Covenant Living in Turlock

Covenant Living of Turlock

1977

The Covenant senior living campus has been a vital part of Turlock and the surrounding communities for over four decades. What started as Covenant Village, a nonprofit ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church in 1977, has since rebranded as Covenant Living in 2019 — but has retained its core mission to “create joy and peace of mind for residents, employees, and their families by providing a better way of life.”

The senior community includes independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing options.

“Older adults often move into Independent Living. As their needs change, they are able to move to Assisted Living or Skilled Nursing and still remain part of the same community. The relationships they build here are constant through their changing needs,” said Covenant Executive Director Ryan Hust.

Hust is relatively new to Covenant Living of Turlock, becoming the executive director in June 2019, but he worked at other Covenant Living campuses across the country for seven years prior The Lodi native said coming to the Central Valley and Turlock was “like coming home.”

The past several months has seen a new challenge for the Covenant Living community.

“In the midst of COVID-19 we have needed to adapt to a new way of fulfilling our purpose. We serve some of the most vulnerable members of our community. Our highest priority has been ensuring their continued

By KRISTINA HACKER

health and safety,” said Hust.

He said that Covenant residents have participated in COVID-19 response in several ways, including a group of retired nurses making a video showing other residents how to properly wear masks and residents using their sewing skills to make masks for employees and residents to wear.

Covenant Living has also provided opportunities for people to stay active and engaged in creative ways through COIVD-19. There was a campus wide photo scavenger hunt in the spring. In June, they offered a virtual road trip, with a new destination featured each day accompanied by food that corresponds to the destination. For instance, one day the road trip was to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and everyone got cotton candy delivered to their apartment.

Covenant Living has a history of keeping residents active.

One nonagenarian Covenant Living of Turlock resident was a participant in the senior living community’s “Road Hog Race,” a year-long cycling challenge that saw 74 teams across the nation log as many miles as possible on tech-savvy stationary bikes known as CyberCycles. Richard Winkler didn’t just compete in the competition, however — he dominated. While the Covenant Living team as a whole cycled their way to a national championship by logging a total of 13,255 miles in 2019, Winkler alone accounted for 5,200 miles. That earned him the title of champion for the single challenge category, beating out 198 other competitors throughout the country.

“It was just a case of keeping track of what other people were doing and making sure they didn’t get to far ahead of me. I kept tallies,” Winkler said earlier this year. “I was probably the oldest person and I worked the hardest.”

Covenant Living received its first CyberCycle in March 2016, ushering in a new, stimulating form of exercise for its residents. Much like any other stationary bike, the CyberCycle allows the rider to pedal in place. What sets the piece of equipment apart from other bikes are the virtual environments that the rider can navigate. Covenant Living residents not only are able to exercise their bodies while riding, but their minds as well thanks to the motivating and interactive scenery that they can steer through. 

To learn more about Covenant Living of Turlock, visit covlivingturlock.org or call 209-585-3805.