San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Senior living centers pivot to keep residents safe from COVID19
It’s no secret that older adults have been among the most susceptible to the coronavirus pandemic: According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people over the age of 65 represent 8 out of every 10 COVID19 deaths.
For this reason, many Bay Area assisted living facilities and retirement communities have taken evasive actions to keep their residents safe.
At some facilities, this has meant new — and sometimes revolutionary — policies and procedures designed to minimize risk. In other places, officials have opted to keep the bulk of ageold routines and add to them face coverings, hand sanitizer, physical distancing and other expertdriven recommendations.
Katie Cappello, spokesperson for the California Assisted Living Association, said her organization feels confident that local senior living facilities currently are doing the best they can against the overwhelming threats presented by COVID19.
“We are grateful for the cooperation of our residents, their family members and our assisted living staff of caregivers who have made tremendous sacrifices to comply with guidelines,” she wrote in an email.
At facilities across the Bay Area, administrators and residents alike report a variety of logistical and programming changes designed to balance safety with an emphasis on wellbeing during this uniquely trying time.
Take Palo Alto Commons and The Avant, for instance, two assisted living facilities in Palo Alto. There, employees set up daily calendars that were a healthy mix of online and “live” events that masked residents could watch from a safe distance. As part of this push, staffers hosted more than 400 Zoom events that included live fitness classes, concerts, lectures and clubs.
Employees also put together activity packets filled with brain teasers and assembled newsletters filled with original poetry and life stories to share amongst residents, according to Sophia Lukas, vice president of operations for parent company WellQuest Living.
“We recognized that individual needs were important in engaging residents daily,” Lukas said. “We [became] extra creative to make sure our residents did not feel isolated from their families and friends.”
Deborah Savoie, executive director of The Point at Rockridge in Oakland, described similar efforts at her facility. Here, where 140 residents are spread across assisted living and memory care, employees got together after the pandemic began and devised new ways to take regular activities and transform them into pandemicfriendly experiences.
The result: Doortodoor art and exercise programs.
As Savoie explained it, the new approach comprises room visits on which employees provide residents with puzzles, word games and artsandcrafts kits to do on their own. Employees also come around the building and encourage mobile residents to do exercises in the hallways.
Staff members even sponsor a regular roomtoroom Happy Hour where they dole out wine and margaritas.
“In the beginning, I was a tyrant and really didn’t allow much of anything in an attempt to keep everyone as safe as possible,” Savoie said. “Since then, we’ve followed guidelines and really tried to open things up a bit to keep residents engaged. The way we look at this, we’re happy to do whatever we can to make residents feel inspired and connected.”
Atria at Foster Square in Foster City is another retirement and assisted living facility that has undergone coronavirusrelated changes.
Executive Director Freddie Fullon said his objective was to adapt engagement programs and events during the pandemic for safety while still providing residents with meaningful daily experiences for continual learning, fitness, connection, personal growth and fulfillment.
Among the results: a virtual wine tasting in which residents were able to participate from the safety and privacy of their homes, as well as regular virtual meditations over Zoom.
Therese Wang, 83, said the meditations have been helpful for maintaining mental health.
“I worry with my husband sometimes and the meditation has helped with calming my nervous,” she wrote in a recent email. “I have never done meditation before and I never knew how much I would enjoy it.”
Fullon added that his facility forged new partnerships during the pandemic to give residents hope.
Through one of these arrangements, seventh graders from the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City became “buddies” with residents and engaged in weekly virtual hangouts where representatives from the two generations commingled.
After the group got together every week, they broke out into private virtual rooms to connect on a smaller scale. The seventh graders suggested topics to discuss with their senior buddies each time.
“The idea was to make new friends and to learn from different generations,” Fullon said, noting that the program was such a success that he’d like to continue it until the pandemic is over and beyond. “Sharing with these curious young people turned out to be an amazing thing.”
Matt Villano is a writer and editor in Healdsburg. Learn more about him at www.whalehead.com.