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Hi, my name is Joshua Furman. I'm the curator of the Houston Jewish History Archive at Rice University, and I'm here today with staff from The Medallion. I'd like to start by um, asking everyone to introduce themselves. Please go ahead. Hello, I'm Annette Betz. I'm the Executive

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Director of The Medallion. Hello, I'm Jennifer Barnes. I'm the Director of Life Enrichment at The Medallion. Hello, I'm Stephanie Kleiner, I'm the Public Relations Manager of Seven Acres. Great, thank you all so much for being with us today. It is June 11, 2020. Um, Annette and

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Jennifer, just if you would start by telling us a little bit about your background and um, how long it's been that you've been working in the field of senior care. Do you want me to start, Annette, or go ahead and start? Um, I'm from New

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York, Jewish, born and bred Orthodox. Um grew up in the melting pot of New york and moved to Houston in 2009 with my um husband and two kids - well, one kid at the time, now we have two kids, and I have done adult programming and children's

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programming, nonprofit, all that type of thing throughout the years. And until I worked at The Medallion, I had never done um senior programming, but I've done programming, and I've been here since August 31, 2015, so almost five years. And what is your official title, Jennifer? Director

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of Life Enrichment. Okay, great. Thank you so much. And Annette? I was born in Kentucky, and I did live in Texas for a while and Minnesota with my father in the Air Force, and then moved back to Kentucky and spent, um, the rest of my, my

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growing up years in Kentucky until I moved to Houston in 1980 My background is dietetics, the field of dietetics. I'm a registered licensed dietician, um and I started working for seven acres in 1993 as their Director of Dining Services. And then when we decided

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to open The Medallion, or started looking at the demographics for opening The Medallion, I also have, um, a, a background in interior design, so I worked with the architects and it just kind of seemed the natural progression for me to become the Executive Director. So I

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became the Executive Director of The Medallion. I guess you could say it's kind of been for me to be a part of senior care all my life. My grandmother lived with us as I was growing up and so I was around uh, senior ladies all the

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time. So I think it was inevitable for me to be a part of senior care. Sure. Tell us about the history of The Medallion for anyone listening to this interview who's not familiar with the institution. When was it founded, and what, what population do you serve?

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We serve the population of residents who need assistance. You know, they're still able to do many things for themselves, but they may need someone to just help them get dressed or um, look over their, medications, that type of thing. Um, but we do serve a wide,

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wide range of needs, and The Medallion actually was opened in March 2006. So we are a little over 14 years old, and our purpose was to serve the Jewish community in assisted living and have Jewish traditions and so forth. Because we are a part of the

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Seven Acres campus, so we are under the umbrella of the Board of Directors of Seven Acres. Okay, very good. And so in normal times, tell us Jennifer, what, what would an average day at The Medallion look like in terms of resident activities, in terms of

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socializing, in terms of meals and other other things happening in the building. Uh, well, there would be breakfast, uh, in the morning. So that would be the first opportunity for them to be able to socialize. And then those that wanted to join services could go to

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services. And then usually after services, we would have a fitness class every day, five days a week, monday through friday. And, and then after that we would either go into, like maybe, a Torah class, a Jewish thought class, a volunteer current event class or beading, um, word

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games, alphabet challenge, trivia, memory magic, arts and crafts, cooking class. All different sorts of things like that. And then they would go for lunch, again more socializing. Uh, and then after lunch., typically we would have different kinds of Torah classes. We would have, uh of course,

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bingo every day. But certain days we would have poker, you know, volunteers coming and playing poker after lunch. Some days we would have on the schedule volunteers. We would, they would play bridge. They would play mahjong, we have blackjack, um, and those are just the in

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house programming. Every Wednesday afternoon, we had a live entertainer come into the living room and we set everybody up and it's happy hour. So there's music and then we had birthday parties and other musical programs and all sorts of people coming in and out of the

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building. Volunteers. Schools would call and say, Hey, you know, we did, we did a Hanukkah play for our class. Can we come to The Medallion for Hanukkah and do that. Or we, we, we did a play for our school. Can we come do a rehearsal by you

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so that we can entertain the seniors and still do rehearsal for our, our play. So we had all sorts and that's not even including when we went out to the Wortham Center downtown for the monthly music program. Or when we went to the local synagogues

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for those senior lunch programs or the museums or the JCC or out. So all of that, so that all depended on the day and the week. So we were full, we were busy. We were busy. Don't forget, I'm sorry, Jennifer. Don't forget. I'm sorry. Is that

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okay? I'm sorry. Don't forget, evening movies and so forth. And, Jennifer, I'm going to add also that all the major programming that goes on over at the Seven Acres on the other side of the campus that The Medallion residents are invited to, so if on Sunday.

