Feel Confident About The Future
September 10, 2021In uncertain times, it’s helpful to focus on what helps us feel safe and secure.
Although the summer hasn’t been quite as carefree as many of us had hoped, we’ve been fortunate here at Emerald Heights.
We’ve been able to resume a lot of the activities that residents have enjoyed in the past. We’ve also been able to invite guests to visit and take in-person tours again. And, we’ve kept our community safe.
The delta variant of the coronavirus is cause for concern, and we are monitoring state and federal public health guidance closely. That said, we feel confident about navigating the weeks and months ahead.
Safeguarding Our Community
As we have done since the onset of the pandemic, we will take whatever precautions are necessary to ensure that everyone who lives and works at Emerald Heights can stay as healthy as possible.
That includes upcoming clinics for booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine. The high vaccination rate among residents and employees at Emerald Heights last spring contributed greatly to our ability to safely resume many of our usual activities. It’s our hope that the booster shots will allow us to continue those activities, for the enjoyment of current and future residents as well as our staff.
We also adhere to Gov. Inslee’s emergency proclamations regarding face coverings and mandatory vaccinations for our staff. If these measures will help us avoid having to go back to the restrictions of last year, they’re worth the effort.
Our Debt Of Gratitude
The success we’ve had in preventing an outbreak of COVID-19 in our community this last year and a half is due, in very large part, to the people who have made Emerald Heights their home. Residents really banded together, right from the start.
Our executive director, Grant Linacre, referred to this as “esprit de corps” and said he was amazed at the willingness of residents to help out wherever they could. Some sewed face masks. Some helped by disinfecting surfaces in the common areas throughout the day. Others pitched in by delivering meals from the kitchen to their neighbors’ front doors.
The Residents’ Association, which consists entirely of resident volunteers, worked closely with the management team to arrive at decisions about how to proceed throughout the pandemic. They also created a Normalization Advisory Group that served as a sounding board for others in the community.
So many residents found creative ways to contribute to the overall effort. Most of all, they maintained a positive attitude as they adapted to the precautions we implemented to protect everyone.
Our staff found creative solutions, too, especially when it came to keeping residents engaged, informed and connected. And we are grateful to those outside of our community who volunteered their time, skills and energy to help us get through those months when nearly everything seemed so uncertain.
The End Result? We All Felt (And Were) Safer
Residents who had recently moved to Emerald Heights told us they were thankful to be here instead of in their previous home. Others who’d been here longer worried about their friends who were outside of the community and were isolated and struggling.
Moreover, a number of people who had expressed interest in moving to Emerald Heights before the pandemic decided it was time to take that step — and with the proper protocols, we were able to safely welcome them into our community.
Even many staff members said they felt safer at work than they did elsewhere.
Armed With Experience And More Information
As we move forward, we know more about this invisible foe we’re all fighting than we did at the start. We know there are effective steps we can take to help prevent it from spreading. We know what we can do to protect ourselves and others from getting infected.
We’ve made it this far, and we can draw on our resilience as we look to the future. We can count on our experience, our strength and each other to get through whatever challenges the delta variant may hold in store.
This is why and how we can feel secure, today and in the days to come.
The Additional Security Of Life Care
Residents at Emerald Heights are accustomed to feeling secure, pandemic or not. In fact, security is one of the main reasons people decide to move here.
As the only Life Care community in the Bellevue/Redmond area, Emerald Heights offers benefits that other senior living communities in the area can’t. For example, while other communities might offer a continuum of care similar to ours — which includes assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing care — residents in those communities must pay extra for those services.
At Emerald Heights, residents have access to these advanced health care services for life, with no increase in their monthly fee for those services. In a year’s time, that could end up saving tens of thousands of dollars or more.
Being able to predict future costs of care is a tremendous relief. We all like to think that we won’t need skilled nursing or memory care down the road, but there’s no guarantee. Knowing that we’ll have access to that type of care if we do need it, and that it won’t wipe out our life’s savings, is about as close as we can get to long-term financial security.
We’ve written about Life Care several times in our blog recently, so if you’re interested in more information on the subject, we encourage you to check out our March blog post on the financial benefits of Life Care and our June blog post on some of the top benefits Life Care provides.
Are You Ready To Secure Your Future?
The future may be uncertain, but you don’t have to be.
Life Care and the care we take at Emerald Heights to protect the people who live and work here are just two of the reasons you could feel confident and secure about your future if you lived here.
If you have questions or would like to set up a time to come visit our scenic community, let us know. Just take a moment to fill out our short contact form and we’ll be in touch promptly!
