Celebrating Healthcare Heroes

It simply can’t be said enough that healthcare workers have undoubtably stepped up during the last year and we are forever grateful. In our particular industry, this meant that senior care workers needed to pivot processes and goals, redesign facility layouts, and pull together to ensure the aging population was protected. We’d like to once again use our platform to celebrate another healthcare hero, the staff at Country Village Care.

Our Inside Look

As a facility with 136 beds and two assisted living units, Country Village Care is a busy place with many residents to care for and a number of diligent and committed staff members. To get an inside look at how this facility continues to operate during the pandemic, we spoke with Linley Glover, Assistant Director of Nursing. As a nurse since 2006, and an employee of this facility for over 3 years, Linley has seen the great lengths her colleagues have gone to ensure that all residents get the best care possible. And according to her, the pandemic only brought out the best in her team and showed how well they were able to work together in times of crisis.

Up for the challenge

Linley told us that when their facility experienced outbreaks last year, the staff didn’t miss a beat in keeping up with their regular tasks and adding on new ones. “It was amazing to see them stepping up and volunteering in any way they could. In those uncertain times, we still didn’t know a lot about the virus, but all of our staff were still willing to work with the COVID-19 positive residents, and that just showed us that we definitely had the right people for the job. Our staff care about the wellbeing of their residents above all else, and we couldn’t be more grateful to them for stepping up the way they did.”

She also mentioned that even non-healthcare workers like laundry, housekeeping, and dietary stepped up and volunteered to go into the units and help with daily tasks that were outside of their usual job description. “Laundry in particular had to figure out how to distribute clean items to all the different buildings. We weren’t allowing people into the buildings that didn’t need to be there so people in those roles had to walk around the buildings in 90+ degree heat sometimes to make sure residents were taken care of. The staff also helped with hospitality items as well and did so by answering call lights, passing trays, making beds, etc., and really just helped out in any way they could.”

Keeping staff and residents engaged

Keeping staff and residents active and engaged during the pandemic proved to be a difficult task, but not an impossible one. To allow residents the opportunity to see family members, the staff purchased a television and named it STAN (Super Tech Activity Network) and set-up a viewing portal that would allow residents to communicate with their families. “It really created a much-needed connection” said Linley. “We also created a new Facebook page that allows members to see the different activities residents and staff have been doing. Like many other facilities, we also used zoom and other new technologies to bridge the gap. To have a little more fun we also played games like hallway bingo and white board games such as hangman and Pictionary to engage residents while being distanced.”

For the staff, they have been able to participate in a program call thankful Thursdays. “For about 7 months, our owner provided lunch for the staff every Thursday and people in the community donated money or food and they made sure that we had that to look forward to each week.”

About Linley

A true care worker, in some ways Linley has always been looking out for the elderly population. Since the age of eight, Linley has had a passion for taking care of the elderly. It started as a family activity and she would visit the nursing homes with her father on Sundays and help with the church service. Around that same time, she started to form relationships with her elderly neighbours as well and every day after school she would visit with them and spend some time with them playing cards and other games. What 8-year-old does that? A future nurse, that’s who!

When Linley volunteered her story for our blog, she told us that she wanted to find a way to acknowledge the unsung heroes of her facility. “I just think it’s amazing how everyone has jumped in together. We have an activity assistant who is now doing COVID testing since you don’t have to be a nurse to do testing, and she volunteered to be trained. Everyone has been willing to do the little things that they can to make someone else’s day a bit better. You see people stopping to help others and it’s been amazing to witness it all.”

Thanks for sharing with us Linley and thank you to all of the incredible staff members at Country Village Care.