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We have a Purim party or a carnival, a grandparents day, The Medallion residents are invited to come on over and join. Right. Right. So you just described, I mean, an incredibly vibrant daily schedule with lots of different kinds of activities. Um, lots of people, you know,

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coming in and out of the building. Lots of opportunities for enrichment, education, socialization. Give us, give us some insight into how the pandemic has, has changed the nature of, um, daily life for your residents. What are, what are the things that they, that they maybe can't

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do anymore, and, and how are you working so hard to try to meet their needs to, to, to create new kinds of programming? Well, I think the number one thing that is the hardest for them is they're very social, they're very social, and even if there

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was a problem or there was a lull between programming in a regular day, they would all kind of sort of fall together into the living room, which is the lobby, but we call it the living room and they sit together and they listen to music on

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the piano or, you know, they're just schmoozing with each other, and they don't have that opportunity now. So that's the hardest I think part for them right now. Um, we have hallway programs - hallway fitness, hallway bingo, hallway trivia at the residents sit in their doorways, which

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every doorway is in compliance on its own, you know, six feet across or six feet on either side from their other neighbor. Um, so we have that go around and the staff comes around and then Wednesdays in the afternoon. We still have happy hour. We don't

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have a live entertainer, but we, the staff that mans the cart come around and we entertain them with music and we say hello and we have a time. Friday, we have the Friday treat cart. We're going around, we're saying hello. Um, the Zoom classes that we have

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in their rooms. The residents are able to see their friends and their co-residents and their neighbors on the computer. So they're, obviously it's changed dramatically, but there is opportunity for them, you know, to be able to still have, keeping them, keeping them occupied and keeping

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them entertained to that degree. The other thing is, is that we're not able to serve meals in the dining room right now. We cannot have communal dining. So each person is being served in their apartment, which they don't get that opportunity to socialize, but we, our

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staff tries to, you know, be there a few moments and, and I visit as much as I can with the residents and um, so we just, we just had to adapt how we, as staff approach and, and take care of our residents. You, because we wouldn't

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see them out and about, but now we don't. So, so we have to, we have to go to them with our masks and so forth. Right, right. Of course. Tell me more about how you're using technology to keep residents connected not only, um, to each other,

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but also with their families who can't visit them right now. Well, first of all, before I forget if you don't mind, I'd like to say we have immediately adapted telemedicine on the iPad. So I don't want to forget that. So that's important for the care for

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the residents. So they have that. Hope that's okay Annette. But I just want, I thought of it and I just, that's the number one thing that was set up immediately. Um, so there are some challenges. Most of the residents are not computer savvy. Most of them

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do not have their own iPad or computer, and some of them that do have are not as savvy in that way. You know, they can get on email or they can do other things. So the challenge is in a regular, normal, everyday Medallion activity program, you

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know, we're busy, but we have set areas where the residents come to us. So maybe, you know, six people to one program for this one and then maybe 12 people come to that program the next day or something. So I'm, you know, one person creating one

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environment for multiple people to come and enjoy. So the challenge for me personally is that I'm going around to each individual room who wants to be on the Zoom meeting, who wants to do face timing with their family, um and I'm the one running around making

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sure everybody's connected. So instead of being in one place and inviting the visitors, I'm going to 16 places and there, you know, like they're all inviting me. Um but they've adapted really well and they know, they kinda, know the routine already. Um they know what to

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expect. They know how it's working. Um they're really patient. They know like I'm, you know, one person and sometimes I have the help and theyre, they're, they understand that and some of them, I'm able to slowly tutor them so that they're starting to be a little

