COCHRANE— The Town's Social Recovery Task Force has launched a survey to learn how residents have been impacted by COVID-19 and the steps Cochranites would like to take to help the community recover.
Social Task Force member Councilor Susan Flowers said the survey features in-depth questions and explores areas of our lives that have been impacted by the pandemic.
“Cochrane is very resilient but there’s always struggles when you’re going through something like this,” Flowers said. “It’s such unprecedented times that we don’t really know what people are going to need or what they’re hoping for.”
Flowers said she is enjoying her time with the Social Recovery Task Force and the opportunity to interact with the different social groups in the community.
Members of the Task Force include Flowers, Mayor Jeff Genung, the Town’s Family and Community Support Services Manager, an Affordable Housing representative from Cochrane Family and Child Services, a Cochrane Rotary Club representative, a Helping Hands representative, a Big Hill Haven representative, a Cochrane Activettes representative and a Cochrane Victim Services representative
“They’re all hard-working and really want to make a difference,” she said.
The survey went live last week and Flowers said there have already been about 145 who have participated.
She said the survey included open-ended questions that people have been diligently filling out.
“People are really telling us what’s going on,” Flowers said. “We’re going to have a lot of information to look at and analyze.”
The Task Force is hoping to get all members of the community to fill out the survey from youth to seniors in Cochrane so they can better understand everyone's needs while helping identify areas that people need aid socially.
Filling out the survey will help the Social Task Force form ideas, programs and potential grant funding possibilities based on input from the community. These actions are then brought before Town Council to see if they can move forward.
“We’ll have the evidence of what we need,” Flowers said. “We’re coming up with tons of different ideas.”
Flowers said she is encouraging survey participants and Task Force members to think outside the box with suggestions such as creating ways for neighbours to interact and support each other.
“Not everything has to cost money,” she said.
The survey will help guide ideas and programs the Town and social agencies create to support and aid in the social recovery from the pandemic.
There are many volunteers and social programs in the community but COVID-19 has been challenging because it is not always clear how they can help those in need, Flowers said.
She added that she is looking forward to recovering the social vibrancy of Cochrane and that it will be great to meet in person once public health measures are lifted.
“It’s the loneliness that bothers me the most, especially for the people that are on their own,” she said.
The goal of the Task Force is to bring people together safely so they can socialize without fear. Flowers added that the fear of the virus will make it hard for some people to get back to any sense of normalcy.
It has been an interesting experience learning how people feel because there are so many differing opinions on how the community can begin to move forward from the virus.
To participate in the survey visit letstalkcochrane.ca/SRTF/.
“It’s a lot of listening and finding the middle ground, I think, to see where people can come together,” she said. “Cochrane people are very supportive.”
