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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Craft: How a Teenage Weirdo Based on a Real Person Became an Icon

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“We Are The Weirdos, Mister.” A phrase you’ll find printed over t-shirts, pin badges, mugs, earrings, tote bags, necklaces, and more all over the internet. It’s the most iconic line from The Craft, a film released 25 years ago that still has a rabid following today. For anyone unfamiliar with The Craft, it’s a line spoken by Fairuza Balk’s Nancy, an inferno in black lippy and sunglasses, the de facto leader of a homemade coven made up of outsiders who have taken the raw deal the world has given them and rejected it by learning to harness the power of nature. This line is everything. We are no longer going to be victims, it says. We will no longer be afraid. We reclaim our space, our power. That we are four teenaged girls will no longer mean we have to watch out for ‘weirdos’ – because it is us who are the weirdos. Mister.

“Nancy is the one everybody wants to be,” says Peter Filardi, the man who created Nancy, Rochelle, Bonnie, and Sarah all those years ago, chatting to Den of Geek from his home, an original poster for The Craft peaking out from behind him on the wall. Next to it is a poster for Chapelwaite, the series Filardi is currently showrunning with his brother Jason, based on Stephen King’s short story, “Jerusalem’s Lot,” a prequel to Salem’s Lot.

“Nancy is the one who is particularly put upon and who finds the power to get revenge or get justice and is going to do that with no apologies. I think it’s how we all envision ourselves or would want to see ourselves, I guess. Here we are 25 years later. Why do you think we’re still talking about it?”

It’s an interesting question because we very much still are talking about The Craft. With Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, A Discovery of Witches, His Dark Materials, and of course last year’s remake of The Craft, we appear to very much still be in the season of the witch, but none is quite as resonant and impactful as the original The Craft. Watching it back 25 years after its release, it’s still just as relevant.

The very first script that Filardi sold was Flatliners, the story of arrogant, hot-shot medical students who plan to discover what happens after you die by “flatlining” for increasing lengths of time. Filardi’s script prompted a bidding war and the movie became a big hit, starring Hollywood’s hottest: Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, and William Baldwin.

After Flatliners, Filardi had been working on a script about real life teenage Satanist Ricky Kasso, (“He was one of the first to really put the hallucinogenics together with the music and the theology and then sort of brew them all up into this really volatile cocktail,” Filardi explains), so when producer Doug Wick approached him about another supernatural project, Filardi was game.

“He said he would like to either do a haunted house story or something to do with teenage witches. And because I happened to be working on what I was working on I was pretty well-schooled in earth magic and natural magic and Satanism and all sorts of stuff. And we just started talking, and we hit it off, and we decided to develop and create The Craft together,” Filardi recalls.

At the time Wick had just two full producer credits to his name – for Working Girl and Wolf – but he would go on to produce swathes of heavy hitters including Hollow Man, Jarhead, The Great Gatsby, and win the best picture Oscar for Gladiator. Meanwhile, Andrew Fleming, director of The Craft and co-writer of the screenplay, had made horror thriller Bad Dreams and comedy Threesome, and would go on to make several comedy movies as well as many hit TV shows – he’s currently working on season two of Netflix’s popular Emily in Paris.

Filardi’s story was always going to be about women, and it was always going to be about outsiders, the memories of high school still fresh enough for him to remember the pain. “I’m sure it’s like this for every kid. You have memories from those high school years of horrible things that happened to people around you, or were said or done and just the petty cruelties,” he says. “I’m glad I’m an old man now!” (He’s not, he’s 59).

Rewatching and it’s certainly striking how much empathy you feel for the girls. Sarah (Robin Tunney), who is the audience’s way in to the movie, lost her mother during childbirth and has battled mental health problems, even attempting suicide. Recently moved to a new neighborhood with her dad and step mother, she is instantly the outsider at her new school, and is immediately treated abhorrently by popular boy Chris (a pre-Scream Skeet Ulrich), who dates her and then spreads rumors that they slept together. Rochelle (Rachel True) is a keen diver, subjected to overt racist bullying by a girl on the swim team, while Bonnie (Neve Campbell) hides away because of extreme scarring she has all over her body. Before Sarah arrives, the three dabble in magic and protect themselves as best they can from the horrors of high school by telling people they are witches and keeping them at arm’s length. It’s the arrival of Sarah, though, a “natural” witch with some serious power, that turns things around.