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more independent on their own. Um, the real positive that came out of this is the FaceTiming that we're able to do with their families. Um, so there's a lot of residents that have, you know, some children and family here in Houston and then, obviously, children

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and family all over the world. So obviously they miss the ones that normally come in and out and see them on a weekly basis. But the positive is that we're able to now connect them as well to those family members that live overseas or in another

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state. So they get to see them, FaceTime with them. The challenge of course is for me and some of the other staff that helps assist with that, with the FaceTiming, is are we running programs during that time, are they busy doing something else, do

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they have something going on, and what about the family, and trying to make sure all those points are freed up for that one time when we're gonna call, when one or two times a week that they get to call their family. Boy, there's a lot of

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schedules to, um, to manage. Annette, I'm interested in hearing your perspective just on in general, how, how life is different now and um, what, what sort of new program or innovation are you proudest of that The Medallion is currently doing. Well. I was going to

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add to what Jennifer said in that, how has it changed. And it's changed, It's changed what I do. Like I said, I, where I would interact with residents in a group more. Now, I have to, to make sure I schedule my time and go visit the

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residents and also in trying to help with activities and so forth. That now becomes a little more complicated when they're not coming together, which is true of our Community Relations Director, Stephanie Barrrocus, and our wellness coordinator and many of our um care staff and so forth.

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We're all adapting to, to um, adding different task than what we've we've been had to do in the past and you know what that's a good thing that that that's one of the, I guess that's one of the, I don't know if you call it an

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innovation, but it's one of the the the things that's happened that I feel has really been a very positive in that. And we always did do a good job of everybody kind of helping in whatever way they could. We're kind of like one big family. It doesn't

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matter whether you're in dining services or in housekeeping or our maintenance coordinator, whoever, if a resident needed something, it didn't matter anyone would help, but it's just it's just jelled a little bit more with all of this. And so everyone has just stepped up and and because

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it's it's been difficult for the residents. Number one, out of their routines that they're used to being, that they're used to doing. Uh, secondly, not being able to hug and kiss their family. You know, that that's a big issue. And even us because I'm a very

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touchy feely person, and I've not been able to do that now with the residence because of the. I'm using physical distancing, not social distancing. Um So and and so it's been it's been difficult. So um so one of the things that I think that has been

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a real positive is that. Another is our, what we've been able to accomplish with the Zoom classes and being able to FaceTime and be with family in that way because in the past, those folks that lived overseas or lived in another state and didn't get here

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often, you know, they would talk on the phone and then they would maybe come whatever, whenever they could visit. But now now we, we, we have the technology there and the residents comfortable, so we can, even when this is over, we can keep those schedules going

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with those family members that are, that are across the pond, so to speak or, or, or just in say Arkansas or New York or wherever they are. So, uh, that, that I'm very proud of to that it is, it is, it is made us more aware

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of bringing these things to our residents. And we are also in the process of looking at other types of social media and or technology, I'm gonna say, to, to further enhance what we're doing here at The Medallion. Right? Yeah. If I could jump on and agree

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with Annette. One of the things is that since we've been forced to use the iPads and the rolling computer carts and the Zoom and everything else, it opened up a whole new world of programming that we realized we can incorporate even when things resume. Um,

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you know, what if the residents not feeling well. So you know, they should be able to feel, you know, so we can, you know, include them in maybe a Torah class and I can set up a Zoom for the Torah class that's going on live in

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the, in the media room. You know, those kinds of things. One of the other things is also that families have been very creative and they'll reach out to me and say we're having a bris one resident recently, we're having a bris for so and so's great

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grandchild, can we, but we're doing it via Zoom, can you get her on there? So she was able to see, you know, 13 people from the family, see the brit, you know, as much as whatever you and hear the name and you know, so that was really

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a wonderful program. And and even when things were, you know, running regular before Covid, they wouldn't have had that opportunity. We wouldn't have understood that that was available necessarily. So now the families are also, I think excited and creative. You know, they're joining for family, birthday

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parties, all sorts of things like that. In terms of physical fitness, what are, what are residents still able to do in order to get daily exercise. Well, we have a wonderful fitness coordinator here at The Medallion. Her name is Althea Scott and um they

