By Cecilia Nasmith
Brighton Councillor Mark Bateman has become quite the delivery person over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But along with the gratification of serving his community, he's had a bit of an education that he'd like to pass along.
This new avocation began pretty well when the pandemic began last year and the Prime Minister was urging snowbirds to get home quickly, even though it was only March. The snowbirds were also urged to self-isolate.
Bateman remembers the wave of fear that gripped everyone, including his wife's aunt and uncle who hustled right home. Of course, he offered to get their groceries during that two-week quarantine.
Then, when his wife's aunt posted a glowing message about Bateman's generosity, he got other requests. He didn't mind. He even branched out a little, reaching out to a contact he had to get hold of the personal protective equipment that was in such short supply just then. He arranged a shipment to Quinte Health Care and still has the thank-you note from Northumberland Paramedics for the supply he provided.
But most of his deliveries were to shut-ins or people who were just plain apprehensive about venturing outside at a time when there were so many unknowns. Brighton's No Frills and Sobeys don't deliver groceries, but they would give out his number if anyone needed a delivery.
That's how he got the request from a gentleman who had asked Sobey's for a delivery. He said he had not been out of his house for a year and a half, and he hadn't eaten in 15 days. Bateman made the delivery and said he had never seen anything like it.
Fortunately he knew to be on the lookout for a gravel driveway, for the man's fire address number was almost hidden in the year's growth of grass with a single flattened track to and from the mailbox. When he took the groceries to the door, he found the man covered in human feces in a house that smelled worse than anything Bateman had ever experienced.
“There's no way somebody should have to be living that way,” he stated.
“This is probably a prime example of somebody who has fallen through the cracks.”
It brought home to him that not everybody has friends or family members who can be called on, and that some people in the community may have mental-capacity issues (perhaps even incipient dementia) that keep them from acting in their own best interests.
Looking at the isolated house, he wondered if things might have been different in a densely-populated suburb where others would have been aware of him and might have noticed if he needed help.
“This is the peripheral damage of COVID. How many are we missing? Who would have checked in if he hadn't been so desperate that Sobey's gave him my cell phone number?” he wondered
Another thing he wondered – what's appropriate to do in such a situation? He tried calling Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini, but he was in Toronto. He ended up calling the police to ask them to do a wellness check, which resulted in the man's spending more than a week at Northumberland Hills Hospital.
Bateman has kept in touch. He called him when he was hospitalized and after discharge as well, ensuring he has what he needs and making referrals to such community services as are offered just now.
But he met the man at a time when the pandemic was more than a year old, he pointed out - what if someone had noticed he needed help a year earlier?
“He didn't even know there was a food bank in Brighton. We all have to do a better job of making sure everyone knows the programs in place,” he stated - “we have fallen into the trap of thinking if you put it on a website, everyone will see it.
“There as to be some thought on how do we reach people who don't know – who need to be reached.”
Those wonderful program governments at every level have been putting together throughout the pandemic are another example. An online application process is established and criteria are posted. Meanwhile, people who need them may be completely unaware they are there.
“To think people are living like that is tragic and embarrassing at the same time,” he declared.
It was the most shocking delivery he has made, though not the only disturbing one. He recalled another delivery he did at Piccini's request – someone who had called the MPP's office because he hadn't eaten in about two weeks. He emptied his pantry and headed off to the person's house.
“It's so heart-breaking when you see people – any person, elderly or not – not getting food. I am sure there are some kids too not getting the proper nutrition because of the pandemic. But to see these people, nobody checking up on them...”
School-nutrition programs were begun for a reason, Bateman pointed out. He thinks of the young students at Spring Valley Public School (where his children go) and the older students at the Beacon Youth Centre, and he wonders how many of them got their biggest meal of the day at school.
And now that they are learning on-line – too many of them on unreliable internet connections – how many are missing those vital meals along with the quality time with their friends.
“If there was a need for it when they were in classes, that need didn't go away. It probably increased,” he said.
“People have to check up on people. We have all kinds of agencies and levels of government, but if you don't have the mental capacity or means to know, it doesn't matter how many programs are out there. It's still going to take that human connection.”
Bateman is grateful for the support his wife Chrystal has given him in this kind of work. She is a nurse at CFB Trenton and has seen her own share of mental-health issues during the pandemic.
She understands his philosophy that everyone falls on hard luck some time, and a hand up is what is needed – not a quick impersonal plug-the-gap handout, but a thoughtful well-chosen hand up.
“We are so focused on what we know, but we don't know what we don't know,” he said.
Bateman was recently remembering a time when his children were younger and he became involved with the minor-hockey organization (including serving as president for a few years). He wanted to be on that end of things, because he wanted to ensure some effort was made to identify those kids who wanted to play but didn't have the means.
He was thinking nobody should be left behind, he said - “and it's the same with this pandemic.”
In a perfect world, Bateman reflected, maybe there would be a No One Left Behind Committee. Until such a thing happens, we only have each other.
It's an important thing to remember, he added, if there's someone you haven't seen for quite some time – who just may have fallen through the cracks.
