New Hampshire Association of the Deaf

image description: white woman with brown and gray hair tied back, wearing a long sleeve green pull-over shirt and glasses, sitting in her house with the camera panned up towards a wood ceiling, white walls, and a dish cabinet

transcript: “Hi, this is Kristy Stellato. This vlog is about the Allies Conference coming up for April 22-24 in Nashua. The specific group of people this vlog is geared for is the Deaf community members. I hope you will come to the conference to talk about allies, listen to presenters, etc.

You may have noticed the registration fee for a Deaf community member is $50, and if that’s too much, you can ignore that form. You can email NHRID for a separate form for *free* registration. I will spell out the email address and then screen text will show up to show the address:

NHRIDTREASURER@GMAIL.COM

I hope you will come to the conference!”

We are hosting a St. Patrick’s Day party at the American Legion Post in Hooksett on March 19th from 5pm – 8pm.  Due to COVID, we won’t be allowing a potluck, but we will provide a corned beef dinner, a pasta dish, and some simple desserts.  Masks need to be worn at entry until sitting at the table.  We will bring food to the table, so no need to line up for a plate.

Admission is the price of membership ($12 for individual, $20 for couple, $6 for senior citizen, $10 for SC couple, and $6 for college students).  We will have a few activities, like the best St. Patrick’s outfit contest, bead game, and 50/50 raffle.

Download the flyer here.

Hello, during the COVID pandemic, we have issued two editions of The Sign Post for anyone regardless of their membership status.  The winter edition 2022 will be the last public edition and we will go back to issuing to members only.

The Sign Post Fall 2021 public edition

The Sign Post Winter 2022 edition

If you are interested in becoming a member for 2022, you can download the membership form.

Hello, here’s a bullet list of updates:

–we are continuing our board meetings via zoom;

–we had our first virtual board meeting with quests and general members last week;

–we will not be hosting in-person events for the remainder of 2020 and possibly the first few months of 2021 due to COVID-19;

–we are looking into virtual events we could host, so give us ideas we could do like painting, workshops, magic shows;

–the secretary position has been filled by Marie Desrosiers;

–one of the two member-at-large positions has been filled by Alexus Lefort who also represents UNHM students;

–one member-at-large position is still vacant–any taker?

–Chris Emerson and Kristy Stellato attended NAD’s virtual conference as delegates for NHAD in early October and;

–details for NHAD 2021 Biennial State Conference are not ready, but Kristy will make a vlog soon.

https://www.facebook.com/newhampshireassociationofthedeaf/posts/2877261199036856

Per President Mike Schock’s orders, all April, May, and June events are cancelled.  We will continue to have our board meeting the first week of May with using the Zoom software.  Events for the rest of the summer are on hold until we have a good feel of where the COVID-19 virus is going.  We hope to resume events by the next fall.

Per recommendations for COVID-19 from several sources:

1.  Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds when you get home or interact with other people.  Save the sanitizer for when you are out of your home (i.e. if you are working, driving, picking up food, etc).
2. If you have a cloth mask or a reusable mask, you can wash it in your kitchen or bathroom sink with soap and water (and a little bit of bleach, depending on the color).
3. DO NOT MICROWAVE your mask to clean it!  It will get burned or the elastic bands will be ruined.  It’s best to wash it by hand (or in the washing machine if the materials is strong enough for that).
4. If you are experiencing a fever, coughing, and shortness of breath, call your primary doctor.  Do not just show up at the doctor’s office or ER or urgent care center without prior discussion with your primary doctor.
5. If you have medical appointments over the phone, using Zoom is the best way possible.  Your interpreter will appear on the Zoom screen.  If you don’t have a computer, don’t know how to use Zoom, or the doctor’s office absolutely cannot use it, you can use your videophone or TTY or CapTel.
6. When you are outside your home, you may encounter a lot of people wearing masks or other face coverings.  This will be a challenge for your communication needs, but use alternative methods like gesturing, writing notes, etc.  If you are picking up food, write notes beforehand.  Bring your own paper and pen (or the docs app or notes app on your phone).

If you are feeling stressed, anxious, upset, etc for whatever reason during the COVID-19 pandemic, you can reach out to Greater Nashua Mental Health Center-Deaf Services.  They have DHH mental health specialists available, and there is a couple phone numbers you can call.

Youtube video from GNMHC-DS

“Call 603-821-0073 (VP) during business hours. Outside of business ours, our agency’s phone support is available. The clinicians on-call are trained to support our community and connect you to Deaf Services for the next business day. 888-762-8191.” (from Holly)

There’s a lot of updates, but they are broken into categories here.  Updates for New Hampshire.  Updates for nation. Continue reading Updates for Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Some of you may be aware of an Easter event for NHAD in April, but it has been cancelled.  The May event is still on for now.

**UPDATE 3/15/20**Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, the conference has been postponed.

You are invited to attend the Allies Conference at the end of March 2020!

For more information, go to their website.