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love her, and she's really just been able to work with them. We do hallway fitness, uh five days a week. We do one shift for the upstairs, one shift for the downstairs and its chair, it's aerobics. It's it's chair zoom zoom zoom - it's chair,

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you know Zumba and all different sorts of things. And she's really energetic and she's really high, you know, high high energy and they love it and we have them lining the hallways and um in there doorways and she's doing it, they're moving their bodies. And then

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we also, I worked with her and twice a day over our P. A. System that goes into all the residents apartments. She does a 5 to 6 minute meditation and stretching over the P. A. So she'll verbally walk them through you know stretch, roll your head,

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stretch your arm do this, do that, so that they can learn exercise or fitness on their own. That if they're sitting too long in one position and they're getting a little stiff, they know that oh, I remember you know an hour ago we did this, I'm

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going to do that and then just get them moving so that they're not you know they don't get stuck there. You know that their their their muscles are moving, the blood is flowing and they're having and they're having a they're having a little exercise. More so

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than you know not lifting weights but more so than just getting the body to maintain the function and the strength and their abilities pre-Covid. Great, Annette, was there anything that you wanted to add to that discussion. Well I just wanted to remind Jennifer that

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also we, uh, Althea has been able to do some one on one, um, exercising with folks too who um, may not wish to participate every day in the doorway exercises. So she'll go directly to them and work with them. And a part of this meditation and

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also twice a day she reminds them to hydrate, let's drink some water, you know? And um, so, um, that's, that's been a real, that's been real good for them also. And this is something I would like to, to say. I don't know that Jennifer and I

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have talked about this yet, but I think that is something that even when we go back to doing more groups of the exercising and fitness and so forth that I would like to keep that meditation. Yeah, I, I think it's very good for the residents there

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there and actually for the staff too. We will stop many times and meditate also with, with Alethea. So, um, so yes. It's a good stress reliever for everybody, you know, just keep breathing, some rolling the head, some rolling the feet, you know, those kinds of things.

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Right? I was gonna ask if I can get the Zoom invite for some, some meditate course. With little kids at home. I could really use it just as a, just as an aside while we're talking about that. You can go to our facebook page and you can

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see the previous pictures of some of our workouts in the hallway, doorway workout. It's The Medallion assisted living residents on facebook so that we post pictures all the time of the different programming that we're talking about. Great, I'll be sure to do that. For many of

00:23:06.690 - 00:23:24.870

us, definitely myself included, you know, the, the pandemic really began to unfold in the middle of March and then Passover came around just a few weeks into that. And obviously, you know, for many of us, Passover is a time when we get together with family that

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we don't get to see very often. We do an extensive cleaning in our kitchens, were eating special food. Give us give us some insight into again, what is Passover uh, at The Medallion, like regularly in a, in a normal year and what changes that you have

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to make this year to have Passover for, for folks in The Medallion? Oh, she's gonna talk because she's Passover guru. I've been doing this a long time, as I said before, as Director of Dining Services, I was right in the middle of preparing for Passover a lot. But

00:24:04.630 - 00:24:24.560

before I do that, I also wanted to talk a minute about um, uh, the dietician in me, we know and we've read a lot that vitamin D. Is important and during this pandemic that they found some, some connection that getting plenty of vitamin D has helped.

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And so another activity that our residents always loved was sitting on the rocking chairs that are out on our front porch and we have not been able to do that. We did not feel that was a good thing for them to be where folks were driving

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by right on the campus and cars coming and and so forth. So they, they they've not been able to do that. So what we have done also and Jennifer and with our, our resident care staff is scheduled time for them. We have an inner courtyard that

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they can be outside. It's beautiful. There's lots of plants and benches and chairs and so forth. So we schedule time for them to be outside, again where their physical distancing and um they're getting some vitamin D, and and nice air outside of course, since it's been

00:25:21.150 - 00:25:37.440

so warm, we've had to limit the amount of time that they're out there or if they can go at all. But we are working with that also, trying to, to keep the folks going outdoors as much as possible. Those who want to, you know. Okay, back

