Interview with Kate Milde
InterviewerInterviewed by
Peter Moran
Date2022 August 15
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 1 Hour, 17 Minutes, 46 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
Description(a) Interview with Kate Milde. Interviewed by Peter Moran on August 15, 2022 at Norwich Recreation Department, 75 Mohegan Road, Norwich. (b-c) Two photographs of Kate Milde taken at her interview. She was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Historical Society's Community History Project discussing her experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
At the time of the interview Kate Milde was a program coordinator for Norwich Youth and Family Services. She was also the President of the local 2422 union.
The first disruption to Kate’s life from COVID was when she had to cancel vacation plans. She also recalled not being worried about COVID initially because it was happening elsewhere in the world.
Kate discussed how her work as a social worker changed because of COVID. The demand for public assistance from her office grew exponentially during the pandemic and did not recede. Her office worked with families to help them get internet and laptops so that children could attend school. She discussed the programs and services that her office was able to provide using additional funds that were dispersed due to the pandemic. Staff in her office also assisted at mass vaccine sites.
At the time of the interview, Kate had never tested positive for COVID. Her son in college did catch COVID in November 2020. Kate’s spouse worked for Pfizer, which allowed their family to receive the vaccine in January 2021. She supported mask mandates and vaccine mandates.
Kate found most of her reliable information from the news and the CDC. She and her family relied heavily on the internet during the pandemic for work, school, entertainment, and keeping in touch with friends and family. She recalled the news showing a lot of doom and gloom.
Kate stated the anxiety “permeated every aspect” of her daily life for a while during COVID. She did learn to take better care of herself during the pandemic.
Kate shares extensively about the union workers being essential during the pandemic and how the union fought for adapted working conditions where possible. As of the time of the interview, the union was still fighting to get pandemic pay for essential workers, because they were not eligible for unemployment pay, unemployment bonuses, hazard pay, or essential worker bonuses.
At the time of the interview Kate Milde was a program coordinator for Norwich Youth and Family Services. She was also the President of the local 2422 union.
The first disruption to Kate’s life from COVID was when she had to cancel vacation plans. She also recalled not being worried about COVID initially because it was happening elsewhere in the world.
Kate discussed how her work as a social worker changed because of COVID. The demand for public assistance from her office grew exponentially during the pandemic and did not recede. Her office worked with families to help them get internet and laptops so that children could attend school. She discussed the programs and services that her office was able to provide using additional funds that were dispersed due to the pandemic. Staff in her office also assisted at mass vaccine sites.
At the time of the interview, Kate had never tested positive for COVID. Her son in college did catch COVID in November 2020. Kate’s spouse worked for Pfizer, which allowed their family to receive the vaccine in January 2021. She supported mask mandates and vaccine mandates.
Kate found most of her reliable information from the news and the CDC. She and her family relied heavily on the internet during the pandemic for work, school, entertainment, and keeping in touch with friends and family. She recalled the news showing a lot of doom and gloom.
Kate stated the anxiety “permeated every aspect” of her daily life for a while during COVID. She did learn to take better care of herself during the pandemic.
Kate shares extensively about the union workers being essential during the pandemic and how the union fought for adapted working conditions where possible. As of the time of the interview, the union was still fighting to get pandemic pay for essential workers, because they were not eligible for unemployment pay, unemployment bonuses, hazard pay, or essential worker bonuses.
Object number2022.20.36a-c
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Historical Society’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the impact of Covid-19 on Connecticans, particularly on Black and Brown communities, funeral homes, and on nursing home and elder care populations.Cataloging Note: This cataloging project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-249472-OMS-21.
Subject Terms
- Norwich
- Oral history
- Interviews
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
- Oral narratives
- COVID-19 (Disease)
- People of color
- Health
- Public health
- Women
- White people
- Mother
- Norwich Youth and Family Services (Norwich, Conn.)
- Social services
- Social workers
- Labor unions
- Pfizer & Co.
- AFSCME
- Family
- Friendship
- Relationships
- Internet
- Students
- Norwich Public Schools (Norwich, Conn.)
- Schools
- COVID-19 government response
- Vaccines
- Vaccine mandates
- Masks
- Face masks
- Death
- Essential workers
- Work from home
- Online learning and distance education
- School children
- College students
- Black Lives Matter movement
- Elections
- Voting
- Mental health
- Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021
- Capitol Riot, Washington, D.C., 2021
- Municipal officials and employees
- Activism and advocacy
- Education
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- Born Digital Audio
- Community History Project IMLS Museums for America Grant
- COVID-19 Pandemic Collection
Collections
- COVID-19 Pandemic Oral History Interviews (Community History Project), 2022-2023
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2022 August 3
2022 September 29