A Promise and a Pandemic

Spring Village at Pocono & Woodbridge Place

COVER STORY: A Promise and a Pandemic

By Christy Brudin

A guarantee. An oath. A pledge. A promise can come in many forms, but it is always meant to reassure. Spring Village at Pocono and Woodbridge Place promise to deliver strong, healthy and happy senior living communities for residents and families. Even in the face of a global pandemic, these communities have kept their promise—and kept their residents healthy. When COVID-19 struck, Spring Village at Pocono and Woodbridge Place acted swiftly and decisively to protect their residents and staff.

Spring Village at Pocono and Woodbridge Place were able to leverage the knowledge and best practices of the larger organization, while being empowered to make individualized decisions that worked in their communities. This allowed the communities to devise COVID-19 responses that were both proactive and personalized.

Testing and Protecting

“We started addressing Coronavirus early—a lot earlier than the government ordered us to,” noted Chris Behm, the senior executive director of Spring Village at Pocono, a community offering personal care and memory care.

And it worked. The community has no resident COVID-19 cases. One staff member tested positive for the virus and was quarantined at home for 45 days before testing negative. Spring Village’s successful approach began with early action and was supported by comprehensive testing.

Spring Village began quarantining residents and eliminating visitations in early March, after watching what was happening in Washington state. The community also started monitoring staff and residents for fever or other symptoms of Coronavirus. Later, they made the decision to quarantine residents to their rooms as an additional precaution.

Residents, families and staff were fully supportive and cooperative with the protective measures. “They all knew that ultimately we were doing everything we could to protect our residents and keep them healthy,” Chris noted.

Beyond acting early, Spring Village at Pocono also tapped into their corporate resources to protect residents. Chris attends regular conference calls with other executive directors. The leaders share best practices, give and receive advice, and offer feedback for their peers. To best handle COVID-19 testing, Chris turned to corporate resources and took matters into his own hands.

“We couldn’t get our staff or residents tested. I wrote letters. I explained that my employees worked in a health care setting with a vulnerable population—but they still couldn’t get tested,” Chris said. “Through our corporate network, we were able to connect with a private lab to get every staff member and resident tested for COVID-19. I found out exactly what was happening in our building and used that knowledge to keep our residents safe.”

In early April, Spring Village completed testing. Knowing that they had no resident COVID-19 cases in the building was a huge relief, but the Spring Village staff remains vigilant. Residents are still receiving all their meals in their rooms. The staff is continuing to arrange virtual visits and to engage residents through socially distanced activities. As Spring Village begins to feel safer, and local restrictions have started to lift, residents are being encouraged to walk around the hallways and the property, as long as they wear masks and social distance.

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