State of the Community

By Marc Kessinger, Executive Director

I don’t know what normal is anymore, none of us do. We keep talking about the good ol’ days and those were only five months ago.

What I do know is that we have incredible people working here, living here and supporting our mission each and every day.

I also know how connected and caring our staff is. Whether they’re helping a resident connect with family using FaceTime or they’re making sure window visits are set up as they should be, our team is making sure everything is taken care of to make the moment special. Each team member has experienced an increased ownership in their role and feels empowered to find ways to make each person’s day a little better.

I also know we have an incredible group of independent living residents who we’ve seen do more for themselves than we even realize. These individuals are checking in on our healthcare residents and working together to improve life on our campus. It just shows how strong they are.

I know that we have employees who are willing to go the extra mile when they’ve already done the work that’s expected. We have employees willing to work an extra shift, deliver meals or even play hairdresser.

And I know that our family members are frustrated with the situation just as much as we are. Probably the hardest thing our staff has experienced is not seeing residents visit with their loved ones – we miss the joy on their faces. But we know the reality is that this darn virus isn’t going away and our people are the most vulnerable.

We are more than ready to reopen and pray for that every day. But we are bound by guidelines much beyond us. And those guidelines are meant to protect all of the residents, our staff, and the family members that our staff go home to every day. It’s a much larger community that we’re concerned about than just within our walls.

Until we can open up safely with social distancing measures, we will continue to appreciate the moments we didn’t necessarily have before COVID-19.

For now, our birthday celebrations are bigger. The pace is slower and has created a more relaxed atmosphere for employees to spend more one-on-one time with residents. We will continue to find special ways to make our residents feel at home and comfortable.

We look forward to the day when we’re all in one room together again.

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