SPOTLIGHT: THE HEART OF SENIOR LIVING
Providers and Partners Fulfill Their Missions, Far and Wide
By Sara Wildberger “T
here will be some new heroes before this is all over,” wrote Michel Augsburger, chairman
and CEO at Chancellor Health Care, LLC. He’s correct. There are too many heroes to name, even as of early May, when this is being written. Even on a normal day, people in this
industry go above and beyond. During the coronavirus pandemic, people throughout senior living gave even more. Direct care workers took risks even coming to work— but they learned to “smile with their eyes” and lift spirits. Senior living communities made food
for care staff, first responders, other senior living communities that needed help, cards for children, and more. Neighbors and local organizations did the same right back. There has been a continual and heart-
ening outpouring of strength and good will—and it’s not over yet. Here are just a few examples from this extraordinary time.
Millions of masks As it became clear that people in all roles in senior living as well as residents themselves would need protective face coverings— and as it became clear that there weren’t enough readily available—senior living residents, staff, and community volunteers got to work. Instructions started making the rounds, provided by several hospitals and health care organizations. Volunteers at kitchen tables and couture companies alike worked into the night, skill- fully sewing bandanas, remnants, and scraps left from Christmas tablecloths and baby quilts into face masks, adding materials like coffee filters, hair ties, and floral wire to try to increase the comfort and protection level.
Chancellor Health Care's Danit McBride led a volunteer team in making masks. Danit McBride, vice president of ad-
ministration and corporate secretary at Chancellor Health Care, LLC, was one of these who jumped in early to the effort. She found an easy-to-follow tutorial, helped source fabric, and ordered quantities of the best elastic and overnighted it to volunteers. Mask-makers learned to use two different fabric designs for each mask, so users could tell the which side had been exposed, and to use muted and skin-tone colors for some masks to be easier on those with reduced cognitive or visual acuity. As McBride worked from home, sending
emails, she could hear her nephew giving lessons to her son and daughter on how to make the masks. “The outpouring of gen- erosity has truly touched me,” she writes. “I believe it gives people, especially kids, a
sense of purpose and control that they can make a difference in this otherwise tenuous moment in time.” “We employ 891 heroes” in Chancellor’s 16 communities, McBride writes. As of late March, she adds, “56 talented souls are making cloth face masks for our communi- ties. Eighteen are members of the churches our staff attend, 15 are family members of current or former residents, eight are family or friends of current staff, nine are from the community, five are current or former staff members, and one is a regular entertainer at a community.”
While cloth face masks may not be as
effective as N95 respirators, she notes, they help, and “health care workers appreciate these masks more than anyone will ever know.”
MAY/JUNE 2020
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