Holiday Greeting from our Executive Director
Date posted: December 17, 2020
Hello Everyone,
This past year has certainly been a challenge. Despite everything, we have seen triumphs of the human spirit. Our front-line workers in long-term care facilities surely deserve our gratitude and praise for facing this silent enemy that took so many lives over the last year. It has been a humbling and eye-opening experience. We are truly grateful that a vaccine is available and being distributed to front line workers and soon to the most vulnerable in our population.
For those of us who work with people with special needs, the challenges have been especially great as many of the people we serve have been significantly impacted by the pandemic. The isolation and loneliness are palpable.
Here at PLAN, we are doing our best to make things run as smoothly as possible for our beneficiaries, referring attorneys, and others in our community. We are considered an essential service because we support important financial transactions on a daily and weekly basis that help people in our trust live their best lives. Our commitment has not waivered despite the pandemic.
Even though our licensed social workers were unable to make in-person visits to beneficiaries living in facilities for most of the pandemic, we kept in touch via phone and teleconference as much as possible to make sure our folks were getting what they needed from us and from the trust.
We continue to grieve the loss of many beneficiaries who passed due to complications from COVID, and our sincere condolences go out to all their families and friends.
During this year we announced several new hires to help optimize our operations. We welcomed Ellen Harnen as our Service Coordinator Supervisor. Lucille Cassis became our new Director of Marketing and Business Development, Clare Keating joined us as Controller; and Kathy Vitello, our long-time Director of Beneficiary Services, was elevated to Director of Operations. We are bringing on several new licensed social workers to complete our team in 2021, so the compassionate care outlined in our mission remains a top priority.
On behalf of the board of directors and the entire team here at PLAN of MA & RI, we wish you every joy, peace, and good health this holiday season and beyond. We hope you enjoyed the support sessions our social work team put together for you with some great ideas on how to spend the holidays in a safe, socially distant, and fun way. If you missed our presentation, you may enjoy it here:
All the best,
Joan McGrath
Executive Director