Celebrating milestones in the age of social distancing

In their nearly 70-year marriage, Georgia and Lew Foster had never spent a single anniversary apart, and they weren’t about to break that tradition because of COVID-19.

Celebrating their 70th-wedding anniversary would require some planning and creativity on the part of Summit Estates Senior Living and Memory Care, where Lew lives, but this sort of planning is in this team’s wheelhouse.

“We’re in a pandemic, but life doesn’t stop,” said Administrator Tara Alto. “Birthdays are celebrated. Veterans are honored. Grandchildren graduate high school. Anniversaries are recognized. Life has to go on for our residents.”

Lisa Foster, the couple’s daughter, said Rachel Slater, Director of Life Enrichment and the entire Summit Estates team, worked fervently to plan a memorable celebration in April. “I didn’t expect them to do anything other than provide the cakes I had asked them for, but they took the idea and ran with it.”

The facilities, culinary, and life enrichment teams arranged for a window-side dinner with live entertainment for the couple. A table was set up in an empty room next to a window for Lew; another table was situated directly on the other side of the window, outside, where Georgia sat.

The culinary team served a home-cooked dinner on a red tablecloth and presented each of them with an individual cake. Local musician Athena McIntyre surprised the couple by serenading their favorite country song, “Head Over Boots,” by Jon Pardi. Her performance was her gift to the couple.

Alto credits the team’s resourcefulness for maintaining a sense of normalcy during this really difficult time. “Our priority is keeping residents safe and healthy; we follow social distancing guidelines and remain vigilant in our safety and infection control procedures,” she said.

Yet isolation is a health risk too.

“Maintaining personal connections and giving residents reasons to laugh and greet the day are vital to their overall health and well being,” she explained. “The teams identify creative and unique ways to keep residents engaged, happy, active and hopeful.”

Proud high school graduates “window visit their grandparents at Summit Estates, and families celebrated Mother’s Day with a parade of cars decorated with hearts and loved one holding signs of endearment out the car windows.

Families have stayed connected through Zoom calls on the community’s big screen TV. The community recently began offering scheduled, structured outdoor visits and scenic drives. Individuals are still required to follow social distancing during both activities, Alto said, but these small steps toward normalcy have created a lot of joy for residents and families.

Summit Estates Senior Living currently has zero cases of the coronavirus. Alto credits this status to instituting preventive measures and stringent infection control procedures early on, well before the virus evolved into a pandemic. Education, communication, ongoing team member training, and a strong culture of service and support have sustained the team.

“We are our residents’ family, more now than ever before,” she explained. “We’re going to do everything we can, every day, to make them happy and keep them safe. And our leadership continues to do everything they can to support the dedicated team members who are our shining heroes.”

Foster reflected on the special day. “Everyone came together to make their day as special as they could. What more could we ask for?”

About Summit Estates Senior Living and Memory Care
Summit Estates Senior Living and Memory Care is located at 222 Patriot Blvd., Reno, Nev. It is one of six assisted living and memory care communities operated by Carson City, Nev.-based Mission Senior Living (MSL); additional locations are in Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon and an independent living community, called Mountain Lakes Estates Retirement Community, will open in Reno in the fall of 2020. MSL’s mission of Caring People, Serving People, Improving Lives, is fulfilled by a team of compassionate professionals who provide care, services and resident-centered programming and activities to enrich the lives of residents and their families. For more information about Summit Estates, call (775) 434-1880.