LIFE

WEDDINGS

By Emily Williams

THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

As reopening plans begin for lowerrisk operations, organizations that cater to senior citizens are continuing to keep their distance. Community respite programs that cater to adults with mild to moderate dementia have had to commit to the new normal, as their organizations may be the very last to reopen.

Encore, a ministry at Canterbury United Methodist Church, and Founders Place, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, are among a number of respite programs throughout Greater Birmingham who are having to adapt to serve their at-risk population of participants who suffer from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Encore Program Director Patti Williams, RN, MSN, and Founders Place Executive Director Susanna Whitsett expect to be the last aspect of daily life that returns following the pandemic.

“We’ll be the last to get back,” Williams said. “They are not able to comply and it’s no fun being policed. You can’t police these people all day telling them to keep their masks on.”

Once COVID-19 hit, the social needs of participants grew with the added isolation. Thus, the task for Williams, Whitsett and their respective teams of volunteers has been to figure out how to be social while remaining apart.

Journal photos by Jordan Wald

Founders Place

Before the pandemic, Whitsett describes Founders Place programming as a combination of things: continuing adult education, Sunday school and a cocktail party.

“It’s very light, there is banter and, again, this is not a population that is spending a lot of time in playfulness,” Whitest said. “It’s a reimagining of how one can be and for a short time exist in a space that is free. You aren’t

Together, Apart

Local Community Respite Programs Find Ways to Be Social While Remaining Socially Distant

In June, the Encore crew started a monthly drivethru social event – a “party in the parking lot.”

worried about whatever that condition means for you. That is off the table for a while.”

Immediately after lockdowns began in March, Founders Place began organizing a lineup of volunteer phone buddies and pen pals for program participants. Over the months, the first iteration has grown into Founders Place at Home.

“Just like everybody else, we are really devastated that we aren’t meeting in person,” Whitsett said.

The program is tiered, broken into levels of contact. Some participants receive only mail, she said, as a phone call might throw them off mentally, others receive multiple calls throughout the week.

Founders Place volunteers also provide Connection packets, which include things such as prayers, poems, arts and crafts, puzzles, jokes, trivia, homemade cakes and cookies and more.

“You don’t immediately or typically consider people in their 70s or 80s taking to Zoom,” Whitsett said. “As our Bishop Key Sloan said, ‘It turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks if he really needs to learn.’ I count myself in that, as do many of the volunteers.”

Participants have been able to log in to Zoom programming with help from their caregivers to stay connected to their fellow classmates and volunteers.

Whitsett noted one participant in their program who has been on lockdown in his assisted living facility, with his wife on lockdown at the same facility but in memory care. He has a paid companion who has been given clearance to enter the facility five days a week for three hours, and she has been helping him log onto Founders Place Zoom calls.

“Well, this has become the social highlight of his week; those are the exact words from his son,” she said. “The caregiver said every day she comes in he asks, ‘Is this Founders Place day?’”

The same participant also had his birthday while under lockdown, inspiring Founders Place volunteers to develop an idea for birthday “window waves.” Whitsett noted that not all assisted living facilities allow it, but his did let volunteers come by a window and hold up signs for his birthday.

“It was really so meaningful,” she said. “These interactions that we took for granted have taken on even greater weight and meaning See TOGETHER, page 13

In the Fray Always Best Care Creates Program to Care for COVID Clients

By Emily Williams

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the higher your age, the higher your risk is to develop more severe symptoms if you contract COVID-19.

In addition, those over the age of 65 account for eight out of 10 COVID19-related deaths reported in the United States.

Assisted living facilities and other care services for the elderly, the most vulnerable population, have put lockdowns in place and limited visitation as well as implementing other safety measures.

Meanwhile, Always Best Care of Birmingham saw a growing need for professional care services not only for the seniors they serve, but those COVID patients as well. The senior care organization consists of a staff of caregivers who provide non-medical personal and social care to persons who live at home or need a bit of extra help at their assisted living facility.

Care specifically designed for COVID-19 patients who are not sick enough for hospitalization but whose symptoms were severe enough to need additional care wasn’t something President Jennifer Mancuso planned to offer until one of their own contracted the virus.

“I normally wouldn’t have Jennifer Mancuso done this, but we had a family member (of a client) test positive some months ago and they were very sick,” Mancuso said. “They needed some help in the home, so we prepared very quickly to serve the family member.”

Mancuso initially reached out to other agencies in the city to see if they would be willing to help care for coronavirus patients and was met with resistance. Though they supported Always Best Care and were willing to provide whatever aid they could, they did not wish to take on the task.

“I couldn’t find anyone else who wanted to do this, so we stepped into the fray,” Mancuso said.

A customized COVID training program was put into place for caregivers who were willing to participate in coronavirus care, aided by one of ABC’s directors who is a registered nurse. Grateful is the word Mancuso uses to describe how she feels about her employees who wished to take on the challenge.

