Assisted living facilities get creative in the time of coronavirus

At Lake View Care Center, the exterior windows are dotted with paper hearts embellished with drawings or messages of inspiration. In the halls, residents might be found in their doorways playing social distancing bingo or using iPads to chat with family members and friends.

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic broke out, assisted living facilities in Bigfork and beyond are taking extra precautions to keep their residents safe — seniors, after all, are among the most at-risk groups for developing serious complications from COVID-19. While they’re limiting visitors and restricting social gatherings within the building, staff members are also finding creative solutions to keep residents entertained amid this public health crisis.

“We have been helping our residents keep busy with lots of one on one activities,” said Karyn Jones, activities director for Lake View. “Several have enjoyed manicures, puzzles, word search books, playing solitaire with cards and adult coloring books. Others are enjoying beauty shop time with our staff such as washing and curling hair.”

Lake View hasn’t had a beautician at their facility for two months in an effort to limit nonessential guests, however staff members are working outside their specialties to meet that need. Jones and dietary manager Carol Young have been fixing the residents’ hair in the absence of a professional stylist.

“It’s just awesome to see the different departments jump in and help with quality of life,” she said. “I’m not a professional but I can put a pretty good curl in their hair. If your hair’s not fixed you just feel down. To see their eyes light up when they have their hair fixed — that’s a huge deal.”

Staff member Nanci Bain also strolls the halls, brightening up the place with her guitar playing and other musicians have been invited to play outside. Jones said missing out on family time and socializing with other residents has been the most challenging aspect of life during COVID-19 for the 51 people who call the center home. To help ease that loneliness, staff came up with window visits where family and friends stand outside a resident’s window and use an intercom system to talk. Visitors speak into a box from the outside, and residents can push a talk button on a corresponding box in their room.

“The smiles on their face and the happiness to see their family — it literally takes their breath away,” Jones said.

Another means of socializing outside the box at Lake View Care Center is pet visits. Anyone, not just family members, are encouraged to bring pets to show to residents at their windows. Pets are not allowed inside the facility for infection control reasons. Visitors can also leave drawings or cards to be posted outside the residents’ windows.

“They’re so thankful for everything that we do,” Jones said of the center’s entertainment innovations. “We’re just trying to be creative and do the best that we can.”

The same could be said for the crew at Rising Mountains Assisted Living, home to 30 residents in Bigfork. Executive director Suzette Herreid said Rising Mountains have rolled out scavenger hunts, old movies and musical entertainment along with hallway bingo and family video visits by phone through FaceTime or SnapChat. The residents can even sign up for times to walk down the halls or to get some fresh air outside and children are encouraged to draw pictures with sidewalk chalk on the paths around the facility.

“They’re just happy that we’re still engaging them and giving them things to do so they’re just not watching the news,” said Herreid.

She also noted it was important to give residents things to look forward to — like the happy hour, which has taken the form of a traveling saloon that goes room to room — or special treats at dinner and bingo a couple of days each week.

“You can’t have a felicity without bingo,” she noted with a laugh.

Herreid has also stepped beyond the scope of her normal duties and picked up a curling iron.

“On Friday I was cutting hair and styling hair in the beauty shop just because they can’t go out and that always makes them feel good,” Herreid said. “When you have four girls you learn how to do hair fast.”

But some parts of her job aren’t quite so lighthearted. She’s had to break up groups in the halls and is tasked with keeping the residents safe, which might mean limiting activities they’d normally do in order to keep everyone inside the facility safe. They’ve nicknamed her “The Warden” but when it comes down to it, Herreid said the residents are appreciative of her efforts and that they’re all well.

“I don’t just have residents that I have to keep safe, I have to keep my staff safe as well,” she explained. “It’s a big job.” ¦