Collette Gray, President and CEO, Integral Senior Living:
While the Covid-19 pandemic certainly rattled the senior living industry in 2020, we feel our Integral Senior Living and Solstice Senior Living communities really stepped up to provide incredible service for our residents.
We asked so much of our associates in making them pivot overnight in how they keep residents engaged, entertained, and connected to family and friends and even how we went about serving them meals safely. Our first priority when the pandemic hit was to be transparent with our residents, their families, and the ISL and SSL associates, and keep the virus out of our communities. We wanted everyone to know exactly where we stood with confirmed cases and protocols that changed as often as needed to keep everyone protected. Our regular communication and town hall meetings really allowed people the chance to have their questions and concerns heard, and we valued all of the input.
ISL and SSL are very optimistic about 2021. While the virus is still going strong, we are celebrating that Shavano Park Senior Living in Texas was the first ISL community to receive their vaccines, on December 28. We have many more around the country that have received dates of their vaccine clinics in the immediate future. Our focus right now is educating our residents and associates about the importance of getting vaccinated. The vaccine will allow our communities the flexibility to slowly return to normal and, more importantly, help slow the spread within senior living communities.
While slowing the spread of Covid-19 is a key focus, we are also looking forward to new opportunities in 2021. We have opened 4 communities during the pandemic and have another 8 opening before June 2021. In addition, we’ve transitioned several new communities into the ISL portfolio, so business continues to flourish, and we work with an incredible group of owners that are committed to the senior living space. We have adopted many topnotch safety technologies to make our communities as clean as possible, including Safe Family Lounges that separate indoor and outdoor environments; Health ENTRY Portals that utilize UV light at entrances; electrostatic handheld sprayers; Accushield screening devices; needlepoint bipolar ionization for air purification; and microbicidal paint.
Read the full article below.
Senior Housing News: Executive Forecast 2021: A Rare Chance For Senior Living Reinvention