Caregivers don “all of the protective gear,” including gloves, shields, n95 masks and surgical gowns, Mancuso said. “People look like astronauts when they are going out the door.”

Initially, when Personal Protective Equipment was scarce in the United States, Mancuso said she was calling on colleagues and friends in bigger cities where agency owners had anticipated an outbreak of COVID and had stocked PPE in preparation.

Always Best Care has always supplied caregivers with gloves but began giving them masks as well in March. Now masks and gloves are free for both caregivers and clients.

“It’s a big expense, but we feel like it’s something we have to do,” Mancuso said. “This is the new normal, so we’ve got to get used to those masks.”

At first, Always Best stuck to serving family members, but as more members of the community began to need help, the program was expanded.

“What we found was that, while in most cases family members are very willing to help their loved ones with things like this, in a situation where someone is positive for COVID, all of a sudden that puts a whole new spin on things,” Mancuso said.

She has seen family members feel torn between taking care of their loved one with COVID or putting their family at risk of contracting the virus.

As far as she knows, Mancuso said, all of Always Best Care’s coronavirus patients have recovered, some able to re-enter the assisted living facilities they had to leave when they tested positive. In addition, no ABC caregivers have contracted the virus while working with COVID-positive patients, though each caregiver quarantines after they have cared for someone with the virus.

“It’s not like going into a battlefield where you might be shot,” she said. “As long as you are wearing the pro tective gear and you do all of the things that we are told to do these days – wash your hands frequently, keep socially distant even when you’re in the home with someone that has it,” and such.

At the beginning of the pandemic, in March, personal protective equipment was harder to get a hold of, but now it is more readily available.

Mancuso admits that the beginning phases of creating a COVID-19 care program were initially frightening, but ABC has found their groove.

“It is a scary time, but it does seem like things are getting a little more stable. People are more cognizant of the fact that we’ve got to wear masks and we’ve got to wash our hands … you know, it’s not much more complicated than that,” she said.

From page 12 and certainly for the population we are serving who are typically isolated even without a pandemic. “

Whitsett said Founders Place staff and volunteers are continuing to broaden their programming, adding new Zoom offerings.

Both Founders Place and Encore also are seeking opportunities to bring a bit more music into their participants’ lives. It’s a favorite offering at both facilities.

“We sang every single day,” Williams said. “We would always finish the day with choir, and they absolutely loved it.”

Williams is looking to possibly coordinate a way to host an outdoor concert for her crew, providing both a safe, social opportunity as well as a way to enjoy music together.

Whitsett said the Founders Place team is working with local musicians and a storyteller to create a new Zoom offering that alternates music and stories for an hour, to be called Wonderful Wednesdays.

“Music is just a really impactful thing for folks with memory loss, and without,” Whitsett said.

Encore

At Canterbury, Williams works with a team of more than 170 volunteers. “Not all of them are active. Most of them are retired and many of them are over 80, which places them in the high-risk category as well.”

Volunteers are broken into teams. Each team is paired with one of the program participants and creates a plan that caters specifically to that person’s needs and abilities. That plan now is dependent on how well they have taken to technology.

“We have 90-year-olds that are FaceTiming and Zooming,” Williams said. There are also yard visits, where volunteers meet the participant with a mask on and sit outside at a socially acceptable distance.

Any little bit of contact carries its own weight and is important to combat the isolation that not only dementia creates, but the pandemic as well.

“It’s worth everything,” Williams said. “Any kind of socialization you can give them is so helpful, and the family appreciates it so much.”

Caregiver support groups continue to meet every Thursday via Zoom at 10 a.m.

The support group is open to anyone in need of the services, but the program participant list is closed for now. In fact, the group is not charging for their services for the time being.

Williams’ now sends out comprehensive weekly emails, full of activities that would normally take place in the classroom. She inserts links that can be easily navigated, allowing participants to simply click on a link and begin an activity, such as watching a video or completing a game of trivia.

In addition, Williams has been making videos of herself doing everyday tasks. “I made a video recently while I was planting a garden,” she said. “We’re just trying to keep ourselves in contact.”

In June, the Encore crew started a monthly drive-thru social event – a “party in the parking lot.”

Volunteers are posted throughout the parking lot on the Canterbury campus with signs featuring each friend’s name.

The July event featured a drivethru line of different quick activities.

“They get something at every station,” Williams said. “The participants don’t have to touch anything, and everybody is going to be gloved up, masked up.”

Activities included trivia games, arts and crafts, a photo booth and a fishing game with a bag of Goldfish crackers as the prize. Williams noted that Goldfish are something that the program would have available for participants every single day, a trademark of sorts.

A group art project also was launched, with Williams providing each participant with a heart to decorate. Participants will take the heart back when they go to the August drive-thru event, and Williams has plans to create an art installation with them.

“I’m going to take their heart, cut them in half and attach it with another half of a heart,” she said. “This is a crazy time. We’re all making our own way, but we’re all in this together and we’re still connected.”

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