Senior citizens stay connected during state of emergency

Found art takes on new meaning at Fleet Landing. It is also keeping seniors connected.
To help combat the isolation of the COVID-19 emergency, Fleet Landing is hosting a series of art challenges, scavenger hunts, history lessons and daily trivia to keep its residents engaged.
“We are really supporting that connection and engagement right now, especially for our group. So, we are getting pretty creative with what we’re doing,” said April Morin, director of sales and marketing. “We’ve started doing some in-home scavenger hunts where residents will find a roll of toilet paper, something that’s 100 years old and a third random thing, so that’s been great for engagement.”
Last week, Morin said the community initiated a community art series which challenges residents to recreate recognizable pieces of art with items found in their home.
“We’ve had some pretty creative entries with residents recreating Girl with [a] Pearl Earring, The Scream,” she said. “It’s really been fun and they are really getting creative.”
Also helping residents stay active and connected is a new variety program broadcast directly into their homes. Hosted by Executive Director Josh Ashby and Chief Operating Officer Travis Schryer, the daily show delivers a humorous helping of news and entertainment throughout the community on an in-house channel exclusive to Fleet Landing residents.
“The two of them enjoy hamming it up together for the residents. The weekday show has really become a highlight of life here at Fleet Landing. Everyone kind of stops their daily activities to tune in for the 1 p.m. show,” said Morin.
“We’re sharing news and information with our residents. We have a live Q & A session and also do daily trivia, this day in history, we celebrate birthdays. There’s quite a bit of humor involved.”
Morin said the channel is also used to hold exercise classes for residents to continue their fitness routine while they are unable to gather in person.
“We are really maintaining a full series of classes for residents to take advantage of in their home,” she said. “We’re actually seeing, per resident report, higher attendance in classes, people actually being more active because they are able to do it right there in their living room which has been wonderful.”
The sales team has stepped in to bridge any communication gaps between residents and their families, reaching out individually by phone to assist with any technology challenges, connecting with family or finding the right resources.
“If we do have someone who is facing challenges, we can try and talk them through on the phone or connect with someone on campus who can try and help them out,” said Morin.
“Just like anyone else in Florida right now, everyone is under this ‘stay at home’ order. We’ve had a lot of great success with families connecting with their loved ones via Zoom and Facetime, so we’re setting those up. We’ve even had some spouses who are writing love letters to maybe their wife who’s living in our health care area. They are dropping off love letters every night, which is just incredible.”
Fortunately, since Fleet Landing boasts 125 acres of green space, residents are still able to get outside, take walks and enjoy the fresh air.
“Of course, we are promoting proper social distancing, but we are finding they are doing their own little pop-up happy hours in their cul-de-sacs,” laughed Morin. “We’ll see their chairs strategically placed six feet away and we have one resident who has become the self-proclaimed ‘social distance sheriff.’ So we’re all working together.”