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to Passover. Well, normally Passover is like you said, lots of cleaning and we do, we clean every apartment for anyone who want. Each resident gets to tell you what, what degree they want their apartment cleaned. The, the rest of The Medallion, meaning the living room, all

00:26:00.760 - 00:26:25.450

of the, the community areas, um, and the dining room and the kitchens, of course, are thoroughly thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom. This year, they were cleaned. Um And then each resident was able again to tell us what they wanted done in their apartments as far

00:26:25.460 - 00:26:49.730

as cleaning. Um We still had our Passover menus. Our and our Passover order came for the food. We prepared all of the menus for for Passover. And normally we have two Seders in our dining room, first, first Seder and second Seder. And of course we

00:26:49.730 - 00:27:11.760

have our families that come to those Seders with their with their loved one who lives here. So this year that didn't happen of course. So what we did we still had the same meal that we would have first Seder, second Seder it was served in their

00:27:11.770 - 00:27:40.220

apartment. They each had a um laminated colored Seder plate that about six of our residents had colored enough for everybody to have. And we served the meal, we served wine and we served the symbols of the Seder plate. And so each resident had that in front

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of them and the matzah right and the matzah. And with the haggadah, we had a very short version of the haggadah. Um Our chaplain, Rabbi Urkowitz helped us. Um He he actually wrote that that for us and he came the first seder and from the

00:28:04.620 - 00:28:27.230

front lobby area was able to to use the haggadah that he had had prepared and we had a seder service over the um speaker system that goes into our residence apartment. Um So we did that, and then the second night we have a rabbi who

00:28:27.230 - 00:28:50.990

lives here and he conducted that service the second night. So the residents were able to um, enjoy Passover and, and um, you know, be able to, to to know that it was passed over and they were, they were having their, their, their Passover Seder. I wanna,

00:28:51.000 - 00:29:09.160

if I can jump in, Annette. Just to reiterate what Annette said um about us being one family and the staff really um, setting up. Every person on the staff really took a part and said, I'll be responsible for this to really make it something meaningful for

00:29:09.160 - 00:29:26.830

the residents. Annette was in charge as usual of all the scheduling, the rooms, you know, the dining service and the housekeeping, making sure that's all on schedule. Um, maintenance, actually, those residents that want they get their wheelchairs and, or walkers or canes power washed, you know,

00:29:26.830 - 00:29:45.480

before. So we do that also. Um, and all the staff helps with that in transition with the residents. Um, and then we have our, my co worker, Stephanie Barrocas, who's the um, Director of Community Relations at The Medallion. Um, she really stepped up and she made

00:29:45.490 - 00:30:00.640

cute little um, vases. She got little flowers. And she really made like some cute little centerpieces so that when they got their food delivered, it wasn't just, here's the food and here are the symbols, we thought about you. Here's a little vase and she, you know,

00:30:00.640 - 00:30:14.150

and she really created all that and she helped, you know graphically plan the haggadah and um you know and then the rabbi helped us on the- you know, so it was all of us involved that we took on different parts of it to kind of

00:30:14.150 - 00:30:25.850

divide and conquer to make sure that they felt like they had you know the residents, even though they weren't with their friends, they had parts of that they always had that they weren't missing out on. And of course we had the song sheets because you can't

00:30:25.850 - 00:30:46.400

have the Seder without the song sheets. So. Yeah, no, that's that's clearly very important. I'm interested to find out um as you're working to adapt so much of of what you do um to care for your residents. Is there is there a network of senior

00:30:46.400 - 00:31:10.950

care professionals either in the city here in Houston or nationally that you're, that you're part of? How how are professionals in your field working together to share ideas, share best practices? Um, is any of that happening? Absolutely. All of the above. Okay. We we um and

00:31:10.950 - 00:31:34.460

we also work across different, for instance, we work with the Houston Health department. We work with, and we have regulatory agency, H.H. S.C., Health and Human Services in the state of Texas and we receive guidelines from them. The C.D.C., all of

00:31:34.460 - 00:31:54.840

this, all the way across. We, as Seven Acres, are a part of an organization leading age and we are, so across the state of Texas and nationally, uh there we're all working together. This is what we're doing, this is how we're doing, this is how we

