This past year and a half, residents and caregivers at senior living facilities have felt isolated to the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now that cases are going down and places are opening back up, the Crawford Continuing Care Center in Grayling has something to celebrate.
“Victory. Is that a good word for it?” said Ben Elliott, Director of Nursing and Infection Preventionist “It feels good. It feels like we won.”
The center is celebrating 200 days Covid-19 free on July 7, and it took a lot to get to where they are today.
“There was a time of uncertainty,” said Elliott. “The disease was young to us, and our country, and especially to the state and we were seeing all the negatives.”
They experienced their own outbreak of Covid cases, too — about 18 residents and staff members.
“You had to constantly clean, you have to constantly monitor signs and symptoms,” said Marilyn Heard, Nursing Home Administrator. “The staff on the floor had to constantly be on top of it, taking care of everybody so it didn’t spread.”
This period was, of course, hard on the residents, but once things eased up, they were able to have visitors again.
“December we started doing scheduled visits in our lobby,” said Heard. “They couldn’t come into the building, but they were able to come to the lobby.”
Managers credit the staff for keeping the residents safe.
“They did very well,” said Elliott. “It was challenging, and they rose up to it.”
So 200 days might not seem like much to others, but to them, it feels like a lifetime.
“Feels like heaven and that there’s a light at the end of this tunnel,” said Heard.
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