KENNEWICK, WA-
For Eleanor Ferreira and many others, the last year was tough.
“Everybody had a hard time being shut in our room, our apartments for a year,” said Ferreira. “I didn’t know whether it was gonna be a good day or a bad day. And as it went along, longer and longer, it was just so much to take every day.”
After COVID-19 vaccinations started going out to the residents and state guidelines for visitation loosened, things started looking up for residents.
Joe Green is the Executive Director at Brookdale Canyon Lakes.
“I certainly think that we’ve seen people, both residents staff and family members find the resiliency within themselves that they didn’t know they had,” said Green.
Green says 99.6 percent of staff and residents got both doses of the vaccine in the first few months of this year. Eleanor played a big role in alleviating some of the stress residents were feeling about getting the vaccine.
“She’s a retired nurse and she’s a very passionate advocate for vaccine acceptance,” said Green.
“If you’ve had vaccines before and you haven’t had problems you probably won’t with this one,” said Ferreira.
They can have visitors as well as see their family members, which green says made a big difference. They also have in-person dining, programs, exercise, and their pool and gym are open.
“Just being able to be around people has made a big difference,” said Ferreira.
Now, residents are looking forward to the future.
“Our residents love to travel and love to do interesting, engaging things. Live with purpose,” said Green.
Now that she is fully vaccinated Eleanor is looking forward to seeing her kids.
“Very much so. We need those hugs,” said Ferreira.
Discussion about this post