Doing Our Part to ‘Flatten the Curve’

March 16, 2020

Piedmont Housing Alliance touches many areas of our community through staff, residents and clients, so we are working to take impactful steps as we attempt to do our part to flatten the curve of this virus.

What does it mean to “flatten the curve?”

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is already rapidly spreading throughout the country, so it is important that individuals and organizations do what they can to slow the spread, keeping in mind that without widespread testing, cases could actually be much higher than what we see being reported.

Organization-wide precautions

  • Main office closed until further notice. Beginning Tuesday, March 17, our Berkmar office will be closed to the public until further notice.
  • No handshaking. We have adopted a strict no handshaking policy at the Berkmar office as well as all of our resident communities.
  • Hand washing. All staff is encouraged to wash hands frequently according to the CDC’s instructions and use hand sanitizer in between hand washing.
  • Heightened sanitizing and cleaning. Offices are sanitized after each appointment with clients and our communal spaces are wiped down twice a day.
  • Virtual and phone appointments. Beginning March 17, all of our appointments will be virtual or held via phone. There will be no in-person appointments for the foreseeable future.
  • Non-essential meetings and gatherings canceled. We have canceled all non-essential meetings and gatherings until further notice.

Precautions at our communities

  • Visitor limitations. Residents at our communities have been encouraged to limit the number of visitors they welcome into their home until further notice.
  • Entrances/Exits. For the foreseeable future, each senior living community will have one main point of entry and exit.
  • Limited use of communal areas. Residents will limit gathering in communal areas such as the lobbies and community rooms of each community. Most communal areas such as gyms/workout rooms, public restrooms and TV rooms are temporarily closed.
  • Daily Walkthrough and Check-in. Beginning Tuesday, March 17, we will be conducting a daily walkthrough of each community and checking in with each resident to assess their needs.

Resources

We acknowledge that this is largely, uncharted territory, but there are already an abundance of resources available and more being developed daily. Here are some resources we are sharing with residents, clients, staff, and you. Check our website frequently for updates and get email updates by signing up here.

Mental Health Resources

Food resources

Government Resources

Business and Financial Resources

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