Preparing to Go Back Inside
Since July, Academy MetroWest has been running outdoor, in-person groups at St. Benedict Classical Academy. Having access to their athletic field has enabled us to stay in business and provide the services we’ve always been known for. We are very grateful to the staff at St. Benedict’s for being such welcoming and accommodating hosts.
As we get closer to November, we’re at the point when shorter days and colder temperatures force us to move away from outdoor work. For the past few months, we’ve been formulating and implementing plans to move our groups back to our Speen St. facility in a way that minimizes the health risks to clients and staff in the midst of a pandemic. We also believe that they will enable us to run a productive, high quality, therapeutic program. To assist us in formulating these plans, we’ve turned to a couple of unlikely sources; an astrophysicist and a building commissioner. I’ll explain.
Back in the late Spring, my family, like many others, began getting together with friends of ours for outdoor, socially distanced get togethers. It was at one of those get-togethers that I got into a conversation with my good friend Rob Simcoe, an astrophysicist who runs a lab at a major university. Rob has been charged by his administration with formulating plans for reopening the lab in a way that minimizes risk to everyone who works there. Being the scientist that he is, he turned his attention away from his usual work - researching the composition of galaxies in the farthest, oldest regions of the universe - and started a deep dive into the world of virus transmission, looking closely to assess the ways in which the virus is transmitted and the circumstances in which that transmission occurs. Rob’s initial emphasis for us was to move as much of our group work as possible to outdoor spaces. He told us that the research he had seen indicated that if a group of people is having a conversation outdoors, their risk factor for transmitting the virus is multiplied by a factor of 12 if they move that conversation indoors to a space in which the doors and windows are open. It’s multiplied by 60 if the doors and windows are closed! That was enough for me to focus on moving as much of our work outdoors – or online – as possible.
Damn it, Jim! I'm an astrophysicist! Not an epidemiologist!
As the summer progressed, I started talking to Rob more and more about what to do when working outdoors becomes impractical. Our conversations turned increasingly to a topic frequently discussed by all astrophysicists and professional counselors (not really) – HVAC systems. By maximizing air circulation and by using filters strong enough to capture tiny virus particles, we’d be able to create a working environment that makes virus transmission as unlikely as possible. Rob was generous enough to come out to Academy MetroWest, look over our HVAC system, measure the air flow, and chat with me and my colleague Hope Notaro about steps we can take to minimize the health risks involved in running social skills groups during a pandemic. After that, I started communicating with our HVAC professional who cautioned that our system might not be powerful enough to support filtration as strong as the level recommended by ASHRAE (The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers) in their guidelines regarding the mitigation of virus transmission. He suggested that we might need to call in an HVAC Balancing engineer to redesign the whole system. I was not aware that HVAC balancing was even a thing but, whatever it is, it sounded really expensive! It was then that I consulted with my friend Mark Barbadoro, the Building Commissioner in Fitchburg, MA, about possible ways to improve our existing system without having to start from scratch – or spend so much money that we’d have no program left to run in our newly aerated and filtered gym. Mark made some great suggestions and we are currently in the midst of having them implemented.
It’s important to note that neither of my friends is an epidemiologist. Here, feel free to insert your favorite pop culture reference (i.e. “I’m not an epidemiologist but I do play one on TV,” or “Damn it, Jim! I’m an astrophysicist! Not an epidemiologist!”). However, I do feel confident that implementing their recommendations is a vital step in assuring the safety of our clients and staff members.
All this work on our HVAC system is being done on top of the adaptations we’ve made to our program to assure that we comply with state mandated guidelines as well as CDC recommendations. A complete listing of our COVID-19 safety protocols is available on our website but the most important aspects of it center on minimizing the number of people who will be in our space at any given time as well as structuring in safety procedures around increased hand washing, social distancing, and cleaning and disinfecting procedures.
I’d like to thank Rob and Mark for being so forthcoming with their time, support, and advice. As so many people have been doing this year, we feel like we’ve been reinventing the wheel on a monthly – possibly weekly – basis. It has been a challenging year for us – for all of us - but having friends who are so knowledgeable and supportive has made it possible for us to carry on.
For those readers who have kids enrolled in our group program, we anticipate that you will have questions and feedback about our plans. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or your child’s counselor if you’d like to discuss any of these issues. Stay safe everyone!