​Everyone can play a role in preventing child abuse. That’s the message of this year’s Child Abuse Prevention Month campaign in April: Be a Hero in the Eyes of a Child.  
 
Through its Facebook page, @ChampaignCountyDJFS, the Champaign County Department of Job and Family Services (CCDJFS) is offering ways for local residents to participate in the campaign and help prevent child abuse and neglect in their day-to-day lives.
 
“It takes one simple act of kindness at a time,” says Sara Wright, CCDJFS social services administrator. “I see a mom I know at the store, and I tell her she’s doing a great job. Or maybe I know a family that could be struggling, maybe they have an illness. I could make a meal for them.
 
“These types of things are heroic acts. That’s what this campaign is about, those little acts of kindness that really help make kids safe, because it helps support families.”
 
Stacy Cox, director of CCDJFS, adds, “It takes a community to protect a child, or to raise a child. It’s really those simple acts that play into that community connectedness.”
 
Ways to Participate in Child Abuse Prevention Month

• Look for suggestions on how to support children and families throughout the year—on the CCDJFS Facebook page and the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund website, octf.ohio.gov
• Nominate someone who is an Everyday Hero for doing their part to help prevent child abuse – and describe what they do. Email nominations to sara.wright@jfs.ohio.gov. These Everyday Heroes will be spotlighted throughout April on the CCDJFS Facebook page. Wright says, “We just want people to know they are appreciated for the simple acts that they do, because they matter.”
• Wear blue clothing on April 14, in support of the OhioWearsBlue campaign, at work, school, and out in the community, to draw attention to child abuse prevention.  And take a selfie or a group photo of you, friends and family wearing blue, and post it on the CCDJFS Facebook page with the tag #OhioWearsBlue.
• Attend the virtual Community Services to Support Families forum at 5 p.m. April 29. The forum is being coordinated by Zach Walden, quality assurance supervisor/Adult Protective Services of CCDJFS, with the Champaign County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Champaign County Family and Children First Council. They will present information and answer questions about local services for supporting families and children. The meeting link will be posted on the CCDJFS Facebook page.

 
The Champaign County Board of Commissioners has proclaimed April “A Celebration of Family and Children Month, in tribute to concerned citizens, professionals and foster parents who work together in the cause of protecting our county’s children.”
 
In addition, CCDJFS is promoting Child Abuse Prevention Month with coloring sheets distributed to schools and libraries, as well as pizza box toppers and drink coasters at local restaurants with dine-in service.
 
2020 Child Abuse Statistics
In 2020, CCDJFS Child Protective Services completed 228 investigations/assessments of reports of child abuse or neglect. Thirty-five of the reports were substantiated or indicated as cases of abuse or neglect. The department served an average of 37 families, on an ongoing basis, per month, and 33 youth were in agency custody.
 
But the pandemic had an impact on reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect, Wright said. “From March going into April 2020 we saw an over 60 percent decline in calls coming in. What that tells us, people weren’t seeing each other, and people weren’t seeing kids. Connectivity and connections matter” in helping to identify and prevent abuse.
 
Wright adds, “The more supported we can make people feel, the less we see the impact of hardships, like poverty and substance abuse, and the better that kids are going to be protected.”
 
The key message of the Be a Hero in the Eyes of a Child campaign, she said, is that “it’s the simple acts of kindness that make a huge difference. We know the numbers of abuse and neglect, because that’s what we track. But the numbers we don’t have is how much abuse and neglect was prevented by those simple acts that adults in the community are doing each and every day.” 

Champaign County Emergency Management Agency is searching for any local business who fit test employee's N-95 masks in house and have the testing solution the EMA could buy/borrow from them.  The stuff is out of stock with every supplier we know of.
 
If you know anyone, please contact Jim asap.  James Freeman jfreeman@co.champaign.oh.us  or 937-484-1642.

Area law enforcement and local fire departments have tweaked their operations and increased the amount of personal protection equipment first responders are using. The goal is to protect personnel as they respond to calls in their communities. That includes limiting exposure and taking added precautions in order to help prevent the virus from spreading.

In accordance with those procedures, dispatchers in both counties have been instructed to ask screening questions. The purpose is to find out if anyone at a scene is displaying symptoms associated with coronavirus before sending out a first responder. That information is being used as departments decide what actions to take while trying to conserve personal protection equipment as it is unclear how long the pandemic will last.

Eliminating any single point of failure
In Champaign County, there have been two confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Health officials believe those cases are unrelated to each other.

One positive case is a female in her 50s, a statement from the Champaign Health District said, and she is currently hospitalized. The other is a female in her early 30s who has not traveled.

Urbana Fire Chief Dean Ortlieb said right now, his department is focused on reducing potential exposure to his personnel while taking precautions that reduce the risk of multiple firefighters being sick at the same time.

“Everything that we are working on is centered around eliminating any single point of failure,” he said.

That includes, on certain calls, having one first responder initiate contact with potential patients while wearing increased personal protection equipment. In addition, it means having equipment available if the situation calls for it.

“We know that we have enough resources for our current load. We don’t know how big this is going to get,” Ortlieb said. He said that the Champaign County EMA has already received a shipment of supplies from a national stockpile.

He added that his department has been using vendors and have been placing small orders.
​
Ortlieb said they currently have one fire station, but are working on plans to spread out personnel in order to better prevent the virus from spreading. Though no personnel have been quarantined at this point, he said he wants to make sure they will not be in a situation where an entire shift would have to be quarantined at one time.

Click here to read full article on Springfield News-Sun.