Community Update for Week of 7/4/2022

July 6, 2022

Update to residents on 7/5/2022

Coffee Hour & Health Services Forum

Coffee Hour & Health Services Forum – Double-Booking! We will gather on Wednesday, July 13 at 9:30 AM for our next Coffee Hour (Fox and Fell) and at 4:00 PM for a Health Services Forum (Auditorium).

The Coffee Hour is also on KOTV and on Zoom. To join via Zoom, use this link: https://kendal-org.zoom.us/j/87479090692. Meeting ID: 874 7909 0692

The Health Services Forum is also on KOTV (but not on Zoom.) Topics will include Managing Health Care Costs Through Home Health, Medical Companion Options, Transitions in Care Scenarios and Q/A with Georgia Newman, MD. Questions on any of these topics can be sent in advance to Stacy at sterrell@kao.kendal.org

Lap Pool Reopened – at least temporarily

The lap pool reopened on Friday, July 1, and remains open as we await a specialty company to help us identify the leak. Stay tuned as more information emerges, we may need to close the pool again for inspection and repairs. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact FS or Fitness staff.

Natasha Miller Accepts Work-from-Home Opportunity

Friends, we are sad to announce that Natasha Miller, our friendly Health and Wellness Clinic Administrative Assistant, has recently accepted an offer for employment that will allow her to work from home and spend more time with her family. Natasha expressed that it was a difficult decision to accept this offer, given how much she likes working at Kendal and appreciates her daily interactions with residents, but shared it is the right decision for her family. Her last day in the Health and Wellness Clinic will be Friday, July 8. Please feel free to stop by the Health and Wellness Clinic to wish her well or give her a call at 775-9819. Thank you for being a shining star at Kendal. We are actively searching for a successor to Natasha. Elizabeth Sousa, our recent Administer-in-Training graduate who finished her AIT experience June 30, will be working temporarily in this position until a successor is found and onboarded.

Dining Update

Greg Zehe, Director of Hospitality Services & Assoc. Administrator

CommUnity Picnic Returns Tuesday, July 12

After a two-year absence, we are having our summertime CommUnity Picnic next week! It will be held from 11:30 AM – 1:15 PM in front of the Heiser entrance. Tents and tables and chairs have been rented and will be set up in the Heiser circle nearest the entrance and on the lawn west of the entrance. A picnic buffet will feature lemonade, iced tea, soda, burgers (beef and veggie), hotdogs and brats, assorted salads and fresh fruit, finishing with warm fruit cobbler and ice cream for dessert. Yum! At 11:15am, Stephens Care Center residents visit the picnic buffet first to ensure they can get their food and settle under a tent before the rest of the crowd begins at 11:30am. If you wish to help transport an SCC resident to the picnic, please contact Michele Tarsitano-Amato at 775-9890 or email her at mtars@kao.kendal.org.   

This is our time for residents from the entire community and staff members to enjoy fellowship and being together. We hope you will all come and refresh or build new relationships. In the event of rain, we will set in the Auditorium. The Heiser Circle entrance lane will be blocked off beginning at 10am with the exit side left open for vehicles departing from Lot 11. We look forward to seeing you there!

The Langston Report

The Langston has reopened for breakfast and lunch service to residents and staff. The hours are the same as pre-pandemic: 11:30am – 1:30pm, Monday thru Saturday.

We have had a good response to the changes. Residents have responded well to the menu and seem to enjoy creating special meals at the different stations. After we get rolling, your feedback and suggestions will be crucial to this concept. Here are a couple of important things to keep in mind.

• The menu is only a guide, you can add or subtract ingredients or create your own dish from the ingredients at hand.
• We will be serving breakfast and lunch in the Langston and dinner in the Fox & Fell every day except on Sunday when the Fox & Fell will be serving an upscale menu at both lunch and dinner.
• Please allow some extra time for your food to be prepared, sometimes we will invite you to sit down and bring your special to you.

Supply Chain Woes Continue

It has been several weeks since I last reported on this situation, and I don’t have any good news to share. The chaos has not improved and none of our orders arrive complete anymore, so nothing is guaranteed. We thank you for your patience as we have had to make so many substitutions.

Housekeeping/Laundry Update

Window cleaning is completed for 2022 season

Thanks for your patience and understanding as this year they faced many challenges and setbacks.

Deep cleans

All deep cleans requested so far have been scheduled. If you haven’t scheduled one yet, now is the perfect time. If you are planning a trip and would like your deep clean completed while you are away, we can accommodate this request. A complete list of what is included in the deep clean is available in the Resident Handbook. If you have any other questions, please contact Crystal Hall at cyhall@kao.kendal.org or by phone: 440-775-9199.

Carpet cleaning

We want to remind you that carpet cleaning can be scheduled once a year at no charge as this is part of the housekeeping service Kendal provides. Any additional carpet cleaning throughout the year is charged to your Kendal bill at the hourly housekeeping services rate of $25/hour.

SCC housekeeping

We are still in search of an additional housekeeper, but our hardworking team continues their excellent teamwork, striving to complete daily tasks.

FACILITIES & GROUNDS NEWS

Meadows and Low Mow Grass

Part of Kendal at Oberlin’s Master Landscape Plan includes initiatives to convert traditional lawn into meadows, low-mow grass, and rain gardens. These alternatives are better than turf at carbon sequestration, provide more food and habitat for wildlife, emit less carbon emissions and sound pollution to maintain, and can help improve soil and water quality.  

Grounds staff is organizing a 0.75 acre expansion of the meadow on Wildflower Hill. Most of the flat lawn at the base of the hill will be converted to native prairie plants. The area to be expanded has been given its first of a few herbicide treatments to kill the existing grass. It will begin to turn brown and will remain so until it can be seeded in Winter. Next Spring the seedlings will begin to grow and over the next three years the plants will establish and grow in. Each year the new prairie will continue to mature and evolve and should be filled in by the second or third year.  

Signage has been placed along the perimeter path near Wildflower Hill and updates on the project will be shared periodically. If you have any questions or are interested in more information, please contact Rachel Duncan (rduncan@kao.kendal.org) or Dan Baker (drbaker@kao.kendal.org).   

Pressure Washing of Cottages

Starting the week of June 29^th the Grounds staff will be performing our yearly pressure washing to the fronts of cottages. This process will take several weeks as we fit it in with our other work. Grounds staff will move items you have in front of your cottages during pressure washing and move them back when they are finished. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact Dan Baker at 775-9849 or drbaker@kao.kendal.org

Covid News and Statistics

Governor Mike DeWine’s regular COVID Press Conferences: https://ohiochannel.org

Omicron-based coronavirus booster shots will roll out this fall

(The Washington Post)

This fall, vaccine makers will begin rolling out coronavirus booster vaccines better tailored to fight the current phase of the pandemic.

Two days after outside experts voted in favor of a new vaccine adapted to protect against omicron, the Food and Drug Administration announced that the fall shots would include a component from BA.4 and BA.5, the omicron subvariants gaining ground in the United States.

FDA advised companies Thursday to create a two-part vaccine for a fall booster campaign. One part of the vaccine will be the original formula, based on the version of the virus that spread globally in early 2020. The other part will be based on the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants that currently make up half of the strains that are sequenced in the United States.

It is quite possible that BA.4 and BA.5 will be eclipsed by new variants by the fall, but the hope is that a new shot will help broaden immunity, since they are closer to where the virus is today.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/30/omicron-vaccine-booster-fall/