How the COVID-19 Vaccine Will Rollout in Our Communities

January 27, 2021
| Vitality Living

When it comes to healthy aging, quite honestly, there’s a lot to do. You’re supposed to make sure to keep your body active and your brain engaged all while maintaining your social connections as well. Sure, the benefits to your overall well-being are worth the effort, but retirement is supposed to be a time with less responsibility on your plate, right? Well, it turns out that in senior living you can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak. Here’s how programs like our Vivid Life make keeping active, engaged, and connected easy and fun!

Benefits of Healthy Aging

Good things happen when you focus on healthy aging. In addition to feeling better overall, which in and of itself is a win, other benefits of keeping active, engaged, and connected include:

Improved ability to do everyday things
Reduced impact of illness and chronic disease
Enhanced mobility, flexibility, and balance
Improved sleep
Increased energy level
Reduced feelings of depression and stress
Increased feelings of happiness and self-confidence
Reduced risk of cognitive decline
Increased mental adaptability and cognitive reserve
Improved memory recall and problem-solving skills
Improved concentration and attention to detail

How Senior Living Can Help

At home, particularly when living alone, it can be hard to stay as active, engaged, and connected as you’d like. From lack of opportunity to lack of motivation to lack of transportation to mobility challenges, and more, it’s tough, we get it! That’s why we created the Vivid Life program in our senior living communities. It’s composed of three parts: Vibrant Body, Vibrant Brain, and Vibrant Connections. Here’s what each entails:

Vibrant Body – We offer amenities such as a state-of-the-art fitness center, a pool, walking trails, gardening opportunities, and even a dog park to help you stay active. A sample of activities includes:

Walking club – Daily walks at different outdoor locations using pedometers to measure steps.
Yoga – At least once per week for gentle yoga, and once per week for mindful breathing.
Fitness classes – At least two times per week using a variety of hand weights, resistance bands, and circuit-type exercises.
Tai Chi – At least once per week with a live instructor.
Non-traditional exercise – Dancing, gardening, etc. at least two times per week.
Physical games and sports – Golf, putting, bowling, croquet, bocce, and ping pong available daily with organized events one to two times per week.

Vibrant Brain – We offer monthly calendars filled with classes, events, creative arts, and enrichment opportunities to help keep you engaged. A sample of activities includes:

Visiting lecture series – Twice per month with topics such as cultural, historical, local interest, career-oriented, etc.
Creative art series – At least one per week with a theme that runs 3-6 weeks, such as poetry writing, storytelling, painting, digital photography, etc.
Learning series – At least three times per month with an emphasis on learning something new such as foreign language, sign language, technology, hobbies, etc.
Games – At least one time per week and may include poker, bridge, Scrabble, etc.
Mindfulness – A meditation class once per week and gratitude discussion group twice monthly.
Church service – At least once a week through visits by local churches.
Stress reduction – At least once per month class that offers deep breathing exercises, nature walks, music appreciation, spa-type treatments, etc.

Vibrant Connections – We offer resident-led clubs, social events, outings and volunteer opportunities for any interest to help you stay connected. A sample of activities includes:

Outings – At least twice per month and may include going to concerts, art shows, museum visits, theatre productions, etc.
Intergenerational programming – At least once per month and focuses on building relationships between young adults/children and residents.
New resident welcome party – At least once per month to formally introduce all new residents, and includes ice breakers, social games, etc. to encourage connection.
Philanthropic program – At least once per month provide residents the opportunity to give back to the community, such as volunteering for a local food bank or pet shelter.
Resident-led clubs – May include game clubs, professional clubs, common interests, etc. that meet at least monthly.

What’s more, it’s all right outside your door (or transportation is provided offsite) and all in a supportive environment with home maintenance, housekeeping, and restaurant-style dining freeing your time to make it even easier to stay active, engaged, and connected.

Learn more about Vitality Living’s Vivid Life programs. Or find a Vitality Living community near you today to schedule a tour.

With our residents and team members in Phase 1a, we’re already saying ‘yes’ to the COVID-19 vaccine and ‘no’ to this dangerous virus. The vaccine rollout is underway at Vitality with CVS hosting its first clinic earlier this month in some of our communities. Here’s what to expect as we safely support the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine going forward.

How We’ve Prepared

While the CDC has provided recommendations to federal, state, and local governments on who should be vaccinated first (which includes residents in senior living), each state creates its own plan for receiving and distributing the COVID-19 vaccines.

Our communities have completed all necessary steps to prepare for this, including:

Registering all communities with the CDC and selecting the preferred pharmacy.
Receiving confirmation from the pharmacy with an overview of the next steps.

We also continue to follow all local, state, and federal guidelines and protocols for COVID-19 response as outlined here to minimize the risk of exposure for our residents and team members.

What’s Next for the Vaccine Rollout?

We’ve partnered with CVS who will be hosting three clinics in each of our communities in which to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. CVS will communicate directly with each community to provide the three pre-selected clinic dates and will review the details of each with the community’s senior management.

Then, you can expect your community to:

Notify residents, families, and team members of the three clinic dates.
Provide consent forms from CVS for the first and second vaccine clinics with directions and the due date for return.
Upload resident data into CVS’s Vaccine Clinic Scheduler and then those who opted for the vaccine will receive a specific appointment time for the clinic date.
With support from CVS, host a clinic for the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
With support from CVS, host a clinic for the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Benefits of the COVID-19 Vaccine

We understand that some may be anxious about receiving the vaccine, but rest assured that for the FDA to grant Emergency Use Authorizations, clinical trials must first show the COVID-19 vaccines meet rigorous criteria for safety and effectiveness. What’s more, the CDC’s v-safe tool, a smartphone-based, after-vaccination health checker, provides an additional layer of monitoring to rapidly detect any safety issues with COVID-19 vaccines.

Seniors specifically are at high risk for severe medical complications from COVID-19 and getting the vaccine offers tremendous peace of mind — not only helping to protect them from getting this dangerous virus but by helping to stop the spread of the virus.

Residents in senior living benefit even further by being among the first group to be vaccinated, even before seniors at home. Plus, they are even further protected with COVID-19 vaccine clinics on-site in our communities, sparing them the need to go out in high-risk public spaces to receive it.

For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine, visit the CDC.

Considering senior living? We are still accepting new residents safely and with residents among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, there has never been a better time to move. To learn more, contact us or schedule a virtual tour today.

COVID-19, Senior Living

Vitality Living

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