Addressing COVID-19 challenges remains a priority for senior living associations, but discussions continue about the best way to ensure quality in communities after the American National Standards Institute’s Executive Standards Council ruled to uphold Argentum’s application to be an accredited developer of industry standards.
A pandemic is not preventing Moorings Park Grande Lake in Naples, FL, from opening and continuing to attract interest. “We have closed over $77 million in sales during the last two weeks,” a Moorings Park executive says. Entrance fees start at $1.5 million.
Assisted living operators have marketed themselves as “un-nursing homes.” But the field may have just made that position more difficult to defend.
Argentum and the American Seniors Housing Association have announced a new resource to help workers who have been displaced due to the fallout from COVID-19 find a new employment opportunity in senior living.
The COVID-19 pandemic will have a $40 billion to $57 billion financial impact on the U.S. senior living industry over the next year, American Seniors Housing Association and Argentum leaders said in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Citing the forecast from a third-party analysis, ASHA and Argentum asked Azar to allocate $20 billion from the CARES Act to companies operating independent living, assisted living, memory care and continuing care retirement communities.
The safety and well-being of frontline workers in senior living and skilled nursing must be prioritized in order to ensure that older adults receive the care they need and that the spread of COVID-19 is minimized, leaders of professional organizations serving the industry said in a unified message released Thursday. Meanwhile, also on Thursday, Bloomfield, NJ-based Juniper Communities said it had begun testing all residents and employees for COVID-19 at the communities it owns.
The Department of Labor released updated questions and answers regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act Saturday, and provided guidance categorizing senior living providers as “health care providers” under the act. The move means operators will be excluded from requirements that certain companies with fewer than 500 workers provide up to 12 days of paid leave for employees who need to care for children due to school closures.
President Trump on Sunday extended the voluntary national shutdown related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) until April 30. The move followed his signing of the the $2.2 trillion “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” or “CARES Act,” into law on Friday. Read other COVID-19-related updates here, too.
Senior living industry advocates said Wednesday they were pleased that their calls and letters had an impact on the $2 trillion stimulus package passed in the Senate. The legislation includes many of the priorities the senior living industry had been advocating for.
Long-term care industry associations are creating online efforts to combat the effects of social distancing and to share positive messages about communities and residents during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