“I think that maybe traditionally Hollywood would have done a version where the women were witches like Lost Boys,” Filardi says. “The women were witches, and they had this power, and they’re the dark overlords of their school or something like that. And that’s exactly the opposite of what worked for me and how I thought magic works in general.

“Magic has always historically been a weapon of the underclass, for poor people… Think of England. People of the heath, who lived out in the country… The heathens, they didn’t have a king or an army or the church even behind them. They would turn to magic. And that’s kind of what I saw for our girls. For real magic to work, you have the three cornerstones of need and emotion and knowledge. And I hate magic movies where somebody has a power and they just do this and the magic happens. I think it’s much more interesting if the magic comes from an emotional need, a situation that really riles up the power within.”

These witches aren’t evil and they aren’t even anti-heroes. Instead, this is pure wish fulfilment for anyone who’s ever been bullied, or overlooked, or been dealt a particularly tough hand, and this level of empathy comes across hard in the film. Watching now and so many of the themes are so current with reference to issues of racism and the emergence of the #MeToo movement.

“I did not write it as a feminist piece per se,” says Filardi. “I really just wrote it as an empathetic human being, I think.”

There’s extreme empathy dripping throughout the script, but don’t mistake that for pity. The Craft deals in female empowerment and just plain fun. It’s here that one of The Craft’s enduring conflicts arises. Are you Team Sarah or are you Team Nancy?

The correct answer of course, is Team Nancy…

“It’s always harder to be the good guy or the good girl,” laughs Filardi.

After all, before Sarah shows up, the other three are doing fine – surviving, doing minor spells, and looking out for each other. The influx of power Sarah brings allows the group to up their game and together they each ask for a gift from “Manon,” the (fictional) deity who represents all of nature that they worship in the film. Bonnie wants to heal her scars, Rochelle wants the racism to stop, Nancy wants the power of Manon, but Sarah casts a love spell on Chris. Sarah is either taking revenge on Chris, or she’s forging a relationship without consent, and it’s a move which eventually leads to Chris’s death.

Meanwhile, Nancy is someone who just refuses to be a victim, despite the fact that of the four she’s clearly had the toughest life, living in a trailer with her mum and her abusive stepdad. Nancy won’t allow the audience to pity her. Nancy doesn’t let things happen to her, she makes her own choices, whether they are good ones or not. When newly empowered Nancy is running red lights, with Rochelle and Bonnie whooping in the back, and Sarah telling her it’s all gone a bit far, “Oh shut up, Sarah” feels like the right response. While Sarah might be technically correct, we are rooting for these girls to be allowed the pure joy of something they have created between them.

Nancy is an amazing creation, and Filardi says he couldn’t have anticipated how much the character would resonate.

“I did not envision the great look that Andy Fleming brought to her,” he smiles. “But Nancy was inspired by a real girl, whose older brother lived in a trailer in their backyard, and just had a hard go of it. She’s true to the one I wrote. She always embodied the earth element of fire. Each of the girls is their own earth element. There’s earth, wind, water, fire. And you can pretty much guess who’s who…”

We could speculate but it’s perhaps more fun to let the audience decide for themselves.

“Nancy in the beginning was always the constructive aspect of that element. She’s the light in the fire in the dark woods that draws the girls together,” he explains. “When she’s all passion and raw nerve, she’s very much like fire, but then when she crosses Sarah and gets overwhelmed with the power of her new abilities, she becomes the destructive side of that same element and burns the whole thing up. But she’s a fantastic character. I think that Fairuza Balk just elevated Nancy to a whole other level. I guess that’s what happens when you’re blessed with the right actor for the right part.”

