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Today, as I look back on the first days of COVID-19 pandemic in our region, I am proud that we at The Heritage of Green Hills have met this challenge by staying true to our core values and adapting quickly and efficiently to this “new normal.”
When potential residents or existing members of The Heritage of Green Hills family ask how we have managed through this successfully, the answer is clear. I attribute much of our good fortune to the way in which our entire community has taken personal responsibility and continues to work together as a team to keep The Heritage of Green Hills healthy, happy and connected.
Closely following guidelines from state and regional health experts, and from our management company, Life Care Services, we made the decision to close our buildings to visitors quickly, and monitor and limit all visitors to the campus.
To keep resident-to-resident exposure and resident-to-staff exposure to a minimum, we closed our popular restaurants, fitness center, pool, game room, train room, art studio and exercise room, and moved to a telehealth model whenever possible.
At the same time, we understood staying connected to one another and engaged in life are always important parts of wellness and vitality — but especially in times of stress and uncertainty. It was paramount that we continue to fulfill our Well by DesignSM mission — nurturing and promoting spiritual, physical, emotional, vocational, environmental, intellectual and social wellness, and health services — in spite of the many inherent challenges COVID-19 presented. And in order to do that, we had to get creative.
Cheryl Anderson, our Well by Design Director, created a series of campus-wide scavenger hunts, in-home arts and crafts challenges, and exciting outdoor events — including an epically silly summer solstice snowball fight — helping residents to stay active and connected to each other while staying safely apart. Groups that could gather at a distance outside, such as our Heritage Hotties cheerleading squad and the Tai Chi class, were given the support to do so. Our owner, Lapis Advisers, even sponsored a short story writing contest with a $1,000 prize.
The Food and Beverage team kept up the high standard of delicious food and gracious service for which they are famous, despite the closure of The Tavern and Brandywine restaurants. The same level of care is put into the preparation of our “room service” meals, and some members of the team get extra creative, individually hand-decorating the bags with well wishes, drawings and silly puns.
In order to ensure that residents stay connected to their families and friends who live off-campus, we invested in extra iPads and TV monitors so residents could video chat privately with loved ones. Later, when county restrictions loosened up, we erected tents outside where residents and their friends and families could meet while remaining socially distant.
The residents have also pitched in to protect each other and the wider community. For instance, talented members of our two sewing clubs have made almost 2,000 masks so far, which they have given to staff, residents, residents’ friends and families, residents’ children’s workplaces and even local preschool teachers.
The residents have been showing their appreciation for the staff’s hard work and dedication during this difficult time creatively, too. “Operation Friendly Flyer” saw residents writing thank-you notes to the staff and then turning them into paper airplanes and sending them flying off their porches and balconies. The planes were collected and hung up in staff areas for the team to enjoy. In addition, the Residents Council created a highly successful “COVID-19 Heritage Heroes Fund” that went directly to the front-line work family members to acknowledge their service.
While some of these gestures seem small, together they have brought us together and gotten us through. When I look ahead, I am confident that no matter what comes, we’ve proven the ability to face it head on through planning, flexibility and continuing to err on the side of safety.
The Heritage of Green Hills is more than just an address and more than just an employer. We’re a community of people — neighbors, friends, workers, suppliers and all their families — that I know will continue to work together to protect each other.
For all of this, I am grateful.
About The Heritage of Green Hills
The Heritage of Green Hills is a healthy life plan community that provides independent living apartments and villas as well as personal care and secure memory care suites for seniors. The community’s Well by Design(SM) program focuses on 8 Dimensions of Wellness — a body, mind and spirit philosophy that enables residents to lead rich, fulfilling lives.
For more info visit www.HeritageOfGreenHills.com.
