NEW ORLEANS — No doubt, everything from washing hands to PPE can help protect you from the coronavirus. The executive director of an assisted living and memory care facility in Algiers also relies heavily on communication.
Monique Cheatam runs the Algiers Point Suites facility and is our Health Care Hero of the Day, sponsored by Schonberg Care.
“If you feel like you’re working with someone that’s an open book, then you know they’re going to tell you what’s going on,” Cheatam tells WGNO.
Safety precautions at Algiers Point Suites include quarantining residents to their rooms for more hours of the day and banning all visitors. But Cheatam also makes sure her team communicates with those residents and their family members about the reasons for the safety precautions.
Also, activities that once included large groups of residents are now organized for smaller and properly separated groups or even one-on-one interaction with workers.
“We’ve asked the musicians to play several different sets so we can circulate people in and out,” Cheatam says. “So we can have some sunshine, have some music, get out of their rooms for just a little bit.”
Cheatam also makes sure there are plenty of outdoor visits between residents at their families at the facility’s fence line, allowing them to see each other and chat with the fence ensuring a safe distance.
When will the pandemic be over for Cheatam and her crew?
“I think once the N95 masks come off our faces, that’s when I can breathe,” she said with a smile.
For more of Cheatam’s story, click on the video at the top of this story.
