Finding Hope During COVID-19 in June 2020, Part 1 with Daphne Davis

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following podcast is provided by pinnacles senior placements LLC and answers for elders radio, and welcome everyone on this bother’s Day weekend to answers for elders radio. In the month of June, here we have been. The last I heard the other day that our seniors have been on the quote unquote lockdown in senior communities for a hundred and twenty two days. This is a really, really difficult time for families and we’re really glad to be here because we have our wonderful Daphne Davis from pinnacles senior placements here to share a little bit about where we are in the process. So, Daphne, welcome to answers for elders once again. Well, hello everyone. I’m stilled to be here. You know, I’m so glad that you’re here for our families because there’s so much going on right now. And Daphne, you know, would you mind giving us kind of a little snapshot of what’s happening out there now that so many people are you know, counties are moving into phase two, but also, you know, how’s the mindset? How’s the emotional temperature going on with our seniors. You know, that’s a great question and and thinks are changing, and some awesome and some not so awesome, but we are changing and one of the things that I’m finding is that our seniors desperately, as well as the whole population, but desperately need connection. We need to be able to talk to each other, see each other, have a sense of hope. We’re getting on the side of a little bit of despair and so, like I’ve kind of been saying on and on, do what you think about doing, don’t put it off. Called somebody from the car and all of that, but more importantly, on finding success. And I’d love to tell just some stories, please do and just scenarios of things that are happening and I want to share them in the light of maybe you know someone who’s kind of in a similar situation or use yourself are or your family members are, because there is hope. There is hope, and so some of some of the stories that I have are, you know, from from someone losing their in care or at being with their daughter or son and now they have to go back to work and write that changed as everything. How do I how do I address that? What does it mean to look at assisted living. How do we do that? And what is a virtual tour and are they really going to be in their room for fourteen days with no contact with anybody? So I want to talk about some of those things. That would be great. Said Yeah, because I think some of our jargon has changed a little bit in the covid Nineteen Times. So let’s just it. That first story I’ve had exactly that happened and daughter had to go back to work and I get the phone call and says, Dancy, what do I do? And so writing the process of listening to their story and finding out care needs and, you know, location, budget, all of those things, we were able to find exactly the right assistant living that could accommodate her care needs. But also it was a building that in in a county that was, you know, not as affected by Covid so there wasn’t the absolute strict fourteen days of quarantine. Now let me tell you what that means. That means when someone was coming into a new community, the Department of Health and the CDC state of Washington as well, has recommended that we have people stay safe in their rooms for fourteen days, not only of themselves to not contract covid but also in case they have contracted at themselves and are asymptomatic right, not going to spread to other people. So we go through a protocol of checking the temperatures and all of that. And there’s still as contact when caregivers are still coming into their rooms, they’re still having their meals brought to them. You can have your door open to the hallway so you can hear kind of what’s going on. Some communities are playing different games at the hallway level, so you can have, you know, somebody calling out, be thirty six and still participate in playing Bingo at your door the right some communities that are saying, you know what, we just want to do this three or four days and let’s just make sure that we’ve got, you know, normal temperatures and we’re not showing any symptoms of anything, and then that kind of lists and goes to their social distancing protocol within their building. And so it’s absolutely doom and gloom because when we first day, no, I’m sorry, you can’t visit your your loved one at all, and I’m sorry that one does have to stay in their apartment for two weeks. Got It. That sounds awful, but it’s not so bad as thinking it’s been awful. And so those are things, though, to each story is different, each building is different. So I encourage all of our listeners to, you know, have enough curiosity and courage to give a call, if not to me, call the community that you’re thinking about and add them very exciting questions and if they say something you know, a phrase or a jargon that you don’t know, boldly ask what what does the virtual to mean? And Yeah, and that’s something I will have to say. I’ve had several people ask me what does it mean when you go to a website of a retirement community and it’s says we offer virtual tours? People, I don’t think a lot of us. I mean, I couldn’t give details. It’s like, are you going to take me around the entire building or you’re going to show me my apartments where you’re going to talk to me back and forth? Definitely. Would you share a little bit about what is involved in a virtual tour? Absolutely. So let’s take that scenario of calling a community that you found online or somebody that somebody’s recommended. You call them and they say we’ll do a virtual tour. Now some will say, let’s start with our website, because they have put virtual tours on their