Committed to Our Community During COVID-19

Hillside has responded to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic by redoubling our efforts to serve vulnerable youth and families in the communities we all call home.

• Our direct-care teams are on the watch for COVID-19 symptoms among youth in residential treatment, and following all safety protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health.
• Technology tools are providing enhanced access to telehealth and video-conferencing applications that connect youth, families and Hillside’s clinical experts.
• When Hillside schools and Day Treatment centers closed, our education teams and residential treatment staff collaborated to help youth receive consistent access to learning opportunities.
• Our community-based programs adapted their work with students, youth and families to support new models of engagement while following all CDC and DOH safety guidelines.
• Contingency planning has been developed to protect youth and staff in the event of a COVID-19 exposure among any member of the Hillside family.
• Nearly half of all Hillside employees have been working remotely via telecommuting technology to limit the spread of the virus and protect youth and staff in residential treatment.
• Hillside’s multidisciplinary Pandemic Response Team is continuously refining policies and procedures that support employees’ ability to do their best work safely and effectively.
• Our agency has actively promoted COVID-19 vaccination efforts among staff and the youth and families we serve, by working with community partners to host on-site and neighborhood-based pop-up vaccination clinics.
• Our leaders continue to work closely with county and state officials to provide leadership and guidance that informs the whirlwind regulatory changes required by the pandemic.