When COVID came, SageLife was ready
COVID-19 made its presence known quickly and powerfully. While no one was truly ready for its arrival and impact, as the owner and operator of senior living communities throughout the region, I can say we were prepared.
In our world, preparation is key. Everything from severe weather to seasonal flu to unexpected events can happen at any moment, so we are constantly preparing to deal with challenging situations. COVID-19 was no different.
As soon as the seriousness of coronavirus was known, we immediately put new and additional sanitation processes in place, reinforced our infection control policies and procedures with staff and residents and began screening everyone in our communities.
At SageLife, our number one rule is to do what is right in every situation, and that starts with hiring the best people. As an employer of choice in the business, it is our responsibility to provide our team with the equipment they need to do their jobs well.
Early on, we got out in front of the crisis with an initial acquisition of $100,000 in PPE to protect staff and residents, which we then continued to replenish as stocks were deployed. After we had the PPE purchased, our next large purchase was whole lot of TV trays.
We knew our hallways were going to replace our community gathering spaces, so residents needed to be able to participate in activities, meals, happy hours, etc. from their doorways. While safely distanced, they could still receive the nourishment of human contact from neighbors and staff.
The next part of our preparation was rooted in the value system we live each day. The e in our WE CARE values is to exercise common sense, and our team continues to do that in every way that keeps residents safe and healthy. While this value helped focus our decision making, it wasn’t always easy.
As we put new policies and procedures in place, it was hard to ask our residents to isolate. At SageLife, we truly believe our residents’ apartments are their bedrooms and the community is their home. Our ethos is we are more than just a community, we are a family.
But we know social distancing works and was the right thing to do. So we got creative, and the staff at each of our communities deserve a great deal of credit for their dedication to ensuring our residents continue to feel right at home.
We don’t just deliver meals. Residents enjoy room service as they would at a hotel, ordering entrees, side dishes and desserts from the restaurant menu and having them delivered to their apartments in style. We will continue this service as desired, as we currently phase the reopening of our dining rooms.
Happy hours have always been neighborly touch points, even for teetotalers. Now, that’s delivered doorto-door as well. Staff with wheel bar carts mix drinks for residents who want them. It’s like having a personal bartender. Our hallways have become very social spaces.
Entertainment and programming continue to be a priority. We have popular entertainers come and put on concerts residents can experience from balconies, windows, and patios, and we’ve been changing the physical layout of our community spaces to allow for distancing. Adapting favorite pasttimes to a “doorway” versions — think “Name that Tune” — have been popular, too. We even did a spring fashion show using a hallway as a runway.
At Echo Lake, St. Peter’s Church in the Great Valley is our next door neighbor and the Rev. Abigail Crozier Nestlehutt visits regularly to lead a prayer service.
We have quickly pivoted to not only delivering meals and medications, but also feeding spirits and imaginations. We are ensuring residents feel safe and empowered to make choices that stave off any negative impact of isolation. And we’re making everyone laugh.
Looking forward, it is important to learn lessons on what we can improve when something like this happens again, but to also recognize the positive changes that we want to make ongoing parts of our residents’ experiences.
For one, I see telehealth as a positive in the longterm. Visiting the ER for non-emergency reasons during the height of the outbreak was being tracked as a source of infections. Telehealth combined with our 24-hour care staff has been a huge benefit at a time like this.
Another positive that will come from this is the increased use of technology in communication. We had to become experts at it quickly. In the long run, this situation will likely increase communication between residents and far away loved ones now that these communications tools