Page 14 - Healthcare News Nov_Dec, 2020

SENIOR LIVING
No Time No Time
Like the Present Like the Present
Cedarbrook Village Navigates Safe Opening During Challenging Year
Russell, executive director of Cedarbrook Village, has worked in the industry for more than 20 years and has overseen plenty of community openings, but this one was different.
“For this grand opening, we made sure to have plenty of PPE on site for anyone who needed it,” Russell said. Moving peo- ple into their apartments safely during COVID-19 also required a new approach.
“We set up different times and ar- ranged for people to use different doors, so they would not run into each other,” she said, adding that social distancing and cleaning between move-ins was all part of the extra planning and organiza- tion necessitated by the pandemic.
When families help their parents move into senior living, it’s often a stressful time, she said, and the added stress of
BTy MARK MORRIS
he senior-living industry is preparing for a “gray tsu- nami.”
According to the U.S. Cen- sus Bureau, nearly 10,000
Baby Boomers will turn 65 every day for the next 10 years, while the oldest Boom- ers will start turning 80 in 2025.
Robert Kelley, in-house counsel for Everbrook Senior Living, predicts that, once Boomers start reaching that age, the
demand for senior-living communities will increase significantly. That’s one of the many reasons he’s excited about his company’s newest community, Cedar- brook Village in Ware.
From its corporate office in Southamp- ton, Everbrook already manages three senior-living communities in Windsor Locks, Hebron, and Bozrah, Conn., and Cedarbrook is its first community in Mas- sachusetts.
Originally planned for a July opening, various delays postponed the ribbon- cutting ceremony until Sept. 14. Kelly
14 WWW.HEALTHCARENEWS.COM NOV./DEC. 2020