Hello Cedarwood family,
Once again, we have been blessed to have zero cases of Covid-19 here at the community. We are so thankful to all the associates and residents that are being so careful in an effort to keep everyone safe. We had our first week of Conversation Stations and for the most part, besides some cancellations due to bad weather and a windstorm we feel it went well. I did want to clarify and remind everyone of a few things:
Conversation Stations
1. Please stick to the allotted 30 minutes. We are calling to remind residents, but it might be nice if you as visitors called them as well. We are finding the ones that are going over time are because they are starting late.
2. Right now, these visits are for family members only.
3. Please make sure that there are no more than two visitors at one time and 1 resident (unless it is a couple). Please stay behind the plexiglass and do not sit on the sides of the stations
4. Masks are required at the stations and please keep them on during the entire visit. We know sometimes it is hard to hear but we ask that you please help us by wearing masks.
5. Please no deliveries or hugs. We know it is very temping to sneak a hug in, but we ask that we maintain social distancing during and after the visit.
6. Please try to schedule at least a day in advance especially for Assisted Living so we can plan accordingly to ensure the resident is on time.
Dining/Room Service
We’re noticing that residents are keeping leftovers in their fridge. We know that you do not want food to go to waste, but leftovers have been stacking up in fridges. We would ask that you do not keep leftovers. Because we are delivering meals 3 times a day there should not be a need to keep past meals. Even if you do not eat everything please send back the containers after each meal. This will help with keeping fridges clean, not having smells in the apartments, and avoiding eating food that has expired. We also ask that you PLEASE DO NOT throw away the containers that food is being delivered in. If you need help with this, please let us know and we can add some private care services to help. Families if you could help us remind residents about these two items it would be great.
Laundry/Housekeeping
Residents in Independent Living are now back to doing their own laundry or in some cases families are still helping as needed. Please stick to your scheduled laundry time so that other residents can use the machines during their scheduled time. If you are not currently on the schedule, please call the front desk and they can get you scheduled. Also, we will no longer be doing garbage pickup at 2:00pm each day. Residents are now able to take their garbage to the designated locations (like we were doing previously).
Common Areas
We are excited to announce that starting Wednesday, June 10th residents will be allowed to once again use common areas to include the lobby, library and parlor in both Independent Living and Assisted Living. Social interaction is key in battling the effects of COVID-19. We will still require all residents when not in their apartment to wear masks appropriately and maintain social distancing of minimum 6 feet. Also, we will be adding a few smaller activities throughout the week of groups 8 or less unless in the courtyard. We are adding additional hand sanitizing stations in each common area and ask residents to use them when entering and leaving that location. We will be also additional cleaning throughout the day in these locations. It is our hope this will lift the spirits of our residents and add one small step to normality.
Community
As we open up within the community, little by little for our residents, it is imperative that we are even more diligent with minimal contact from the outside. Following the policies on Conversation Stations, Party Porch visits and deliveries are vital. We also want to encourage resident to keep appointments for essential medical visits, please wear masks and gloves if needed. Even though residents will be in quarantine upon return it is so important to see doctors when needed. We have partnered with a couple in-house physicians that come and see residents here at the community in their apartment, this is a great option and we have found the visits are very effective because they can spend more time with the resident and residents to not go on quarantine for these visits. If interested, please contact Lori Andrews s0 that she can get you the information.
Thank you all once again for your support and love. We are continually trying to think outside the box to not only keep the residents safe but find fun ways to do it. I hope you are all doing well and staying safe yourself. Like always let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Jesse Buntjer
Executive Director, Cedarwood at Sandy