, when our country’s in need, people ogt to sitck together and not be divived. I had a long time to do that hon.

  

Caroline Dunklin – My biggest change was i’ve been able to go to things that i norammlly just get in the car and take off, that was my biggest drawback, what comes into play, your family, when your family isn’t close Daughter in DC and Maryland, Dunklin lives in Moon Township, People You hear a lot reight here at the center, peple didnt see each other for a long time, some requested that their kids and family don’t come because they’re afraid too so they esecialy oif they’ve got smaller grandkids, they just prefer to stay away until things get better. 

Didn’t do church, I still went grocery shopping, tried to take, went certain times of the day when ther were less peple, observe social distrancing rules, I still do that. Haven’t gotten vaccine, and i am a 27-year veteran of Army, we have to wait, Most people are eager to get it, in their ind, it makes them feel safer, it’s about feeling safer. 

I’ll be cautious. I am hoping that things get back to normla, but i’m not hoiping its like it was when this all started, its been a year, we’re not just going to flip over from getting that shot to erasing that year and I think it’s going to, there’s been a lot of changes, some ohave been good, one of the things they tell us about the virtual thing, zoom thing, we weren’t doing that before, and the peopel who are now able to work remotely, good for families with smal childnre, some of htose things are going to make a diference when this is over. That has helped a lot of seniors, doing the zoom thing, so they can see their loved ones. Canonsburg live alone, person who lives a lone, in militayr they encourage teh buddy system, a member of the unit American Legion 175, adjutant, they ask that you check on someone you don’t see often to make sure they’re ok, when you live alone, it becomes an issue people are fearful that if you would fall, or something happens to you, who would know? Army, retired. She’s my hustler. they love her. WE do this in order to try to, it’s been different at the senior centers, we have meals, we have pull tabs, they win a bit, a bit goes toward support of the center, Big hit financialy, the good thing that does happen here is even before shots came out, it was open to people in need, we had grab and go, we are set up socially ditanced, They’ve seen eople they haven’t seen in a long time, i think after the shots, a lot of them will feel more at ease and want to come and sit. Big part of social activities, they’re asking me when am I going to start bingo up, we have card players, peopel who do dart ball, pool you can use., I do now hear we try to veyr hard to do the rules, social distancing, You can see it with how they interact with certain things, you don’t see peopel hand shaking and hugging,

So far i have known people who have got COVID, myself i have been lucky not getting it, i pray every day that it doesn’t happen to anyone. And i would just hope people would be a little more undesrtanding. even though we’re younger, they need to look aroun them, look out for others just besides themselves, look out for people around you to try to keep them safe as well. you’re not gonna tell me you want to be sick, you trying to breathe, you end up be in the hospital for a month, you don’t want to do that

physical therapist is going to do chair exercises in April. In april we will gear up a litle more. senior cernters are it’s a viaable necessary part of of our communityto have senior scenters in our community..  westner pa is an aging community. 

She’s an officer and has been involved, been here daily, selling pull tabs,