RY MAN HEALT HCARE
Ryman residents are nothing if not inventive, finding a myriad of ways to thank their village teams for the work they did through lockdown. They teamed up to thank them with poems, pot banging, home baking, impromptu concerts, tea towel waves and serenades. At Bruce McLaren they gathered on the balconies to applaud the teams, and a number of family members at different villages arranged for special treats to be sent to staff during lockdown.
Joan Swift was one of the thousands of residents to get in touch to say thanks. In fact, she was so impressed that Ryman Healthcare was doing its utmost to keep all of its residents safe, she even wrote a letter to TV3’s The AM Show listing all the many measures the company had taken in its 34 New Zealand villages. “We have just been so well looked after I wanted to tell them,” she says. “The management and staff went that extra mile to keep us happy and occupied, and always with lots of smiles.” Visitors were screened weeks before the country went into lockdown, and everyone who did visit had to have a temperature check and sign a declaration stating they were not unwell and hadn’t been in contact with people coming from overseas. Residents were also advised to stay within the village and staff stepped up the number of deliveries of groceries and supplies to reduce the need to leave the grounds. “We’d still get our happy hour each week, just delivered to the door. On Wednesdays we’d receive a bottle of milk, a loaf of bread and a packet of biscuits and we also received a huge carton of groceries including essentials and some sweet treats.” In her letter to TV3, she wrote: “This was so generous and thoughtful of Ryman. They are to be commended for their spontaneous gifts.” Along with waving to her family from afar when they brought her groceries, Joan says these gifts were a real highlight of the lockdown as it was always exciting to see what it could be.
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