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Safety Protocols in Senior Living Among New COVID-19 Variants

Viruses, such as COVID-19 can be much more dangerous for older adults and those with medical conditions. 

It can be stressful, worrying about how you will keep your loved one safe or putting that job in someone else’s hands. Fortunately, senior living communities are often one of the safest places for seniors to live. 

Enhanced memory care communities, like Kensington Place Redwood City, offer around-the-clock care, on-site nurses, and medical assistance. 

Learn more about the latest COVID-19 variants, how a senior living community can protect your loved one and keep them from becoming isolated, and how Kensington Place Redwood City allows your loved one to age in place. 

Characteristics of the latest COVID variants

As a way to survive and continue spreading, viruses naturally mutate and evolve. 

Fortunately, the latest COVID variant, Omicron, is a weaker version of the more severe variants, Alpha and Delta. 

Omicron appears more transmissible than other variants, but fewer hospitalization cases occur, most likely because it doesn’t attack the lungs like the earlier variant. 

Some of the most common signs and symptoms of Omicron are: 

  • Sore throat
  • Hoarse voice
  • Cough
  • Fatigue
  • Nasal congestion 
  • Runny nose 
  • Headache 
  • Muscle aches

Loss of taste may also occur, though it’s less common to experience this symptom with Omicron than with the Alpha and Delta variants. 

While Omicron is a milder variant, it’s still essential to protect your loved one from COVID, and help them maintain their health. 

How Kensington Place Redwood City continues to maintain best safety practices among residents and staff

At Kensington Place Redwood City, we take our resident’s health seriously and work hard to maintain a clean and safe environment. 

We keep our communities and residents safe by not only following, but going beyond the CDC guidelines and taking extra precautions.

Some of our safety measures include: 

  • Vaccination and booster requirements for staff and residents
  • Monitoring staff for fevers and symptoms
    • In our community, we use Accushield, a system that screens all visitors and team members when they enter the building
    • Each individual must review a list of symptom questions and test their temperature
    • This ensures that all who visit our community are safe, and not a risk to our residents
  • Frequent COVID tests for our team 
  • Mask requirements for staff 
  • Reminders for residents to wash their hands throughout the day
  • Thorough hand-washing and sanitization for staff throughout their shift
  • Providing alcohol-based sanitizer stations in all common community spaces
  • Using CDC-approved disinfectants 

How a senior living community can provide the best protection for your loved one

When your loved one lives in a senior living community they will receive all the care and support they need in one place. 

With on-site nurses and physicians, 24/7 care, rehabilitation services, dining services, and life-enrichment activities—your loved one will get assistance, support, exercise, and healthy meals, safely. 

If your loved one does become infected with COVID, or another illness, a senior living community will provide medical assistance and devices to comfort them and improve their health. 

At Kensington Place Redwood City, your senior loved one will always have someone to watch over them and monitor their health and wellbeing. 

As your loved one’s care needs change, our team will modify their care plan and make modifications accordingly. 

Knowing that your loved one has a supportive team and healthcare professionals on their side can help reduce any anxieties you or your loved one may have had about transitioning to a memory care community. 

Reducing social isolation and loneliness in a community setting

Older adults are often prone to social isolation and loneliness, especially when they live alone. If your loved one lives alone and you cannot keep up with their care needs, a senior living community can help.

At times older adults have difficulties driving, leaving their home, or socializing, and they need help to make socialization happen. 

Kensington Place Redwood City provides our residents with a calendar full of activities, seven days a week.  With activities, a dining room, a living room, and an outdoor terrace for both neighborhoods – residents have ample opportunities to engage in social conversations and fun. Live entertainment and dancing are daily! They can roam freely without being unsafe, with someone always watching out for them.

We know that offering our residents life-enrichment activities can help them find companionship and maintain their physical, mental, and emotional health. 

The best way to reduce stress, stimulate the mind, and nourish the spirit is to stay active, learn new things, and bond with other people. 

Our life-enrichment activities vary and change based on the needs and wants of our residents. We even offer pocket programming, which is centered on a more one-on-one approach if that is what the resident is more comfortable with.

A safe and loving community for your loved one 

Our Promise at Kensington Place Redwood City is to love and care for your family as we do our own.

Our team maintains this promise by offering exceptional care, comfort, and support, to improve our residents’ quality of life. 

Our Kensington community is a place where your senior loved one can truly age in place, even as their care needs change. 

With two memory care neighborhoods, Connections and Haven, we can tend to even residents with the highest of needs. 

Residents of Kensington Place Redwood City receive: 

Contact us or check out our blog when you’re ready to learn more about our safe and compassionate memory care community, amenities, caregiver resources, and upcoming events.