A MESSAGE FROM NATALIE, CEO

Dear Residents, and Family Members, As we approach a month known for graduations from High School & College, graduation parties to celebrate with family and friends, wedding celebrations, and family reunions; summer as we know, feels different for many. My heart breaks for seniors of 2020 and their family members who have a special mile-stone that is not occurring across the state. Hats off to all the creative people who are finding ways to do parades and methods to celebrate children’s birth-days, baby showers, wedding showers and now graduations. We are living in different times for sure. We have been on lock down for over two months. I say the word lock-down because this is what the residents refer to it as. We are living in a time when our residents now see us with masks daily. We are caring for many with memory loss, so I often wonder how they interpret the masks. Do they think we are bank robbers, surgeons, dentists, or that Halloween just came early this year? Regardless of how they interpret the masks, we wear them and do our best to communicate to residents who are hard of hearing and can no longer read our lips. We communicate with white boards for those who are able to see, and don’t have macular degeneration. We coordinate multiple window visits and explain over and over why you as family members can’t come in. We watch the family members with tears and many times the resident’s cry too as they want to hug their kids. Now that I am 53 years-old and have kids that are 23 and 25 years of age, I realize what my grandma meant when she said that no matter the age, they are always your kids. That explains why so many say their kids are coming and the kids are 60 – 70 years-old. What a wonderful thing to always have the childhood days of raising your kids in your memory bank. That is one joy of memory loss; the long term memory tends to remain. So, there is time to reflect on wonderful joyful times of being a mother. It is also amazing to me, how our residents with memory loss, still remember their own mother, and can talk about them. The bond is still there for them, and it gives them comfort. Mother’s Day looked different for many this year. As we approach Father’s Day, I am unsure what the guidelines will be for Assisted Living Facilities. As a Nurs-ing Home Administrator and CEO, I have spent the past 30 years serving seniors and their families to offer a great last chapter of life when services are needed. Aging has not changed. Services are still needed and caring for the entire per-son’s wellbeing is critical for every resident in our care. This means their emo-tional, spiritual, mental and physical care needs. It is a balancing act in these un-precedented times.

However, when I reflect on the Minnesota Covid-19 stats, only 100 people out of 3,200,000 have died from this virus who are not 85 years of age with Diabetic conditions, Congestive Heart Failure, Kidney Failure, Obesity, etc. One third of the deaths who were 85 plus years of age, had 3 or more disease processes at the time of their Covid death. It is true, that all of these deaths occurred in nursing homes or assisted livings. However, that does not seem odd to me, as this is the location where sen-iors with these needs are served. In fact, every year, we have a spike in February and March for Influ-enza and Pneumonia deaths for the same age bracket in nursing homes and assisted livings for those 85 and over. With that said, this is what we have done:

1. All staff are temp checked, and receive oximeter readings before the start of their shift. We have a pre-shift screening form to fill out to assure the employee is asymptomatic.

2. All residents are temp checked twice daily, and receive oximeter readings daily. To date, we do not have any residents who have been diagnosed with Covid-19.

3. If a resident is a new admit or returns from the hospital, we will attempt to have them reside in a private room for 14 days. The reality is we care for those with memory loss and dementia, so most will not stay in their room if they are wanderers. Those in wheelchairs may be content. Most of you understand that with memory loss and dementia, every day is a new day. If some-one is determined to walk, they will. Redirecting them will be attempted, but sometimes walk-ing is what soothes them. Most of you also know that those with memory loss sometimes go into someone else’s room. There are times they may crawl in bed with another thinking it is their spouse or thinking it is a sibling as many slept with their siblings as children. These be-haviors are all normal parts of dementia and memory loss. Most of you know that, while we are trying our best to keep them 6 feet apart, they will sometimes choose to hold hands with an-other who gives them comfort and sit together on the couch. Most of you know that the resi-dents do not understand what Covid is, so we explain it as a flu-like virus that is contagious. Our residents understand the flu.

4. We purchased a Clorox oxidization machine, which sprays all surfaces to kill Covid, Influenza

A & B and various other viruses. This is a great addition to our infection control measures. We continue to wipe down all surfaces. We continue to take resident’s outside as much as the weather has permitted.

5. We love all your support and kind well wishes to our staff. We really have an amazing team, and 5. appreciate all your kind words.

We look forward to the day we can all gather together again. We will continue to do Zoom, Face Time and coordinate calls with your loved one. If you are interested in this, please contact Autumn at 727-2800. We wish all our dad’s a very Happy Father’s Day. With gratitude for our team, Natalie Zeleznikar, CEO

Natalie Continued……...

FEATURED RESIDENT

Dennis Hackett is Keystone Bluffs featured resident for the month of June. Dennis was born in Du-luth, MN. He attended St. James School through the ninth grade and graduated from Denfeld High School. After high school Dennis joined the Navy. He served as a Third Class Petty Officer in the Weapons Department. Dennis was employed with Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company as their Safety and Security Director, Duluth Avionics, U.S. Steel, Walco Transport and Hegstrom Funeral Home. He was an Eagle Scout and very involved with St. James Catholic Church. Dennis enjoyed video photography and computer graphics. He describes himself as an “organizer of events”; the reunion of former office and shop employees at Diamond Tool and currently with the Catholic residents here at Keystone Bluffs. The best day of Dennis’s life was when he decided to sell his home and move into an assisted living residence. He would like to be remembered as “a good and helpful person”. Advice to the younger generation of today is “Be kind to everyone you meet”. Dennis enjoys living at Keystone Bluffs for the daily care and all the help they provide.

FEATURED EMPLOYEE

Keystone Bluffs employee spotlight for the month of June is Andrew Whereatt. Andrew is an RN and has been employed for a year and a half. He is part of the overnight staff here at Keystone Bluffs. Andrew was born in Duluth and grew up in Superior, WI. He attended Lake Superior College re-ceiving his Associates of Arts, Nursing and Massage Therapy diplomas. He is close to receiving his Bachelors of Science degree in nursing with just a little over a year left to go. His goal is to become a specialized pediatric nurse. In Andrew’s free time he enjoys exploring the outdoors, playing video and computer games. He describes himself as “smart, driven, handy and stubborn”. Something interesting about Andrew is he owns an online trading card store. When asked what he likes about working at Keystone Bluffs Andrew replied, “The Care staff: I couldn’t do my job efficiently without them. They always help and are so kind to all the residents

Effective 6/15/20, we will be working with a

two week Activity Calendar to keep events more current.

Our calendar will not be include with the newsletter

and can be viewed on our website at:

keystonebluffs.com

Thank you