00:31:54.840 - 00:32:17.750

interpreted this guideline, and so forth. So yes I don't know what we would do without having those type of networking. I just was, I attend a weekly webinar every Wednesday from Health and Human Services and mine is strictly for assisted living. And here's, here's what, here's

00:32:17.750 - 00:32:36.800

why but the guidelines and what we feel we should be doing and this is these are some checklists to use and and so forth. So yes, absolutely we're we're all networking helping each other with that. And then again like I said there are certain certain mandates

00:32:36.810 - 00:32:59.500

that our regulatory agencies give us that we have to do, you know. We have to follow certain certain regulations is how they want, how they want us to um to for infection control for for all of that kind of thing. So Absolutely. And then yesterday we

00:32:59.500 - 00:33:28.780

just talked about, okay now it's hurricane season. So we all have our emergency plans for hurricane season. We have our plans that we are working with for Covid. Now we have to combine those because now we are in what 3, 4, 5 months of hurricane season and we

00:33:28.780 - 00:33:47.820

still have Covid, so we've got to mesh those together. How will we do this? How will we make that? You know, if we have to evacuate if we have to, to as with Harvey we had to evacuate first floor and go to second floor. And so

00:33:47.830 - 00:34:09.390

all of that is okay, now we've got to do this. So absolutely, and thank goodness we have those folks. Jennifer, what about on the, on the programming side? Um because you you have to adapt almost everything that you're doing on a daily basis to keep residents

00:34:09.400 - 00:34:25.320

um occupied and engaged. How are you, how are you sort of coming up with new ideas each week so that, you know, um a Zoom class, you know, one week doesn't kind of get stale the next week? Is there is there a process for, for developing

00:34:25.320 - 00:34:43.870

new ideas for programming for residents? Um so in the beginning, the first couple of weeks was the hardest transition. I remember, so clearly the first week, you know, when we said, okay, this is coming and we have to, now, you know, we're not able to go

00:34:43.870 - 00:34:54.490

out to programming and go out of the building, we have to stay in. But then, you know, the week after that it's okay, you can have programs just, you know, six people at a time and you know, so every day I was like, okay, this is

00:34:54.490 - 00:35:06.010

the next one. And I remember so clearly I was walking out the door one Friday afternoon and I said okay, Annette, I'm leaving, and she came right back in. She came in from a meeting next door at Seven Acres and she said that an entire schedule

00:35:06.010 - 00:35:21.380

we just approved, gotta be redone for next week because the state just came down with more mandates and more, you know, whatever I was like, aah. So that was really, you know, kind of try to roll with the punches. Now the residents enjoy a schedule. A

00:35:21.380 - 00:35:34.220

sense of normalcy for them is knowing what they're supposed to do when they're supposed to do it. And for them especially, and I'm sure Annette, you know, can have her comments on that. I think that's the hardest part for the residents. We don't have an answer

00:35:34.220 - 00:35:51.060

for them. We don't have a finite, you know, at this day, this is gonna change. So for them they're really big on scheduling even before Covid that, you know, they just like to know the security of the scheduling. So we have a set Monday schedule, we

00:35:51.060 - 00:36:08.300

have a set Tuesday schedule now, we have a set Wednesday schedule and um each thing is different Monday Zoom classes given by Rabbi Traxler from Chabad. He used to come every Monday in person, so he just adjusted to Zoom, and he talks about the Torah portion

00:36:08.300 - 00:36:25.040

and the weekly parsha. So that changes week to week because there's something different every week. Rabbi Urkowitz, every Wednesday, he gives a Zoom class and he talks about different topics. This week, it was um, where did the prayer leader come from in history of Jewish prayer?