Exactly who the true protagonist of The Craft is is something Filardi still contemplates. What is notable is that though, yes, Nancy, Bonnie, and Rochelle do at one point try to, um, kill Sarah and make it look like suicide, which isn’t a very sisterly thing to do, they never really become true villains. By the end, the only fatalities are sex pest Chris and Nancy’s abusive step father, and both deaths could reasonably be considered accidental. While Bonnie and Rochelle are stripped of their powers, they aren’t further punished, it’s only Nancy who gets a raw deal. Driven to distraction by her surfeit of power, we find her ranting in a mental hospital strapped to a bed.

Filardi’s ending was different, though he won’t be drawn on details.

“The original ending was different. I’ve never really gone into the detail of what the original ending was. Well, the original ending was just different…” he says, mulling over what he might say. “So, let’s see. Well, Chris always died… and it was just very different,” he hesitates. “I don’t really get into it because there’s no real sense. It is what it is. I always like in a movie… Having two different children and you love them both for different reasons, but I would have never wanted to be hard on the girls in the final analysis in any way thematically.”

One element of the script that saw slight changes was the motivation of Rochelle, after the casting of Rachel True.

“To be honest, I think she was the exact same character. She was picked on by the swimmers. There was an added element that she had an eating disorder. She used to vomit into a mayonnaise jar and hide it on the top shelf of a bedroom closet. But other than that, she was really the same character,” he says. “Andy Fleming and Doug Wick, I don’t know who came up with the idea, but they cast Rachel and she added this whole other element to it, the racial element, which I think it was great and I think totally appropriate.”

Though Filardi didn’t work on the remake and hasn’t actually seen it, he’s able to see for himself, first hand, how well the film has aged and how it continues to endure for young women – he has teenage daughters of his own.

“I see them going through all the same stuff that I watched girlfriends going through. And it hasn’t changed all that much,” he says ruefully.

“It’s funny. For years, they had no idea what I did for a living. I think they just thought I hung around in the basement. And one daughter was like… She was going to school with somebody whose father was in a rock band or something, ‘Nobody in this house does anything interesting. Everything’s boring.’ And it was around Halloween and they were showing The Craft at the Hollywood Forever cemetery. I took them to the cemetery and it was great. There were boys dressed in Catholic high school uniforms and women all in black and with blankets and candles and wine and snacks. Amidst the tombstones, they set up a huge screen and showed the film. So, that’s when they first saw it. And it was really fun. A really nice thing to share with my daughters.”

Things don’t change that much. High school is still horrible. Magic is still tantalizing. The outfits are still fabulous. And Nancy is still a stone cold legend. The Craft is an enduring celebration of outsider culture that we’ll probably still be talking about in 25 years to come. After all, most of us, at one time or another, feel like the weirdos.

“I think of it as the story about the power of adolescent pain and self-empowerment. I think of beautiful young people who are just picked upon or put in positions they shouldn’t be or don’t deserve to be, and having the ability to fight back and weather it and survive,” says Filardi when we ask him what he’s most proud of.

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“I’m also proud of all the great contributions that the other talented people brought to the script. All I did was a script, but you have actors and directors and producers and art directors and production designers who just… Everybody seems to me to have brought their A-game. I didn’t come up with Nancy’s great look. Other people get all that credit. Like you said, you see her on t-shirts. So, so many people just brought so many things. I guess I’m just proudest to think that a bunch of strangers come together and connect to the message of the piece, and together just make something memorable all these 25 years later.”

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thisdaynews · 4 years

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England in South Africa: Quinton de Kock hits hundred as world champions thrashed by seven wickets

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England in South Africa: Quinton de Kock hits hundred as world champions thrashed by seven wickets

De Kock reached his century from 106 balls and hit 11 fours and a six

First one-day international, Cape Town England 258-8 (50 overs):Denly 87, Woakes 40; Shamsi 3-38 South Africa 259-3 (47.4 overs):De Kock 107, Bavuma 98 South Africa won by seven wickets Scorecard

World champions England were “way off the mark” in their heavy seven-wicket one-day international defeat by South Africa, said captain Eoin Morgan.

