Communities like Brightwater Senior Living have been proactive about helping protect residents from the COVID-19 pandemic. From the outbreak’s outset, Brightwater has taken great care to monitor the health and wellbeing of our residents – as have countless other senior living communities. There are distinct health and safety benefits to being in a senior living community during these stressful times. Here are just a few:

Highly Regulated Environment

Brightwater’s Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Care communities were quick to implement strict screening practices as the coronavirus began to spread. A few of the practices put in place include:

• Limiting access to only essential personnel
• Screening of everyone – even staff members – for virus symptoms when they enter a Brightwater community
• Making sure visits to the community take place only when truly necessary
• Replacing physical doctor visits with virtual ones
• Keeping residents’ trips outside the community to only essential medical visits

Being able to control who comes and goes is critical during a crisis like this and is a huge benefit for seniors, who are more susceptible to the effects of the virus than those in other demographics.

A Boost for Emotional & Physical Health

Social interaction

Social isolation can take a big toll on seniors. The interaction a senior living community provides, even if it is of the physically distanced variety, keeps seniors engaged and connected. Always having someone to talk to close at hand during these crazy times is invaluable. At Brightwater and likely in other senior living communities, staff members are happy to help residents get up and running with services like FaceTime, Zoom, Skype, or WhatsApp to stay connected to their loved ones.

Nutritious Meals

Another perk of a senior living community is the dining programs. Nutritious meals help keep residents nourished and healthy without them having to ever brave a trip to the grocery store or depend on family and friends. At Brightwater, we’ve oriented our dining room to allow for 6 feet of physical distancing and also expanded meal service to allow for in-room dining free of charge.

Regular Exercise & Activity

Staying active is easy thanks to senior living communities’ activities and events schedules – and the benefit to a senior’s physical and emotional health can’t be overstated. As an added precaution, all outside activities and events at Brightwater have been moved indoors.

Care is Close at Hand

Care is always nearby in a senior living community. Should a resident show flu-like symptoms, highly trained caregivers are on hand to help. At Brightwater, we closely monitor information and guidelines put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Health Canada to ensure we follow the proper protocols should a coronavirus case come up.

For more on senior and retirement living, visit the Brightwater blog.