‘Heron’s Key heroes’ get a surprise salute from room-bound residents

Staff at Heron’s Key, a retirement complex in north Gig Harbor, arrived at work one Sunday this month expecting another day trying to keep coronavirus at bay.

What they found surprised and delighted them.

That Sunday afternoon, April 13, the Heron’s Key staff were greeted with streamers on every balcony, fresh baked cookies, and signs and posters saying ‘Thank You’ to the staff for all of their hard work.

“It was quite a surprise,” said Amy Webb, the facility’s executive director. “When people came in through the break room area, there were smiles all around. I hear people saying how much they love working here because the residents are so special,”

With nearly 250 residents, whose average age is 78, Heron’s Key is particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus. But so far, there have been zero cases at the facility, and the staff have been working hard to keep it that way.

Heron’s Key is a $145 million community of apartment and cottage-style living units. There are 80 to 100 staff members who provide assistance to residents.

“It’s been a great time for us in terms of wanting to thank our employees. They have just been awesome,” said Mary Kazlusky, a resident of Heron’s Key and the president of the resident’s association.

An industry on alert

In Gig Harbor, where retirement homes and nursing facilities are almost a major industry, providers are struggling to keep their residents safe and happy at the same time.

Caregivers are painfully aware that the pandemic began in a Kirkland nursing home. This month, Pierce County registered its first two nursing-home deaths, both in Tacoma facilities.

With residents confined to their rooms, caregivers have had to get creative.

At Gig Harbor Retirement Living, residents were serenaded last week — safely, from outside — by an entertainer named Charlie Brown, a “one-man band” who specializes in oldies and patriotic songs. The residents watched from their rooms.

The complex has residents ranging from 68 to 102, and three that are 100, said Barbara Sykes, assistant general manager. Isolation has been rough on them, she said.

“Telling an 86-year-old she can’t talk to her neighbor is very difficult,” Sykes said.

“We still provide three meals a day but they are now delivered to every room. We want to keep our residents safe, and also our staff. Knock on wood, there are no sicknesses. We are so thankful,” she said.

Visitors are prohibited, even family.

“Thank God there are cell phones, so you can skype and zoom.,” Sykes said. “There are other solutions, but there is still nothing like face to face.”

Above and beyond

Back at Heron’s Key, employees have gone above and beyond what has been expected from them, residents say, from picking up groceries for each resident, to using chalk to write jokes on the sidewalk, putting a smile on the residents face as they walk outside.

“We had a water pistol fight the other day,” said Kazlusky. “The staff brought water pistols to any resident they ran into, and at 4:30 we all went out on our balconies and had a water pistol fight.

“Our staff are just really fun people, it’s very much like a family,” Kazlusky said.

With residents confined to their rooms, staff have been creative.

“The go out on the sidewalk and write funny jokes so the residents can look down from their balcony and smile,” said Web. “Anything we can think of that does social distancing but helps them through this crisis, we do. “

These fun activities have been incorporated into a safe environment. The beginning of every shift, the staff are required to go through a medical check and fill out an information form ensuring they have not been out of the country, and have not experienced any coronavirus symptoms.

Additionally, all staff and residents must wear masks when they are out and about, and must maintain the 6-foot social distancing guideline. The dining room is closed, so the dining room staff have been doing take-out orders for their residents.

Due to the staff’s hard work, Heron’s Key residents, along with a few upper management staff, have worked together in order to orchestrate this surprise.

Zoom cocktail parties

“One of our senior staff members went over to the dollar store. They found plastic table cloths that we cut into strips. Those plastic tables cloths are a dollar, it’s a really cheap, fun thing to do,” Kazlusky said.

At Heron’s Key, “it takes a village” is their mantra. The importance of community is great for these residents, but the importance of safety is greater. Many have incorporated Zoom, a video conference, into their normal live.

“Technology has been a bit of a challenge for some people,” laughed Kazlusky.

Kazlusky said the residents have Zoom classes where they’ve learned about ethics, have group workouts over Zoom, and the occasionally Zoom cocktail party.

“Everyone brings a glass of wine and we sit down on Zoom. We’ve had meetings by floor and by groups of friends,” Kazlusky said. “We are taking advantage of everything we can, because we are really maintaining isolation.”

Some of the staff new about the Sunday surprise ahead of time, but kept mum.

Driving into work that morning, said Webb, “It was really cool to see all the streamers. It shows how much the residents care about the staff.”

And, she added, “the cookies were awesome.

This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 12:00 AM.