Weekly Update March 12, 2021
March 12, 2021
To: Solheim Employees, Residents, Family Members and Stakeholders
From: Sam Oden, CEO of Solheim Senior Community
This special March weekend always sneaks up on me… that’s right, I love the extra daylight at the end of the day, but it takes a few days for me to get used to the time change as we move our clocks forward an hour on Saturday night! Don’t forget and get caught running “late” this Sunday morning!
Curative Care—the third-party entity overseeing the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccinations—has now completed their facilitation of access to COVID-19 vaccinations for interested residents and staff on our campus. Any remaining interested staff and residents who (for any reason) did not obtain a COVID-19 vaccination through that program are, of course, completely free to obtain any COVID-19 vaccination at any time through any provider or means that may become available to them in their individual capacity—although I will remind everyone one more time that Solheim is not currently requiring COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of living or working at Solheim. Please reach out to your primary physician if you have any questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
One of our goals this year is to create a new opportunity for you to make a difference here at Solheim. To that end, we are in the initial planning stages of starting an Employee Scholarship Fund which will allow us to help support our wonderful staff members as they further their own educations. As Barbara Rogers (a current Solheim resident and Board Member) notes: “Education is so important, and I think our staff deserve every opportunity to continue and expand their learning!” Barbara will be spearheading our resident-led Employee Scholarship Fund Committee, and I’d like to thank her very much in advance for the wonderful job that I know she will do leading this worthwhile charge. If you’d like to make a gift to this Fund, please contact Tina Antypas at tantypas@solheimsenior.org.
Our new work order system has been in place for a week, and even in this initial implementation stage, it is already allowing us to streamline and expedite the process of receiving and responding to repair and maintenance requests from our residents! Because this is a computer-based system, we are currently encouraging our residents to call the front desk with any requests and we’ll get those entered into the system for you right away. Our facilities department will be reviewing these orders daily, and it is our goal to handle all non-emergency requests within 72 hours. As I mentioned in my last update, there will be a “learning curve” associated with implementing this new system, so we do appreciate your patience—but it’s exciting to see the progress that we’re already making.
I am also very excited to report that our renovation of Halvorson Neighborhood’s indoor spaces is nearing completion, and that we are continuing with our Health Center room renovations. Please rest assured that our contractors completing these projects are all fully aware of our COVID-19 policies and procedures, and Solheim staff have also been instructed to monitor them whenever they are on campus to help ensure their compliance to the greatest possible extent. The uninterrupted safety, comfort, and service of our residents always remains our top priority!
Our visitation hours are still from 10am to 4pm, and we ask that all visits be scheduled in advance with Kathy Rust. At this time, these visits should only be in our outdoor spaces (when weather permits) or in one of our indoor common areas. We also ask that you limit your visit to 30 minutes, so that we can accommodate as many family visits as possible. And once again, we emphasize that all visitors must follow our infection control guidelines, practice social distancing, and wear face coverings at all times. To schedule a visit, please email Kathy Rust at KathyR@solheimsenior.org. As always, if you are feeling ill, please do not visit our campus!
As of today’s writing, I am very happy to report that we have no new confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 anywhere on campus.
If you have any specific questions, please direct them to Tina Antypas at 323 257-7518 X225 or tantypas@solheimsenior.org.