News

Dear Terraces Residents, Family Members and Friends,

I’d like to start this week’s update by acknowledging the chaos that is gripping our nation on the heels of the death of George Floyd in the hands of Minneapolis police officers. While no one can condone looting and rioting, the vast majority of those who have taken to the streets are peaceful protesters who want to effect such change. We pray that our leaders find the wisdom, strength, and political will to promote unity over division. Thankfully up to this point in Pasadena, the protests have been peaceful and respectful.

Pasadena protesters stage march, candlelight vigil to mark George Floyd’s death

Second of two George Floyd-inspired protests underway in Pasadena

Several weeks ago, we made testing for employees a requirement, as they are eligible for free testing through the County as front line workers. As most, if not all of you know, the first round of testing revealed two employees with positive readings. Both employees are quarantining at home and will return to work only after testing negative two times. As of now, they remain asymptomatic and I hope you’ll join us in wishing them well on their recovery. Testing of employees will be ongoing for the foreseeable future, so that we can nip any outbreak in the bud to the best of our ability.

Obviously, we will continue to take aggressive measures to reduce the likelihood of a spread, such as hourly sanitizing of every department and all common areas & furniture, masking of all employees, following social distancing guidelines, thrice daily temperature checks of all residents and employees and use of an oximeter to test oxygen levels of our quarantined residents daily.

On another note, we are so happy to welcome back our amazingly creative and hardworking Activities Director, Akira Jones, from maternity leave! A big thank you and congratulations are in order to her assistant, LaShawna Thompson, for filling in with such aplomb. Her energy and positive attitude are appreciated by both staff and residents alike and we are blessed to have her as part of our team!

Operationally, we have a couple of great updates this week. Chef Ed Axia has begun working with an outside dietitian to start incorporating immune-boosting foods and foods that fight inflammation into our menu. Foods rich in Vitamins A, C, and K, as well as iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium through broccoli, spinach, and other veggies, will be featured.

We’ve started to expand our virtual programming to include exercise classes and MindFit classes. With Akira’s return, we can count on finding ever more ways to utilize technology to our residents’ advantage until we are able to start group activities again. As always, you can go to our Facebook page to see videos of how we’re keeping your loved ones engaged and physically active.

As always, please let us know if you have questions, concerns or if there’s anything we can do to help. We’re always here for you!

Until next week,

Sam Baum

Community Relations Director