Weather, safety concerns put to rest at local senior communities

When the blizzard hit in early February you can be sure that there were a lot of senior citizens sitting cozy and warm in their senior community homes and apartments, watching the beautiful snowfall without a care in the world.

That was possible because they knew that they had no snow to shovel, no worries about staying warm or having power and no worries about what would happen if they needed to get to the hospital in an emergency.

Don Sauls, a resident of Wyndemere in Wheaton for the past four years, was so grateful to the staff there that he wrote them a letter of thanks.

“As the storm moved in, I was confident that you would take good care of us, but I had no idea of how good the care would be. That so many of you were willing to stay with us during the storm was very impressive,” he wrote.

“Many … may not fully appreciate what it means to us older folks, especially to those by ourselves, to know that no matter what, that we’ll be cared for,” Sauls continued in his letter. “It’s a huge comfort to me to go to bed at night and know that the Wyndemere team is in charge.”

Sauls recently recalled living in semirural South Barrington for many years where getting snowed in was always a worry. “If I was still there and something happened, no one would have been there to help,” he said.

He was also impressed with the Wyndemere staff’s performance during last summer’s lengthy power outage. They had backup power for his CPAP sleep machine; provided lanterns to light the way and plentiful sandwiches to eat. There were also constant well-being checks on the residents throughout the crisis.

“This has been wonderful for me. I tell people that it is dumb to hang around your house alone when you can move someplace like this and have friends and security,” Sauls said.

Virtually all senior communities offer the standard safety measures for seniors like call buttons strategically placed around their apartments, grab bars in the bathrooms, emergency generators, daily well-being checks on residents, on-call nurses, security officers and emergency supplies of lanterns, blankets, batteries, water, food and radios.

In fact, safety is such an important issue for senior communities that most have a person whose job it is to oversee such measures. At Wyndemere that person is Steve Schultz.

In addition, many offer residents reminders and safety tips which pertain to the season — tornado drills and preparedness in the spring, cautions about falls on the ice in the winter, etc.

“We offer peace of mind for the elder person and their family because they know that someone is always here to help,” explained Karen Larson, executive director of Windsor Park in Carol Stream. “We have guards cruising the campus and walking the halls in the evenings and on the weekends. Those residents who shouldn’t drive anymore can go shopping or get to doctor appointments through our transportation service. There is no need for them to clear snow or clean gutters anymore because we do that and they know that we have food to last several days and backup generators to provide power.”

“As we age, anxiety can increase, especially when we can’t see or hear as well as we once did. So it is very comforting to know that we can just pick up the phone and call someone if we are fearful,” Larson added.

During the February blizzard, Windsor Park housed its staff on cots and turned the whole experience into a fun and festive, community-building event for residents in its 360 residential living units, 70 assisted living apartments and 79 skilled nursing beds.

Friendship Village in Schaumburg also has the traditional safety measures in place since safety is one of its primary missions, said Helene Corcoran, director of administrative and support services and risk manager for the 1,000-resident community.

“While we do not knock on the doors of our independent living residents every day, we do offer a check-in service where we will check on them if they don’t check in with us,” Corcoran said. “In addition, if our staff notices that someone who generally comes to meals has not been there, our life service coordinators, who are social workers, will make a hospitality check to see if they are sick and haven’t wanted to bother anyone. That is why we also ask residents to let us know if they are going away on vacation or a long weekend.”

These same social workers are also available to seniors who want to drop in and talk to them about family, medical, legal and other issues that are making them fearful.

“The elderly have many fears so this service is a real benefit. They can talk things out with these unbiased individuals for free and get some practical help. Family members may also consult with the life service coordinators,” she said.

And when someone returns from a hospital or rehab stay, the social workers will follow the situation, communicate with the family and suggest services that may be needed.

Safety is also the bottom line when it comes to fitness classes and equipment. The more fit a senior is, the less chance there is of them falling and becoming injured, Corcoran said. So they have free use of a gym and indoor pool where they can take classes that improve their balance, strengthen muscles, exercise joints and generally address physical health in order to enhance their safety.

Friendship Village also has an extensive safety subcommittee called SAWS (Safety and Wellness Subcommittee). It meets with resident volunteers monthly to plan safety and health-related programs and displays to educate the residents about tornado preparedness, safety when going out in the dark, driving safety tips, avoiding trips and falls, the dangers of mixing prescriptions and other similar topics.

“Not everyone likes to go to presentations where they may not be able to hear well and are in a large group, so we make sure we put the same information on bulletin boards and other displays so that everyone will get the benefit of the information,” Corcoran said.

Wyndemere in Wheaton also holds safety related presentations for residents. The FBI recently offered a program on combating fraud aimed at seniors and the community’s Seniors and Law Enforcement Together (SALT) group presented a program on local crime trends and how to prevent them.

Safety is even more of an issue for seniors who have started to decline and now need an assisted living environment, said Cathy Duer, marketing and sales director at Delnor Glen in St. Charles.

“Families come to us because their loved one is not taking or is confused about their medications; has lost interest in cooking and cleaning; and is feeling isolated because his or her friends are gone and the family members are busy. So the elder person no longer feels that they have a reason to get out of bed in the morning,” Duer said.

“Moving to an assisted living community like Delnor Glen gives them the opportunity to have structure and a routine, which is so critical. We remind them to go to meals and take their medications and they enjoy being with peers who understand what they are feeling and going through. They also form a bond with the staff.”

Duer is also a member of the Central Kane County Triad advocacy group for people who work in senior care communities. It is now working with the Kane County Sheriff’s Department on safety presentations to be taken to senior communities and centers throughout the region. Presentations cover such topics as scams perpetrated on the elderly and even the problem of grandchildren raiding their elderly grandparents’ medicine cabinets for drugs.