Aspire’s Response to Covid

At Aspire, we continue to closely monitor communications from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and government agencies to stay on top of the evolving situation with Covid-19. The health and well-being of our participants, team members, volunteers and community is our highest priority at Aspire, we are putting into effect a number of practices to be even more vigilant in our preventative strategies. 

To find the most up-to-date information on precautions Aspire is taking here. We’ll keep you updated. 

Covid-19 cases are spreading quickly across the US, driven by the new Omicron variant. This variant spreads easily among people, even those who are vaccinated.  

We still believe that vaccination is our best protection from serious Covid-19 cases and hospitalization, and continue to strongly urge all team members to get vaccinated and boosted. In response to spike in cases we are going to implement the following precautions. 

Effective Tuesday, December 21, 2021 

• We are pausing all in-person, center-based day programs at a minimum through Jan 4^th. We will reassess the pause after this time. (The Lake County Academy is already paused as we ready our new site in Waukegan)
• We will limit family visits at our community homes to outside only visits
• We will require a negative rapid test before participants return to their community home from family visits
• Maintenance visits to homes will be limited, for emergencies and critical items only
• We encourage team members to visit community homes virtually or outside, but to limit in-home visits to critical/emergency visits only
• We are reinstituting our “symptom checks” at all homes and Aspire office locations (e.g. Litt, Shannon), including forehead temperature checks
• We are encouraging mask wearing in homes for participants in common areas (outside of bedrooms); masks remain required for staff at all locations
• We are strongly encouraging all non-frontline team members to work remotely, whenever possible; avoid in-person meetings until further notice

We are monitoring our status and guidance from the CDC regularly and continue to discuss options for responses in preparation as the situation evolves. Above all, rest assured that we are staying vigilant. 

We will continue to keep you updated as needed. If you have questions, please reach out to: 

• Families – Life consultant
• Volunteers – Julia Garcia-Sherman
• Team members –  your supervisor or your respective Vision Team leader: Becky Jackson,Chief Program Strategy Officer, Herb Washington, Chief Innovation Officer, Sharon Lawrence, Chief People Officer, Serena Alaily, Chief Financial Officer
• Vendors and partners – no change 

Please stay strong, stay well, and stay kind. Remember, together, we’re better.