Celebrating our Amazing Volunteers and Staff!
This week, we celebrate National Volunteer Week and Careers in Aging Week, honoring all who help others in so many ways. At Westminster Canterbury Richmond, we are so fortunate to have more than 500 residents and non-residents volunteer on campus. These hardworking people do so much: serving with Pastoral Care, transporting residents to and from activities, providing clerical support, assisting residents with recreation activities, ushering in the Sara Belle November Theater and providing a listening ear and a friendly companion for a resident, among other things. And we are also blessed with another fantastic group of people – our outstanding workforce! Our staff love serving seniors, and what better way to celebrate that spirit than during Careers in Aging Week.
Everything looks a little different in the midst of the international COVID-19 crisis – for everyone, everywhere. Like so many other senior living communities, we changed our day-to-day operations to accommodate this new “normal,” while maintaining a steadfast focus on our most important priority – improving the lives of the approximately 830 residents we serve every day. Many employees’ typical job duties changed as we temporarily suspended group activities such as fitness and studio arts classes, theater performances, group dining and more. The staff who typically fill these roles so well still serve our residents in the very best ways possible, just in different ways.
- Wellness Specialists may be sorting and delivering US mail for our entire campus…while also recording fitness opportunities for our residents to watch and do in their apartments when we can’t offer in-person classes.
- Salon Services operators may be screening employees with questions and temperature screenings as they enter the campus.
- Teachers from our Child Development Center may be out grocery shopping for our residents who are not currently leaving campus.
- Our wonderful Dining team still does what they do best – prepare and serve delicious meals. But for now, they deliver meals to our residents’ apartments instead of serving it in our dining rooms.
- Pharmacy staff fills and delivers prescriptions and other essentials directly to residents under self-quarantine.
- Our Cultural Arts team takes grocery orders while our theater performances and studio arts classes are suspended.
- Our Sales staff delivers packages to our residents.
And let’s not forget our residents themselves. Although they may not be able to gather in groups, that has not stopped many of them from volunteering in a different way – sewing cloth masks. This is all done with our eyes on the collective mission of keeping our community, both within and outside our campus, safe and healthy.
We could not serve our residents during this challenging time, or any time, without our wonderful, caring staff. We thank them for all they do for our residents, especially now when many are doing things they have never done before. They truly have made a career out of caring. During a very challenging, unprecedented time, we have banded together and are approaching each day according to The Westminster Canterbury Way!
From Westminster Canterbury Richmond, we wish good health to you and your family.
If you’d like to learn more about making a career out of caring, click here for employment opportunities at Westminster Canterbury.
Click here to stay updated on how Westminster Canterbury is responding to the COVID-19 crisis.