Thanks to Pacifica by Carol Lee Hall

A Salute to the Heroes at Pacifica Senior Living San Leandro

My mother, Marion, has been living at Pacifica Senior Living in San Leandro since June, 2019, after she had suffered a fall at her senior independent apartment. She is wheelchair-bound and needs assistance getting out of bed, changing, bathing, etc. Before the pandemic lockdown, she enjoyed playing bingo with her friends, sharing meals in the dining room, and participating in group morning exercises in the assisted living facility. But since the mandatory shelter-in-place orders were given, all the residents are required to remain alone in their rooms all day. Visitors are not allowed.

My sister and I had been seeing our mom at least once a week each before Coronavirus struck. We would play bingo with her and my sister would take her to nearby Chinese restaurants for dishes she can’t get at Pacifica—tomato beef chow mein, chicken chow fun, won ton soup, and her favorite: black bean bitter melon. I would take her to doctors’ appointments. While tidying up the apartment, we would chat with her and make sure she was happy. We always celebrated Mother’s Day and other major holidays together. But all that changed with COVID.

I am thankful for the caregivers and staff at Pacifica. They have become like surrogate family to the residents. Besides attending to their physical needs, they boost their morale and care for their emotional and spiritual well-being. They take care of our mom when my sister and I can’t be there for her.

Lai Phan, the social director at Pacifica, visits each resident every day to chat with them, play a game or sing a song, and listen to them. She goes out of her way to love on the residents knowing that their families can’t. She arranges Facetime chats with loved ones and communicates with us too. Recently, Beth Jennings, executive director at Pacifica, and three other staff members celebrated a birthday with a resident named Ursula. She was so happy to be remembered.

In order to keep the residents and staff safe, each senior’s and each worker’s temperature is taken every day. Health care workers must wear gloves and masks all the time and practice social distancing with each other whenever possible. Pacifica keeps residents and their families updated on their policies related to COVID-19. The staff also teaches the residents how to remain safe and well by stressing handwashing and wearing masks. With these protocols, despite so much physical contact between helpers and residents, the possibility of the virus spreading to everyone is mitigated.

I’d like to thank these unsung heroes like Lai, Rosalyn, Jemie, Carlos, and Gladys who risk their lives simply showing up for work every day. When my sister and I can’t be there for our mother, they fill the void. Lai took all the video footage inside the building because I couldn’t do it myself.  I would have liked to sit in on my mother’s video doctor’s visit, but since I couldn’t, Lisa Carlson, LVN, sat with her and repeated everything the doctor said because our mother is hard-of-hearing. Gladys takes everyone’s temperature when they walk in the door. Heroes like the staff of Pacifica Senior Living help the residents cope with COVID. This pandemic may seem like it will last forever, but it will eventually end. I can’t wait until hug my mom in person again!

The Above video is one of the entries from “In Time of COVID19 Video & Essay Contest”

We believe that the pandemic has generated a treasure trove of interesting stories, valuable and relevant contents about humanity in all its spectrums. Stories about generosity, heroism, kindness and outstanding services to fellow human beings on the other.

Ding Ding TV (Silicon Valley Innovation Channel and Voice of Asian Americans) , CLUSA  together with 16 partners presented “In Time of COVID19 Video & Essay Contest” bringing these stories to our community and simultaneously acknowledge and honor their creators.

The contestant should read and follow the Contest Rulers published on May 10th 2020 from following link:

http://www.dingdingtv.com/?p=57035 

The contestant acknowledge Rule 5, 6

5)    If background music and other visual, verbal and sound (reference) material are used from internet, the contestant must possess copyrights or have explicit permission to use such  material(s).

6)    By entering this contest, the contestants will have given DingDingTV and Contest Partners explicit permission to distribute the video widely on media channels, the internet and social media sites such as Youtube, Facebook, WhatApp, WeChat, twitter….etc.