Hebrew SeniorLife Offers Resources to Organizations Improving the Lives of Seniors

BOSTON - Harvard Medical School Affiliate Hebrew SeniorLife (HSL), a national senior services and academic leader uniquely dedicated to investigating, understanding, and enhancing the experience of aging, continues to deliver on its mission to improve the lives of seniors, particularly during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. HSL has become a mentor and advisor to several organizations that are in the senior care industry, and has created special resources to help those organizations manage their COVID-19 response.

Since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis started, inquiries, requests for information, and questions from senior care organizations—from across the nation—have filled HSL staff members’ email inboxes daily. Questions posed range from “What is your protocol for setting up screening stations?” to “What are the workplace policies your Human Resources department has put in place?” In addition to consulting on such important questions via phone and email, HSL has been sharing best practices via a dedicated section on its website, Resources for Senior Care Organizations, which is a compilation of materials, tools, protocols, and sample documents specifically aimed toward senior care organizations addressing COVID-19. In the few weeks since its launch, Resources for Senior Care Organizations has recorded more than 800 views from across the nation and other countries as well.

According to Elissa Sherman, President of the Massachusetts chapter of LeadingAge, a national aging advocacy organization, “Hebrew SeniorLife has developed and generously shared a range of helpful materials including templates, checklists, policies, and procedures with their fellow members of LeadingAge Massachusetts. Members of LeadingAge are not-for-profit providers of aging services who are on the front lines of the COVID-19 battles, working to protect the older adults they serve from this highly contagious and dangerous virus. HSL’s commitment to supporting fellow aging service providers in this fight—by making valuable resources available—is a terrific example of the collaborative nature of our members and has never been more important.”

Kim Brooks, HSL’s Chief Operating Officer for Senior Living, led the charge to make these fundamental resources on HSL’s website available, working in collaboration with Tammy Retalic, Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President, Patient Care Services of Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, HSL’s long-term chronic care hospital located in Boston and Dedham.

“It is important to us to further our mission in protecting seniors whether we serve them directly or not. Resources for Senior Care Organizations is one clear way for us to provide tools and best practices for other organizations so that they don’t have to create everything on their own,” said Brooks.

Resources for Senior Care Organizations is regularly reviewed and updated with new materials.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife is a national senior services leader dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. As New England’s largest nonprofit provider of senior health care and living communities, and the only one affiliated with Harvard Medical School, HSL cares for more than 3000 seniors a day across six campuses throughout Greater Boston. Our locations include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, Boston and Dedham; NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham; Orchard Cove, Canton; Simon C. Fireman Community, Randolph; Center Communities of Brookline, Brookline; and Jack Satter House, Revere. Founded in 1903, HSL also conducts influential research into aging and trains more than 1,000 students in geriatric care each year. Visit https://www.hebrewseniorlife.org, follow us on Twitter @H_SeniorLife, like us on Facebook, or read our blog.