00:36:25.050 - 00:36:42.440

last week. It was, what is the significance of the Shemoneh Esrei? Uh you know, and and where did that come about? And um then we just now we're starting on Friday a Zoom class again with Rabbi Urkowitz. He's gonna be doing Jewish current events. So in

00:36:42.440 - 00:36:58.390

a way the zoom classes that we're doing, they're not getting stale because the actual classes themselves are constantly evolving with the information that the residents are doing. Bingo, we just, this week, the first week we have now two, everybody gets to play two bingos, one, everybody

00:36:58.390 - 00:37:17.370

in the building gets a slot for the afternoon in one day and then every, and then a slot in the morning. That's still big. Um, so through the consistency um, is very, I think has really helped the residents to-. Even if there's longer periods between programming

00:37:17.370 - 00:37:30.100

as usual. But now they say, Okay, now I have an objective. In 20 minutes, now I'm gonna walk, I'm gonna, you know, do this and in, you know, in 15 minutes she's coming by with that. And then I also, just one thing I failed to mention

00:37:30.100 - 00:37:47.440

earlier is that I'm constantly updating in our library, um word finds, word jumbles, word searches, word games, crossword puzzles, everything that I can to photocopy. So as residents want to fill in like a little bit of a lull or something that they want a little extra

00:37:47.440 - 00:38:02.670

something on their own, they take it to their room or I sometimes deliver packets depending if it's a special day and they get to do those kinds of things. Adult coloring, uh in the beginning of this whole uh thing, I went to the store and I

00:38:02.670 - 00:38:15.990

bought each resident a pack of their own 10 colored pencils and everybody has their own sharpener and we asked who wanted to join. So they have that in their room all the time and now they can just come to the library, pick up some new adult

00:38:15.990 - 00:38:32.230

coloring sheets that I have there and it's great and they enjoy that. So a lot of fluidity, a lot of different ways for them to also in some way take initiative if they want to. That's really great. I know that we're getting close to the time

00:38:32.230 - 00:38:50.790

when we have to end. I wanted to ask each of you, and you may have mentioned it already, but can each of you think of a signature moment in these last couple of months, there's been so much um change in our world and so much um

00:38:50.800 - 00:39:08.000

tension. Can each of you just think of a signature moment and it could be an interaction with a resident or it could be a program that you created or it could be just you know some some something that you think you'll remember when you when

00:39:08.000 - 00:39:27.630

you look back on this period in your, in your lives, in your careers years from now, what are you going to remember as, what's as a, as a kind of stand out moment? Something that you, something that, that you did. Hmm, I know I'm thinking because

00:39:27.640 - 00:39:50.600

it just kinda, I'll just have to say Joshua that, that through all of this, there's just been, it's just moment after, moment after, moment after moment. And, and it's like, oh my, we were able to do this and oh my the residents are having, uh, you

00:39:50.600 - 00:40:12.450

know, they're still happy and joyful and so forth and we changed, their world is upside down. And so I guess for for me, it's not going to be one thing, it's going to be my wonderful staff and how they've been able to adapt and helped, helped

00:40:12.460 - 00:40:34.270

these residents as they've never known anything like, like what we're going through right now, not able to see, see their families. Our average ages 89 years old and they can't see their family members. They can't, they can't physically, you know, touch them and see them. And

00:40:34.270 - 00:41:01.090

so, so for me, it's, it's, it's the staff at The Medallion and how they have stepped up to the plate and have, have gone home every night, kept themselves safe, and came back and kept the residents safe because I have had no staff member that has,

00:41:01.100 - 00:41:19.290

we've all been tested, no one was positive, everybody was negative. So I tell them all the time, you're doing a great job when you go home at night in what you're doing to keep yourself safe, your family safe, and in turn keeping the residents safe. And

00:41:19.290 - 00:41:35.070

then when they're here, they are giving it their all. They are working very hard and they've all been, they've all been here working. They, they they have not, they have not stayed at home at all. So it's the staff, it's my staff. I will just have

00:41:35.070 - 00:41:52.450

to say that. Great, um, well, thank you. I'm not just to say, because I've said it before, Annette's the best boss I ever had and, and really, it's just, it's a great place to work and it's also the staff because it comes from Annette.

00:41:52.460 - 00:42:02.820

It's the first time I've ever worked in a place where you don't feel like you walk in the building and you have to ignore that one because she was angry at you and you had a beef with that one yesterday and that one's not nice.

