John Knox Village President and CEO Gerry Stryker (left) shows his gratitude for members of the Home Health Agency.
A Hopeful Future: Adapting, Learning, and Succeeding During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By Steve Bahmer, LeadingAge Florida President & CEO
T
he activities look different. Masked, and more distant, sometimes spanning thousands of miles of high-speed fiber, and sometimes separated only by the beauty of a southwest Florida lake. “Throughout the past 100 days, we have surprised ourselves by living fully, staying active, and finding interesting things to do—pandemic or no pandemic,” said Bunny Nesbit, a member at The Glenridge on Palmer Ranch in Sarasota. “We’ve painted some amazing works of art, we’ve written some zany poetry, and we’ve exercised by our gorgeous Center
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Lake, all the while wearing our masks and maintaining social distancing,” she said. Since the first known case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States in mid-January, the term ‘social distancing’ has become common parlance, and masks have become a necessary accessory for LeadingAge Florida members and their residents. Those precautions, and so many more, comprise a reimagining of services and service delivery in the midst of a virus outbreak that is most threatening to seniors and continues to spread rapidly after the Fourth of July holiday. “I think I can truthfully say that this has been the most terrible and most inspiring
time in my career,” said Tim Ficker, Executive Director of Cypress Cove in Ft. Myers. “It is, at once, overwhelming and uplifting,” Flicker said. “This pandemic elicits some of the deepest expressions of fear and the greatest acts of courage by both residents and staff. I cannot imagine a time in the history of our field when our mission of holistic care with dignity and choice has been so important.”
In This Together The transition from open communities of care bustling with activity to safe havens fortified against the virus began shortly af-
