At senior living communities across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in group outings and activities being cancelled to keep residents safe and healthy. Abbotswood at Irving Park, a Kisco Senior Living community, wanted to lift the spirits of its residents during this time, so it created a new program called “Quarantine Wishes.” The goal of the program is to do something special for residents to feel a sense of normalcy during this unprecedented time. The senior living community sent out a request form to each resident asking what they want or miss most, and they encourage residents to get creative. So far, they have granted half a dozen wishes, which range from a dinner and movie, a haircut, fresh strawberries and even a private concert. The fun project has not only touched the hearts of residents but associates at the community.

“We recently started the program, and we’ve had a spectacular response from residents,” said Allison Pait, executive director at Abbotswood at Irving Park. “We do our best to make the wishes happen. The wishes really do bring a smile to the residents’ faces because it’s things they truly miss. For the dinner and a movie date night, we set up a room like a theater and served a candlelight dinner for a couple. Some of the other things we’ve done include me giving a resident a haircut, having strawberries delivered from my family farm and an outdoor concert for residents who watched from their balconies. After the wishes are granted, we ask the residents to write a short poem explaining why they selected this wish, and they have been beautifully written. We can’t wait to see the other wishes we receive from residents as we continue this program.”

Abbotswood at Irving Park has additional measures in place to ensure residents and associates remain safe and healthy even when granting wishes. Some of those include increasing sanitation throughout the community, daily monitoring of all residents and associates for fever and cough, asking residents who must leave their apartment to wear a mask and practice social distancing and requiring all associates to wear masks. While visitors are restricted and group activities are cancelled, the community is keeping residents engaged with one-on-one programming in their apartments and encouraging virtual visits through Facetime and Skype with family members. The “Quarantine Wishes” program is just another way the community wanted to show its commitment to its residents.

“Our number one priority is the safety and well-being of our residents, and we will go out of our way to make sure they are getting everything they need during this time,” said Pait. “We are following the local, state and federal guidelines as we grant the wishes. This is a fun way for us to say thank you to the residents as we get through this time together. We’re blessed that we haven’t had any cases of COVID-19 at our community, and I credit our fantastic team for going above and beyond to ensure the residents are taken care of. We will come out of this stronger than ever, but in the meantime let’s grant some fun wishes for our wonderful residents.”

One local couple at Abbotswood at Irving Park (a Kisco Senior Living Community) is hiking their way to a healthy lifestyle while continuing a lifelong passion for the outdoors. Born in the green hills of Vermont, Sue Beck, 83, always loved the great outdoors. She didn’t care if the sun was shining or if there was a foot of snow, she was out walking and taking in the world around her. It’s Beck’s love for nature that got her husband Bill Haney, 80, out on the trails with her in 1988 and still does today. The couple started hiking the Appalachian Trail together on a bit of a whim, starting on the lower end of the trail and deciding they might as well complete the entire 2,200-mile trek. Having completed the trail in 2001, today the experienced hikers continue hiking and camping when they have the chance and believe their health has benefitted from years of building strength and endurance due to their hikes.

“Hiking has been great for the both of us and has really kept us moving,” said Haney. “I read a book not too long ago that explained how being active in your 50s and 60s improves your chances of maintaining good health in your later years. For Sue and I that’s certainly been the case – call it good genes or good luck – we’re happy to still be able to do something we enjoy together. Though I have to say it’s much more enjoyable now. I used to be the mule for the trips, carrying around 50 pounds of equipment, but that’s not the case these days.”

For those who don’t know, the hiking community is incredibly tight-knit. While hiking a trail, groups will often leave one another messages at rest points, signing in with their trail names to let fellow hikers know who’s on the trail. Beck and Haney’s moniker, the NC Pole Cats, differentiated them from other teams as the pair used walking poles to help navigate rougher areas of the trails. By coming up with a name and integrating themselves into the hiking community, they were able to seek help when needed and rest assured that someone was always there to lend a helping hand. According to Beck, it can be quite dangerous when you’re out on the trails, and they weren’t immune to injuries and other emergencies, so it was nice to know that even when it seemed like the couple was on their own, others were looking out for them.

It’s this knowledge Beck and Haney carry with them today when they camp and hike smaller trails. They believe in the importance of continuing their adventures and are thankful to have the ability to be outside and stay active. The pair is currently planning for their next trip when they will visit the Green Mountains of Virginia in September, where they plan to hike the trails of Hungry Mother State Park.

“My entire life I’ve loved to be a part of nature any way I can, but this has been a hobby and a passion that has brought a lot of joy and special memories I couldn’t have imagined,” said Beck. “It’s even more special to have Bill come along with me and achieve something so rewarding together. There’s nothing like the feeling of completing a trail and being able to say, ‘wow I did that, what a victory.’”

“At Abbotswood at Irving Park, we are dedicated to ensuring that our residents are equipped to live the lives they love,” said Allison Pait, executive director of Abbotswood at Irving Park. “Sue and Bill are an inspiration for all of us to use the activities we enjoy most to stay active and live life well. We hope that by sharing their story, others will be inspired to get out and better their health and well-being.”