How’s the pandemic affected residents?

One of the important things about assisted living facilities is the mobility and the ability of residents to get out and do things socially. But COVID has changed everything.

All of a sudden, you can’t go out on trips, or you can’t meet with more than two or three people at a time. I think from a morale standpoint, or emotionally, it’s really hard. We are doing our best to be creative and find as many ways as we can to engage folks – we’re coming up with more and more all the time.

What’s it like to work in assisted living amid a pandemic?

Those first five or six months of COVID, people were really overwhelmed. And then you have a leadership change coupled with ongoing nursing shortages. It was a compounding challenge.

Securing and maintaining sufficient nursing staff remains a priority for us. But we’ve also made improvements in many areas, including adding a new position, Director of Integrated Care, that’s helping us provide good resident care despite the shortages.

Not a single resident has contracted COVID at Macdonald Residence. How have you been able to keep things safe?

As you know, COVID is extremely prevalent in assisted living facilities. We’ve been very fortunate, especially considering we’re right in Old Town, in a neighborhood that is home to some of the most adversely impacted people in our community. Since early last year, we’ve only allowed essential visitors, but residents have continued going out and interacting with different people. We ask them to sign in and out, do temperature checks, and try to check in with folks to make sure that they’re as safe as they can be when they’re out in the community.

But this is an assisted living facility – it is residents’ home, and they have many rights.

We’re constantly balancing how an individual’s rights impact the health and safety of the entire facility. It’s not easy. So far, I feel like we’ve balanced it pretty well.

You spent 25 years in public health. How has Macdonald Residence influenced your view of health care?

I spent so many years thinking of insurance as the brass ring - just get them enrolled! But at Macdonald Residence, I see first-hand that insurance or being enrolled in Medicaid isn’t enough.

I have compassion – I know that COVID has put so much stress on our health care system, and a lot of people aren’t getting the highest quality care right now. And having worked with health systems, I’ve seen the difference between what a hospital or provider says they do versus what actually happens on the ground. There’s a risk that care providers may have a narrative about a person because of their socio-economic status, lived experience, or because they’re coming from a Medicaid-only facility, that can create an environment where residents do not get access to the quality care they deserve.

It’s been interesting for me to see how vital the advocacy piece is. At Macdonald Residence, our job is to really stand our ground and make sure that our folks get the care that they need.