So how is/was your lock-down? We’ll all have different takes on the good, the bad and the ugly but for us here at Kerikeri Retirement Village it’s been a bit of a revelation.
You know that old saying ‘tough times bring out the best in us’? That’s certainly held true for us here. You may not know that we were locked down for considerably longer last year than the rest of the community. So this latest lock-down had real potential to knock the morale of our residents and our staff.
But no. Instead, our family of 400 has come together with determination, good humour, professionalism and humanity to keep us all safe, and our residents happy and secure.
So we’ve had Cheryl, our operations support manager, embracing her unexpected lock-down role as a diversional therapist, devising and coordinating activities with the other ‘DTs’, to ensure our care facility residents have fun things to do and look forward to each day. Chery’s been training to become certified in this area for a few years now, in addition to her normal role, so it’s been wonderful to see her training being put to use.
Jackie, our administration assistant, has been helping out in the kitchen as a catering assistant. Steve, our chaplain, has been putting in long hours in the care facility, running his seated Tai Chi class and bringing his special brand of care and empathy to those of our residents who need it most.
Rochelle, our receptionist, has taken the definition of tele-working to its limit. She’s diverted our switchboard to her personal mobile phone and has been answering calls from seven in the morning to seven in the evening, keeping families in contact with their loved ones in the Village and arranging all the ‘device’ contacts; tablets, phone calls, video calls, skype, whatsapp, etc.
Our gardeners and maintenance crew have expanded their role to become general guardian angels. They’ve been our eyes and ears ‘on the ground’ within our boundary, keeping an eye on our independent living residents to ensure they have everything they need. And our cleaners have, of course, gone into over-drive, working their special full lock-down programme to ensure that everything is kept super-clean and hygienic.
Even the wider community has ridden to the rescue, doing grocery shopping for those of our residents who want to avoid leaving their bubbles to go to the supermarket.
And finally, where would we be without our stellar care staff? These are the people who go home every night with an extra amount of worry, and an even greater burden of care than the rest of us, to ensure that they avoid bringing the virus to work.
So yes, it’s been brilliant to watch how this latest COVID set-back has brought out the best of us. And my sincere thanks go to everyone involved. Ngā mihi; mauri ora!
