When you run a senior living facility, residents are your top priority.
There’s nothing as important as keeping seniors safe and protected, especially from illness. During the Covid pandemic, you saw how vulnerable your high-risk population could be. Fortunately, because clean conditions and specialized care are your highest focus, you were able to implement basic precautions and extra safety measures needed to keep your elderly population safe. Here are the senior care lessons learned from the pandemic and how to implement a “new normal” to continue protecting seniors in our facilities.
The COVID-19 global pandemic has shown us that we can always step up our efforts no matter how safe and cautious we are. Seniors are one of the most vulnerable populations to illness, and it is always important to focus on keeping them safe from infection and disease.
We’ve explored the best practices of senior living facilities in the Midwest to learn what Covid guidelines they continue to use to keep their residents healthy and protected. If you want additional ideas and advice, check with the CDC and the World Health Organization for the latest updates. Viral threat guidance continually changes as scientists and other officials learn more about targeting and treating illnesses.
Here are five senior care lessons and guidelines from the pandemic that senior living workers use to protect their staff and residents.
1. Limiting and Restricting Entry to Facilities
In senior care, we have a responsibility to our residents and their families to keep them safe and socially connected. Unfortunately, one senior care lesson learned was discovering that protecting senior citizens during crises can limit access to your facility, even for close family members and friends. Essential workers, however, should always be allowed entry. They have valuable knowledge of handling particular health conditions and can be employed on a limited basis and in specific situations.
Essential workers include:
- Department managers (this may consist of nursing, dining, lifestyle and activity coordinators, marketing, maintenance, housekeeping, and executive/management)
- Medical personnel, such as nurses, resident aides, and medication distributors
- Kitchen and dining workers
- Receptionists
- Cleaning staff
- Some outside delivery services, such as postal workers and food delivery workers
Depending on the services offered at your facility and your target population, particular residents (such as those in assisted living or memory care units) may require additional specialized caregivers all or most of the day.
2. Shifting Operations and Changing Social Visits
Most facilities will restrict visits from volunteers, friends, and even family members of residents if the situation warrants these measures. These restrictions are challenging, especially if you’re highly dependent on the efforts of volunteers and community members, but most facilities realize that it’s a necessary precaution.
A change in access means a shift in operations and more senior care lessons taught by experiencing the pandemic. Senior living workers had to learn creative ways to engage their residents with the larger community. This innovative approach included virtual presentations, encouraging community members to decorate sidewalks, write letters to residents and staff, or wave and visit from a safe distance through the window. That effort should continue as community engagement is proven to help maintain good mental and physical health, longevity, and quality of life.
Additionally, maintain open lines of communication with resident family members. Help families feel “in the loop” by communicating with them clearly about ongoing visiting rules, illness prevention, and changing policies and daily operations. Transparency is crucial, but all HIPAA laws must be followed when sharing information.
3. Screening All Personnel and Visitors Before Entry
Visitor and staff screening is still a good practice with higher-risk populations, especially during local crises or flu seasons or for especially at-risk residents like the immunocompromised or disabled. Ensure no one with any signs or symptoms of illness—especially those similar to Coronavirus symptoms—is allowed in the building.
Screen visitors for:
- Any signs or symptoms of the flu (fever, cough, shortness of breath) or other illness
- Any international or domestic travel within the last 14 days
- Recent exposure to someone with the flu, pneumonia, or other serious respiratory illness
Continue to make hand sanitizer, gloves, and masks available to employees, workers, and visitors if needed.
Remember, pandemic senior care lessons include taking preventative steps to stop the spread of illness. Covid and other viral agents are still dangerous to most of your facility’s residents.
4. Require Staff and Caregivers to Wear PPE and Take Precautions
Wearing PPE (personal protective equipment) and taking precautions are good practices with higher-risk populations, especially during public health crises and cold and flu seasons. Remind staff that the PPE is worn to protect residents, even if they’re not feeling ill.
As usual, staff should always follow proper handwashing protocol while on shift. Facilities may want to provide extra hand sanitizer throughout the day for both staff and residents.
Cleaning staff should pay extra attention to touchpoints, like doorknobs, light switches, and railings. Your cleaning personnel can also wear PPE as they work but should follow all the usual sanitization procedures with extra diligence.
5. Stay Informed
When overseeing a senior living facility, the most powerful thing you can do to protect your residents is to stay informed. Extend your awareness past just Covid recommendations to include other situations, such as local health advisories, weather conditions, current events, local/regional crises, and news alerts.
Partner with your network’s local facilities or care centers to make consistent decisions. Many senior living facility workers may work at multiple local care centers. Enact universal precautions to ensure the health and safety of all seniors in your area.
COVID-19 was, and in some cases still is, a threat to the safety and well-being of the seniors in our care. We’ve learned that by staying informed, working together, and taking precautions, we can keep our residents and ourselves safer and healthier.
