In the know.

How Social Distancing is Bringing Us Closer Together in a Senior Living Community

HEART FOR THE MISSION

COVID-19 has created quite an unusual time for so many of us. Words like “social distancing” and “self -isolation” have become a common phrase in our vocabulary. Our senior residents never thought they would live to see the day that they couldn’t visit with children and grandchildren because a reassuring hug could put them at risk. However, working in Senior Living during this time has given me a quite different view from inside of our walls. As we increase the need for more physical space between one another (6ft of space to be exact), we find the road to compassion and kindness that much clearer. The heart of the mission becomes finding alternatives through technology and creativity to keep ourselves more connected. Because in a remarkable way, the threat posed by this virus is allowing the time for people to recognize what matters the most.

FAMILY CONNECTIONS WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY

From my view inside of this community, I see a lifestyle that continues with the addition of physical distance, masks and gloves. Staff connecting residents to family, friends and physicians through technology. While residents think it is the staff teaching them about technology; I watch first-hand that it is our residents that are teaching our staff so much more. The smiles that can’t be denied when a grandmother gets to FaceTime with a grandchild for the first time undeniably affects the hearts of those staff members. Our residents are learning through our staff about online grocery ordering and delivery. Communal dining and group gatherings are replaced with food deliveries to the front door, daily doses of activity books and crossword puzzles, door step cookie deliveries, ice cream carts and exercises in the hallways. Our servers get to check in on our residents three times a day with a warm meal and a huge smile that is felt even behind the masks.

CARE BEYOND COMPARE

While friends are out driving through town to find toilet paper and disinfectant- our residents have an in-house store (fully stocked with toilet paper) and housekeepers keeping everything clean and sanitized. We find neighbors checking on each other each day. Volunteers within our Langford community stepping up to make fabric masks, checking on staff and encouraging students whose campuses have closed for the semester. When you live in a senior living community, the lifestyle keeps going even when the world is in a holding pattern.

SAFE, SECURE, ACTIVE AND HAPPY

When this storm has passed, we will undoubtedly all be changed a little, but within these walls I see a community that is a bright spot in a world that isn’t recognizable right now. During these unknown times, if safety, security and a sense of community sound like what you have been looking for, give us a call (979) 704-6600 to learn more about MRC The Langford.

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