This week, we’ve been honoring and celebrating our nurses for National Nurses Week. We have remarkable staff serving as Health Services Directors and Wellness Nurses all across our company. In fact, over the years, Aegis Living nurses have been humbly honored with top awards from the California Assisted Living Association and the Washington Health Care Association.  It goes without saying that our nurses are more important than ever before.  

As we monitor daily developments of COVID-19, we continue to rapidly respond to any issues that arise but also apply our proven and approved protection practices that help keep residents and staff safe.  This journey with COVID-19 threatening our vulnerable population will require our continued vigilance for many months to come which we are deeply committed to as we strive to keep all 4,500 residents and staff across the west coast safe from this virus.

That said, each day and each week we are enduring new challenges that arise.  As of today, we have 8 residents and 14 staff members who have tested positive for coronavirus. Impacted communities include Bellevue, Issaquah, Callahan House, Kirkland, Fremont, Marymoor, Las Vegas and most recently Kent. Broader testing is underway in each community and we are awaiting results.

The partnership that we’ve developed with a private testing lab has given us some access to testing. While labs continue to experience capacity challenges, we are working with them to get a process that quickly tests residents and staff after a confirmed case in a community. We have developed a testing practice, based on expert guidance, that focuses on contact tracing – identifying and testing those staff or residents that may potentially have been in contact with the positive person in the community.  Families are always notified immediately via email and kept abreast of any new test results. We remain vigilant in our protection practices that continue to help us manage the spread of the virus.  This past week, we added one more layer of protection for our residents. With access to more supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), we are asking residents to wear a surgical mask, that we can provide, each time they leave their apartments.

Celebrating All Moms

Looking ahead, this Sunday, May 10^th is Mother’s Day!  We recognize that families will not be able to visit their moms in the same way as they have in the past, but we embrace the opportunity to be creative! Our teams in every community are excited to offer some very special ways to surprise moms this weekend with a big celebration that includes:

• A customized Mother’s Day celebration menu for all our residents all day with special selections such as savory eggs benedict, watermelon salad, seared salmon, chocolate covered strawberries and champagne, and much more!
• We’ll also be delivering fresh flower bouquets to all of our female residents across the entire west coast on Sunday. Our goal is to make sure every mom feels the love and appreciation she deserves — even, and especially under these unusual circumstances.
• We are also pleased to provide families with an opportunity to send moms a personalized Mother’s Day video!
• Gift Drop-off stations will be available outside in front of every community for families to safely deliver cards, flowers and gifts.

Finally, we are celebrating our employees and especially our mothers, for Mother’s Day as well.  We have arranged for all staff to bring home a special dessert that they can use to help honor their mothers or enjoy themselves.   We honor the many dedicated mothers that care for and love our residents each day. We are incredibly grateful to have them amongst our Aegis Living family.