Quinton de Kock hit 107 and Temba Bavuma 98 as the hosts chased down England’s 258-8 with 14 balls left.

The pair combined for a partnership of 173 and made the tourists’ under-strength attack look toothless in their first ODI since winning the World Cup.

England’s top order also failed, falling to 131-6 before Joe Denly’s 87.

Denly’s innings looked to have kept England in the game, but De Kock and Bavuma were ruthless where England’s batsmen were not.

De Kock was eventually bowled trying to slog-sweep Joe Root and Bavuma fell agonisingly short of a second ODI hundred when he was trapped lbw by a ball that skidded on from Chris Jordan.

Those wickets slowed South Africa’s victory push but they were always in control of the chase with Rassie van der Dussen scoring 38 not out.

“Right from the beginning of our innings, we struggled to adapt to the conditions,” Morgan told the Test Match Special podcast.

“We did our best to adapt but the skill level wasn’t there.

“We’ll identify the little reasons why we didn’t gel as a team today because if we play like that again, we’ll lose.”

England, who have rested a handful of their World Cup winners for this series, now trail 1-0 in the three-match contest and face the prospect of losing an ODI series for the first time in three years.

England’s second-string attack dominated by Proteas

De Kock was appointed South Africa 50-over captain before the series, replacing Faf du Plessis

It is 205 days since the greatest day in England’s white-ball history, when they beat New Zealand at Lord’s to win the men’s World Cup for the first time. This defeat was as chastening as anything seen in recent years in a period when Eoin Morgan’s side have usually dominated.

England’s total proved to be well below par and the bowlers were punished comprehensively by De Kock and Bavuma.

England badly missed the pace of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who were both rested for the series, and were lacking the guile provided by Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid in the middle overs. Plunkett has been dispensed with since the World Cup while Rashid is on the tour of South Africa but was not selected.

Chris Woakes, the only member of the World Cup final bowling attack to feature, was economical with the new ball and had opener Reeza Hendricks caught behind in the seventh over but the other bowlers struggled.

Sam Curran shared the new ball and was not threatening, while Tom Curran and Chris Jordan looked one-paced and were wayward for the majority.

Leg-spinner Matt Parkinson, making his ODI debut, was largely anonymous as the sole frontline spinner, going wicketless in 8.4 overs.

De Kock and Bavuma were patient early on but rotated the strike well and as the partnership grew, the pair made the most of the increasing number of opportunities they were given by the bowlers.

De Kock, playing in his first ODI since being appointed captain, compiled a mature innings that was not overly attacking. He hit boundaries all around the wicket, including an emphatic six back over Tom Curran’s head and a fine cover drive off Parkinson that took him to his 14th ODI century.

Bavuma was arguably even more impressive, scoring at ease throughout, and deserved to reach three figures.

World Cup winners fail with the bat

England have not lost a 50-over series since a three-match loss to India in January 2017

In addition to England’s weakened bowling attack, World Cup winners Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler – both rested – were absent from the batting line-up.

Openers Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy, plus Joe Root and Eoin Morgan, did feature and were all part of the top-order failure.

Roy and Bairstow had made a promising start by reaching 51-0 but were out in consecutive overs, mistiming aggressive shots to long-on and mid-off respectively as they perhaps aimed for too high a total too early.

Root and Morgan steadied England with a partnership of 30, but Root was brilliantly run out by a direct hit from Van der Dussen and Morgan edged left-arm wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi to slip for 11 three balls later.

After their good start, England were quickly bogged down by South Africa’s seamers’ slower balls and the spin of Shamsi and JJ Smuts.

Debutant Tom Banton, the highly-rated 21-year-old batsman, showed glimpses of his promise with three boundaries – a reverse sweep, a powerful pull and a fine straight drive – but was trapped lbw for 18.