website, and so they’ll give you direction of how to be able to see that, and that’s probably the easiest to be able to see. It. Usually has been edited and you know them very professionally. It kind of does you a little snapshot. But a true virtual tour is when, and with a community, a large community, is going to probably be a marketing person that is going to take a tablet or take a phone or something, and they’ve instructed you on how to get onto the video call platform. That’s usually a facetime, skype, zoom and raise a lot google meetings, and there’s lots of them. But they’ll instruct you via email on how to do that. Now, don’t panic there, because we can always help you figure out how to do this and they’re very, very simple. So if you’ve never done a video call, don’t let that scare you. Will Walk you through how to do that. But anyway, so you’ll start and you’ll make you know the connection. You’ll probably start and the lobby of the building and the going to turn their camera around, the apparatus on their device and start walking through the building and so you will get a closer sense of what does this building feel like right now? You’ll hear the noises, you’ll see if there’s people around. Hopefully the person that’s doing the virtual tour isn’t going to make you busy because they’re moving the device around, but r live actual walk through the building, not only. What they’ll do is they’ll highlight the the dining room and activity room, maybe the outside area, and then they’ll probably turn the camera around if they’re walking down a long hallway, so that truly you don’t get busy. And then when they get to a couple of apartments, you said I want to see a one bedroom a two bedroom, they’re going to be able to physically be in the room, turn their camera around and actually show the room. Now this is where you get to say stop. Can I see the bathroom again? I didn’t quite you. The floor where? Where is that in relationship to the counter? Can I hang on to it or not? You know this? All kinds of questions. Can you tell me? How many steps is it across the Living Room? Just whatever helps you get a sense of that space. Now that R is that’s missing in those is you don’t get the vibe of the of the building, you don’t get the feel, and that’s where someone like myself or a really good person doing that tour with you can help you feel. This is typically what happens here. Maybe you can get some energy from that person. That is what I know pinnacle. As a pinnacle, we try to very hard to ask you questions about things that are important to you before the tour that we can help highlight those things or some things that you know just that would bother me to no end. We want to show you this is the negative side of this building so that you get what works for you and then you can make a value decision on the information you have. So and you you’re bringing yeah, and so what you’re bringing up is so critical. I go back to my memories of when I was looking for senior living for my mother and of course I didn’t know anything at that point right and I didn’t know there was people out there like Jeffy that could help me discern what was the best. But I will tell you, when you’re talking to how a vibe of the building that is so critical, I remember the day that we went out looking. We probably toured six seven properties and the thing that was so incredible about it is I pick the communities where I walked in and immediately in the lobby it’s like we had smiling seniors, we had people that were having fun, they were getting ready to have lunch, they were collaborate, you know, corroborating with each other and they were helping each other and I just got a different vibe from that community over others. Now it might have been a single point in time, but I think the other thing that you really hit on is how many of us know the right questions to ask, because I sure didn’t, and that is such a critical piece and it could have saved me and my mom a lot of headaches down the road because I didn’t have the proper, you know, tool chest within me. So this is where it’s made like adaptne coming in and being that advocate for your family and for your loved one is so, so critical and I’m so you know, important and and this is why I am such a huge proponent of working with you, because you really hope families in such a critical time. It is really important. And what I have a lot is I’ll ask somebody, do you have any questions, and this is before we’re starting the virtual tour. You, Dafy, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to not know or know any rights. Right. And I say to them I’m here to make sure that we cover all the areas that even you know you might forget about. And inevitably, after every virtual tour that we’re doing right now, people are saying constantly I would have never caught that. That didn’t even jump out at me, and I point out something in the community of you know, that’s unique to them or things that I know are really good about this community and you can expect on a regular basis. Right. And so it does take more communication, right, not because you’re missing the whole in person event. You said it very eloquently. Sees then, that you do need another person that kind of knows how to fill in them absolutely. So, before we go to our next segment, how do people reach you? You know you can go to my website, first of all at Pinnacle senior placements with an Scom, but you’re also welcome to call directly at eight hundred and fifty five, seven, three, four, one fifteen hundred. Thanks so much, Daphne, and she’ll be right back right after this. The preceding podcast was provided by pinnacles senior placements LLC and answers for elder radio. To contact pinnacles senior placements, go to Pinnacle Senior Placementscom