Assisted Living Facility vs Coronavirus

A couple weeks before COVID-19 hit, I started working at an assisted living facility. Before COVID-19, assisted living facilities were bustling with families visiting their loved ones, bingo games, and concerts. Our dining room was open, the residents would congregate together, and it was a happy time. Then COVID hit, and everything was thrown out of proportion because nobody was prepared for it.

 Our facility was on strict lockdown, nobody could come out of their rooms unless they were being  transferred, and none of the residents’ family members could visit them. A lot of the workers quit or did not show up, so we were very short staffed. It was a scary time because the pandemic hit like a bus. Nine out of the twenty-three people on our keepsake unit contracted covid and passed away. Seven  people on the assisted living unit got it, but only a couple ended up passing away from it. 

“It was a very scary time, we were either scared to contract it and take it home to our families, or for the residents’ health,” said Samuel Mock, staff. 

As the months passed, the numbers in people with COVID started to decline. We are now at a point where we can let the families visit their loved ones, but they have to wear masks, have their temperature taken, and be six feet apart. The dining room also opened back up and I am now a hostess. My job is to make sure the residents get hand sanitizer, wear their masks, and stay six feet apart from the other residents. It is very hard asking them to put the hand sanitizer on because they feel like they do not need it. Some of them just put it on their hand and then flick it off. 

Despite not wanting to use hand sanitizer, so far there have been no new cases. I hope for the sake of the residents and workers, that there are no new cases.