When Sam Curran was bowled around his legs in the 28th over, it looked like England would not bat out their 50 overs.

At the age of 33, Denly is a curious selection in this team as England build for the Twenty20 World Cup in October and their defence of the 50-over World Cup in 2023, but he and Woakes (40) were the only batsmen to look confident.

Denly was circumspect early on before scoring 51 off his final 39 balls, but his intelligent innings was ultimately in vain.

“For us, plans B and C are when we come up on wickets like this and should adapt, manipulate what we’re trying to do, and the projected total comes way down to 275 or 300,” Morgan said.

“We [Morgan and Root] spoke about that while we were in the middle but weren’t good enough to implement it today.

“You watch guys like Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow crunching the ball and it can lead to a misconception that the wicket is better than it actually is.

“If you actually look at the way they hit the ball, they were hitting it in the air off the ground whereas normally they drill the ball along the ground. Balls that they smashed didn’t go for six.

“Little indications like that should drip into the changing room.”

Analysis – England ‘strangely flat’

BBC Radio 5 Live’s Simon Mann in Cape Town

The T20 World Cup in Australia in October and November is England’s next white-ball priority so only five of England’s World Cup-winning side featured on Tuesday.

Few of England’s back-up players advanced their cause in a strangely flat performance.

Joe Denly, with his first ODI fifty for more than a decade, gave England something to defend, but the bowling attack looked toothless.

Quinton de Kock has shown throughout the South African summer that he’s the class player in this line-up, and he was superb again.

Perhaps South Africa sensed it was going to be their day when Rassie van der Dussen produced a stunning piece of fielding to run out Joe Root – arguably the decisive moment in England’s innings.

‘Responsibility of captaincy helped me’

South Africa captain and man of the match Quinton de Kock:“It was a good night. We’re just glad to get a win under our belts, it feels good to get back to winning ways.

“This week we’ve had one or two chats about how we wanted to take this ODI side forward, today was a good start. It’s alright talking but to bring it out to the field I’m really pleased about.

“To be honest I did feel the weight of captaincy while I was batting. I enjoyed it, it kept me in the game. That extra bit of responsibility helped me.”

#Champions #thrashed

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stephenmccull · 4 years

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Pandemic Upends The Lives Of People With Disabilities — And Of Their Caregivers

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Stacy Ellingen, 34, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, lost two of the three caregivers she depends on to dress, shower, eat and use the bathroom. The caregivers — both University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh students — returned to their parents’ homes when the university canceled in-person classes.

Ellingen, who lives with complications from cerebral palsy, had little choice but to do the same — moving back to her parents’ home in Fond du Lac.

Jason Endres and his wife, Julie, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, both use power wheelchairs at home. Given the shortage of masks and other personal protective equipment ― and Jason’s lungs being weakened by spina bifida ― they have asked caregivers not to enter their home during the pandemic.(Courtesy of Jason Endres)

Matt Ford, whose arms and legs are paralyzed, already lived with his 76-year-old father, his primary caregiver, in a specially designed house in Verona. One of Ford’s other caregivers moved into his basement for a while, since it was easier for her to quarantine there rather than come and go and risk infection and transmission of the virus to Ford.

Jason Endres asked his care workers to stay away from the home he shares with his wife Julie in Eau Claire. With masks hard to come by, Endres feared the caregivers could inadvertently spread the virus, possibly ravaging his lungs, which have been weakened by spina bifida.

The novel coronavirus, which has infected nearly 13,000 Wisconsinites, has exposed vulnerabilities in the state’s health care programs, including those designed to serve older residents and those with disabilities.

Before the pandemic, Gov. Tony Evers in 2019 created a state task force to address a chronic shortage of caregivers. A report released in February described a “crisis” in the direct care workforce, with 20,655 vacant positions in Wisconsin’s long-term care facilities and residential settings, and an average workforce vacancy rate of nearly 26%.

For residents with disabilities who need caregivers in order to live and work independently, the pandemic is adding hurdles. These visiting aides take on demanding duties and are typically paid about $12 an hour in Wisconsin.

