During the month of March, the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. States throughout the USA began to quickly adapt. New York State declared a state of emergency on March 7th. Following this, all “non-essential businesses” were put on PAUSE.
Essential businesses, Senior Home Care included, had regulations placed on how many employees could be at the workplace at a time. These businesses had to figure out how to keep their employees safe while delivering their service to consumers.
How we’ve adapted: What has changed
In early March, FirstLight Home Care quickly recognized that COVID-19 would have a significant impact on our community. With Senior Home Care being an essential service we quickly implemented our emergency response plan. Our team was prepared to deal with any challenges to come. This allowed our office staff to work safely from home ensuring the continuity of our services to our clients. In addition, our frontline hero’s now needed more support than ever, and our office team was ready.
As the true impact of COVID-19 began to unfold, the Department of Health Emergency Guidance, Dear Administrator Letter’s, Executive Orders, and Regulation changes were now daily reading for all Licenced Home Care Agencies. Webinars and Zoom meetings filled our calendars. All this information trying to keep us up-to-date with an environment that was changing faster than anyone ever imagined. New protocols were quickly developed, all to help contain the spread of COVID-19 and to protect our clients, caregivers, and the community at large. PPE became the new buzzword and finding an adequate supply became the new challenge.
PPE ready to be deployed to our frontline workers.
What does the new normal look like today?
Over a 1 week period in early March, Senior Home Care operations changed very quickly. Now, all of our Caregivers go through a health screening daily before they visit each client. This screening checks on temperature, possible exposure, and other known symptoms, all before our caregiver enters the home of a client. PPE or Personal Protective equipment is now worn at all times in the home, and all clients go through additional health screenings by our RN prior to admission.
Our office team has adapted well to working from home, and I am proud to say we did not skip a beat. All of the hard work on our emergency preparedness planning paid off. Our phones all work remotely, our investment in technology platforms did not fail us, and most importantly all of our staff are safe and healthy.
Looking forward
FirstLight Home Care is open for business and we are accepting clients. While the process has changed, the delivery of our Senior Home Care services has not. In fact, with the added regulations, health screening, and additional daily communication with our caregivers and clients, we feel that our service delivery platform has grown stronger. The quality of care our team is providing has reached a new high.
We all eagerly await the time when it is safe to return to normal. This may take some time and it very well might be a “new normal”. Nobody knows just yet. The efforts of our local government and health care professionals seem to be working and we will continue to look to the professionals for guidance. Please check the following County and State websites for real-time updates.
FirstLight Home Care provides daily assistance and the essential support the elderly need to remain active and independent in their homes. Whether you need options for yourself, or an aging loved one, we are here to help.
Contact us on 914-215-1915, or fill out our online contact form here.