What do you think residents should know before moving into Macdonald Residence?

Paul Arensmeyer: I think a lot of times when residents are first moving, they’re really nervous and frightened. They are suddenly losing control of not just their healthcare but of their money. But they need to know that they’re going to be loved, they’re going to be respected, and that we’re going to do everything we can to give them quality of life.

How do residents usually respond when first seeing their room?

Personal living space at Macdonald Residence is a really important part of what we do. So many people have come from SROs (single-room occupancy hotels) and homelessness, and here they’ve got their own studio apartment with their own bathroom and a door they can lock. Our apartments are nice, and we keep them really well-maintained. Between every resident, we replace the floors, replace cabinets, and paint everything—every little bit of damage is repaired.

Some of my favorite residents are the recluses because I love to work my way into their hearts. And we had a man named Geri who came here after being homeless for like six years. Geri was so grateful just to have his own nice space.

Dining and housing are familiar elements of assisted living. But are there other integral services that people don’t hear about?

Yes! The primary focus of my job as Resident Services Manager is care conferences and service plans. Every quarter, we sit down with every resident for 30 minutes and just talk to them about how things are going. They can give us feedback, and we give them feedback. And then those inform updates to their service plan, which is the roadmap of how we take care of each of our residents.

Also, our Resident Services Coordinator does everything that would fall through the cracks otherwise. So that’s helping people with all sorts of things that impact our lives beyond our building. A lot of our residents come directly from the street and don’t have ID or anything. So the RSC walks them through social security relationships, getting birth certificates—helping them rebuild their identity. They also help residents navigate through insurance and all the things related to their medical care.

Lastly, our Life Management Team also plans activities each month. And, of course, residents can always join any event at Maybelle Center by just walking through the courtyard.

But activities have been challenging—we’re still trying to pull people out of isolating from COVID. They got so used to staying away from people and not being able to participate in group things. It makes me sad to see residents that used to be really social and active still not come back around or started to come out and be as social as they were before COVID. It’s still a struggle—but we’re not giving up.