Clients with disabilities and their caregivers must weigh how to keep each other safe during close interactions, especially as protective equipment remains scarce. Some caregivers have stuck around; others have quit. And many clients who lose their caregivers also lose independence.

Every respondent to an April survey of nearly 500 Wisconsinites with disabilities and older adults said the pandemic had disrupted their caregiving service. Wisconsin Watch conducted a dozen interviews with people with disabilities, their family members and caregivers across Wisconsin, revealing how the crisis has transformed each life in unique ways.

Help Is Hard To Find

Before the pandemic, Stacy Ellingen ― who lives with complications from cerebral palsy ― worked from home in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where she has a suite of technology to support independent living. During the COVID-19 closures, Ellingen lost her scheduled caregivers and was forced to move in with her parents in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.(Courtesy of Stacy Ellingen)

Stacy Ellingen has navigated life from a power wheelchair since she was a child. Cerebral palsy has also affected her fine motor skills: She uses an enlarged keyboard and eye-gaze system to operate her design firm, Design Wheels, from her apartment in Oshkosh, where she lived independently before the pandemic. That computer setup is a key component of the independent life Ellingen has fought for. Now that she’s living with her parents, she doesn’t have access to that tool — or lifestyle.

“I’m not able to do much work while I’m at my parents’,” Ellingen said. During an interview over Zoom, she used an app on her phone to speak aloud. Ellingen requested interview questions in advance so she would have adequate time to enter her responses in the app.

Ellingen, who is featured in a video about assistive technology, said she could not survive long without caregivers to help her.

“Many times I’ve skipped meals, gone without using the restroom and slept in my wheelchair because I didn’t have a caregiver,” Ellingen said.

This is not the first time a lack of help has forced her to return to her parents’ home, but Ellingen worries the pandemic will wreak long-lasting damage to an already thin caregiving workforce.

A May survey of 504 providers of disability services conducted by the nonprofit Survival Coalition of Wisconsin Disability Organizations showed costs rising and revenues plunging across the industry. Nearly 20% of surveyed businesses were unsure whether they would survive the pandemic.

In an ideal world, Ellingen said, she would have six or seven caregivers to fill work shifts, but that hasn’t happened for years. Ellingen was down to just three care workers at the pandemic’s outset, including the two UW-Oshkosh students who have since left town.

University students typically make up at least half of Ellingen’s support staff; each rarely stays with her longer than a year.

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Ellingen said life with her parents involves major and minor annoyances. She must go to bed when they do — much earlier than she would prefer — lest she be left with no one to lift her into bed. She also has to live with her parents’ music, television and food preferences.

Still, Ellingen feels lucky; if not for her parents, she would likely live in a nursing home. The long-term care sector has experienced at least 5% of Wisconsin’s coronavirus diagnoses and more than 40% of deaths from COVID-19.

“That’s the last place anyone wants to be — especially during the pandemic,” Ellingen said.

Caregiver Makes Sacrifices

Matt Ford, 55, also recruits his caregivers mostly from a nearby college campus — the UW-Madison. He typically finds new hires near the end of the spring semester, but not this year because the pandemic sent students home early.

Paralyzed in a diving accident in 1987, Ford needs help getting in and out of bed, preparing meals, using the bathroom and driving. His father provides most of that assistance, and two or three additional workers take shifts at his home.

Ford posts his needs for paid caregivers on UW-Madison’s student job board, often using creative ways to draw attention.

“I just started putting in there: ‘Grass-fed, free-range quad needs help,'” Ford said with a chuckle. (“Quad” is short for “quadriplegic.”)

Grace Brunette noticed the listing in spring 2016, when she was a UW-Madison senior. She has worked for Ford on and off since then.

Brunette is now finishing her studies in a physician assistant program at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. When the pandemic struck, she no longer felt comfortable splitting her time between her apartment and Ford’s house. She moved into Ford’s basement to minimize contact with outsiders, including her family. The basement was designed specifically to accommodate a live-in aide — a need that seems inevitable as Ford’s father ages.