00:42:02.820 - 00:42:14.880

I mean, I don't see, I mean five years I'm here almost, I don't, you know, everybody's got a bad day, you know, but everybody gets along and there's none of that, I'm not going to go help her because I don't like her any of that. I

00:42:14.880 - 00:42:36.310

mean, Annette really has such a great attitude that trickles down to the staff. One of the things, I can't, like, I'm gonna buy some roller skates because I'm all over the place. Um, so I don't really have one particular, um, moment necessarily, but I will say interesting

00:42:36.990 - 00:42:53.610

some things I'm learning from the residents and something interesting is before this, we do have a handful of residents that just want to be hermits. I mean, you know, um, they don't want to come out and even before this, they chose to eat in their room,

00:42:53.620 - 00:43:10.000

they want the solitude, they just want the quiet, they don't want to be bothered. And interestingly enough, they're the ones that are just kind of going with the flow. Now they, to them, life really hasn't changed. So it's just interesting how we were, you know, on

00:43:10.000 - 00:43:23.400

one hand, one week, we're so worried about them and we make sure we go in and are you okay? And now it's like, they are totally fine. They don't want us to come in, they're holding their own, they're the same as they were before the whole

00:43:23.410 - 00:43:40.450

Covid thing. So it's just interesting how, um, maybe going back into life as normal will change a little bit about how I look at something and just because they're not doing a program or just because they're not doing everything everybody else is doing, you know, it's

00:43:40.450 - 00:43:53.380

not wrong and that's what they need. So it's just an interesting thing that, um, I guess in a way, also the people that you were worried about going into this are the people that are surprising you and then you're not really have to worry about them.

00:43:53.390 - 00:44:09.380

And the people that you thought wouldn't be, you know, wouldn't be having difficulty are having difficulties. So it just, you know, it just highlights that, that every situation will bring out the difference in each other. And let me just say when Jennifer is talking about difficulty,

00:44:09.380 - 00:44:32.520

it it it is this this, as she said, they're very much creatures of habit, so to speak and things have changed and and so it's been difficult for them in this change. And Jennifer does a daily schedule that is about, that's given to the residents and

00:44:32.520 - 00:44:50.890

many of them carry those schedules around because it gives them, it gives them their, their um, they feel like okay, now I know what's going on because because this is nothing like what it used to be and that kind of thing. And so um we all

00:44:50.890 - 00:45:11.880

are creatures of habit actually, and so you know, we we don't like a lot of change. Well this has been major change and it's also been major change in not that we didn't um practice um infection control the entire, you know, all the time, but of

00:45:11.880 - 00:45:28.180

course it is really enhanced now with infection control and all of the staff wear masks and that's been hard for the residents. And one of the things is they can't understand what we're saying or they can't hear us as well because we're muffled, you know now

00:45:28.180 - 00:45:45.340

and so that has become a real, a real issue. I I saw on the news the other day that somewhere they made masks that, that had clear plastic here where the residents or the folks could see your, oh for people who are hard-. Oh, I know it

00:45:45.340 - 00:46:02.860

was a restaurant and it was, the owner was was hearing impaired and so they made all of his staff- I don't know where they, how they made them, but they made masks for everybody, so he could read their lips. Well, they can also be for smiling,

00:46:02.870 - 00:46:17.030

you know, you can see a smile. I always try to say, look at my eyes. I'm smiling, you know, when I, when I'm out and about with my mask on. Um but I'm thinking, wow, if we could get some, some mask made with clear plastic right

00:46:17.030 - 00:46:32.330

here where they could, could see, they'd still not have they still not be able to hear us as well and that kind of thing, but at least they can, they can see us, you know, but that's an issue too. And so so anyway, it has its

00:46:32.330 - 00:46:53.020

challenges, but um, but it's been gratifying to, to um, to see how the staff and for the most part, the residents have been able to adapt. Thank you both so much for taking the time today to give us some insight into your world, a world that,

00:46:53.020 - 00:47:11.730

you know, many of us don't interact with regularly and, and you're you're you're you're creating programming and adapting on the fly to changing circumstances, and it's very um inspiring. And I think this interview has been very informative as well. So I really appreciate your time. Thank

00:47:11.730 - 00:47:13.270

you so much. Thank you.