State of the Community

By John Van Hook

Anytime people go through tough, demanding situations and have to rely upon others it creates a bond and strengthens the levels of understanding and trust between those people. I believe this is true of the COVID-19 situation.

Each member of our management team has a great sense of teamwork and great problem-solving skills that helped each of us understand what had to be done and in a specific manner. This understanding made it easier for everyone to do their part.

I believe this team’s response is related to our mission to provide quality senior services guided by Christian values and a caring thoughtful mindset.

I believe the intentional efforts to increase communications between residents and families extends beyond our management team, it also includes every single team member making a special point to visit or communicate with the residents and family members who are actively participating in daily contact in some form or another.

Many of our team have enjoyed the extra attention they have been encouraged to have with everyone. We all have learned many new things about the residents we care for and this also has led us to care more deeply about them and become closer, almost like an extension of our own families.

While we think about reopening, we know the process is very detailed with many variables we must manage. There is the potential for one single thing to go wrong and move us back to starting over. Believe me, we all feel the frustrations of our residents and families wanting and needing to resume visitations as things were pre-COVID-19.

What’s important is that we help one another remember we have the overall health and well-being of our residents at heart, and we have guidance from experts to follow.

We are using the PMMA developed re-opening plan as our Bible and refer to this when we are needing clarifications. Each department is touched by this in some way or another and we help one another develop new processes and ways we adjust to the new ways of providing quality services.

As we move forward, it’s a good reminder that we all must be extra patient with one another and also remember there are many paths to the same end goal, and more than one correct way to serve everyone and enhance one another’s lives.