After spending the entire first two weeks quarantining in Ford’s house, Brunette now stays over three nights a week. Why stay during the pandemic?

“He only has one other caregiver. That would be really selfish of me to just say, ‘Sayonara, I’m going to go quarantine with my family,’ when he needs the help,” Brunette said.

In May, the Wisconsin Supreme Court sided with Republican legislative leaders to strike down Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ “Safer at Home” order. The decision made Ford bristle at the thought that Wisconsinites might begin to take the pandemic less seriously. In an amicus brief filed before the ruling, advocacy groups argued that if the order were lifted, there would be increased risks of coronavirus infection to older adults and to people with disabilities.

“It does feel a little personal that no one is recognizing the efforts that we made — as vulnerable people who need caregivers in and out of our homes — and the sacrifices that the caregivers made,” Ford said.

“I don’t want people to go out of business either,” Ford added, referencing the push to reopen the state. “I do care about them. I have some empathy toward that. But I also don’t want to die.”

Brunette is still working for Ford, but the public health crisis makes it unclear how long she will remain. She was set to start clinical rotations as part of her physician assistant training in June, which would have taken her out of town — making her unavailable to work with Ford. But when a planned trip to Belize with her classmates was canceled and her clinical rotations for school were moved online, she stayed on the job.

As of now, her next rotation is scheduled to begin in August. Someone will need to fill Brunette’s shifts during the fall. Ford said that is typically one of the hardest times to recruit student caregivers.

Mask Shortage Adds Hurdles

Like many people with disabilities in Wisconsin, both Ellingen and Ford serve as de facto employers for their caregivers, meaning they are responsible for providing personal protective gear. They each get two boxes of gloves every month, paid for by the state’s Medicaid program. But Ford said he is struggling to get gloves from his supplier because of the surging demand during the pandemic.

Masks are even tougher to find. A relative of Ellingen offered to sew some cloth face coverings for her workers. Ford finds masks at the doctor’s office, where he might sneak out one or two after routine appointments. His other source is a neighbor with a carpet-cleaning business. As businesses reopen across Wisconsin, advocates are calling for the state to prioritize caregivers as protective equipment is distributed.

Gov. Evers announced a $100 million grant program for health care providers, including caregivers, in late May. The lack of masks has not dramatically altered either Ford’s or Ellingen’s caregiving plans. It is a different story for Jason Endres and his wife, Julie in Eau Claire.

“It’s really one of the big reasons why we haven’t had anyone come into the home,” Endres said. Without a ready supply of masks, the couple feels uncomfortable inviting even familiar workers into their home, considering that many of them visit multiple clients or other work sites.

Endres, 45, has reason to be cautious. He has spina bifida-linked scoliosis. Endres had rods inserted into his back as a teenager, but his spine remained somewhat crooked — and that spinal curvature has weakened his lungs.

His wife, Julie, has cerebral palsy. Both use power wheelchairs in their ranch-style home, which was built to accommodate their needs. Their decision to keep caregivers away from the house has added challenges during the pandemic. Take the task of changing bedsheets, for example: While a worker might finish in a matter of minutes, it takes the couple more than an hour to complete that chore.

“She would do it once a week,” Jason Endres said of one of the workers who helps the couple. “We’re lucky if we do it twice a month.”

As the pandemic continues, uncertainty is eating Endres up inside: “Are we going to live in this limbo for the rest of our lives? Is that going to be changing for the better or for the worse?

“I agree that we need to get the economy going,” Endres added. “But safety’s got to be first.”

This story is part of a partnership that includes Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Public Radio, NPR and Kaiser Health News.

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gordonwilliamsweb · 4 years

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Pandemic Upends The Lives Of People With Disabilities — And Of Their Caregivers

Ellingen, who lives with complications from cerebral palsy, had little choice but to do the same — moving back to her parents’ home in Fond du Lac.

Help Is Hard To Find

Ellingen, who is featured in a video about assistive technology, said she could not survive long without caregivers to help her.

“Many times I’ve skipped meals, gone without using the restroom and slept in my wheelchair because I didn’t have a caregiver,” Ellingen said.

This is not the first time a lack of help has forced her to return to her parents’ home, but Ellingen worries the pandemic will wreak long-lasting damage to an already thin caregiving workforce.

University students typically make up at least half of Ellingen’s support staff; each rarely stays with her longer than a year.

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“That’s the last place anyone wants to be — especially during the pandemic,” Ellingen said.

Caregiver Makes Sacrifices

Ford posts his needs for paid caregivers on UW-Madison’s student job board, often using creative ways to draw attention.

“I just started putting in there: ‘Grass-fed, free-range quad needs help,'” Ford said with a chuckle. (“Quad” is short for “quadriplegic.”)

Grace Brunette noticed the listing in spring 2016, when she was a UW-Madison senior. She has worked for Ford on and off since then.

After spending the entire first two weeks quarantining in Ford’s house, Brunette now stays over three nights a week. Why stay during the pandemic?

“He only has one other caregiver. That would be really selfish of me to just say, ‘Sayonara, I’m going to go quarantine with my family,’ when he needs the help,” Brunette said.

Mask Shortage Adds Hurdles

“She would do it once a week,” Jason Endres said of one of the workers who helps the couple. “We’re lucky if we do it twice a month.”

As the pandemic continues, uncertainty is eating Endres up inside: “Are we going to live in this limbo for the rest of our lives? Is that going to be changing for the better or for the worse?

“I agree that we need to get the economy going,” Endres added. “But safety’s got to be first.”

This story is part of a partnership that includes Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Public Radio, NPR and Kaiser Health News.

Pandemic Upends The Lives Of People With Disabilities — And Of Their Caregivers published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

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dinafbrownil · 4 years

Text

Pandemic Upends The Lives Of People With Disabilities — And Of Their Caregivers

Ellingen, who lives with complications from cerebral palsy, had little choice but to do the same — moving back to her parents’ home in Fond du Lac.

Help Is Hard To Find

Ellingen, who is featured in a video about assistive technology, said she could not survive long without caregivers to help her.

“Many times I’ve skipped meals, gone without using the restroom and slept in my wheelchair because I didn’t have a caregiver,” Ellingen said.

This is not the first time a lack of help has forced her to return to her parents’ home, but Ellingen worries the pandemic will wreak long-lasting damage to an already thin caregiving workforce.

University students typically make up at least half of Ellingen’s support staff; each rarely stays with her longer than a year.

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Please confirm your email address below:

“That’s the last place anyone wants to be — especially during the pandemic,” Ellingen said.

Caregiver Makes Sacrifices

Ford posts his needs for paid caregivers on UW-Madison’s student job board, often using creative ways to draw attention.

“I just started putting in there: ‘Grass-fed, free-range quad needs help,'” Ford said with a chuckle. (“Quad” is short for “quadriplegic.”)

Grace Brunette noticed the listing in spring 2016, when she was a UW-Madison senior. She has worked for Ford on and off since then.

After spending the entire first two weeks quarantining in Ford’s house, Brunette now stays over three nights a week. Why stay during the pandemic?

“He only has one other caregiver. That would be really selfish of me to just say, ‘Sayonara, I’m going to go quarantine with my family,’ when he needs the help,” Brunette said.

Mask Shortage Adds Hurdles

“She would do it once a week,” Jason Endres said of one of the workers who helps the couple. “We’re lucky if we do it twice a month.”

As the pandemic continues, uncertainty is eating Endres up inside: “Are we going to live in this limbo for the rest of our lives? Is that going to be changing for the better or for the worse?

“I agree that we need to get the economy going,” Endres added. “But safety’s got to be first.”

This story is part of a partnership that includes Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Public Radio, NPR and Kaiser Health News.

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/pandemic-upends-the-lives-of-people-with-disabilities-and-of-their-caregivers/

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