February 2021 is a month that many across our country – especially Texans – will not soon forget. From February 13-17, many parts of our nation experienced severe winter weather, with the great state of Texas being hit particularly hard. Starting with power grid failures, water treatment issues, icy roads, and a plethora of other issues, it was a challenging week to say the least.
Despite these challenges, our Texas communities and team members banded together to care for their residents and one another, in a beautiful example of Caring Together. Due to the icy roads, it would have been near impossible for employees to commute to work. So, the employees who were already on shift committed to sleeping overnight at the community in order to make sure that their residents were cared for, and that resident loved ones could have peace of mind.
This act of service was no small feat. Employees were away from their families for a large portion of the snowstorm. The team at Cedar Ridge recognized and prioritized the needs of their residents as they made the conscious decision to stay overnight and work around the clock for multiple days. They did all of this while also dealing with the inclement weather challenges (i.e. power outages, water treatment issues, etc.) in order to keep their residents safe.
The Administrator of Cedar Ridge Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Cedar Park, TX, Corrie van Rensburg, had this to share about her amazing team:
“What can I say? In my eyes, we have the best team here at Cedar Ridge.
As y’all know, Texas was hit by a storm that nobody could ever imagine. First of all, we had the historical freeze which made the roads extremely hazardous, especially for Texans, to drive on.
Staff agreed to sleep in the building to ensure our residents were taken care of while it was impossible for others to drive back and forth.
On top of the icy conditions, a snowstorm surprised us all. We had 10 inches of snow in a very short time. Some of our staff traveled 22 miles in the icy conditions to come and take of our residents.
We are so grateful to have the Cedar Ridge team who agreed to stay in the building – because challenging things always happen in the wee morning hours. Staff worked almost around the clock with as little as 2 hours of sleep.
Then at 3:30 in the morning, we had to deal with a busted fire sprinkler line, it is hard to describe the river that came down from the ceiling.
That is when I realized what a great team I have, they came together like one, got our residents out of their rooms and away from the troubled area within minutes. A large portion of our facility was covered in water, furniture was pulled aside, and staff worked together to save our resident’s home.
We experienced 2 more leaks within 24 hours and again staff pulled together to minimize water damage to our community. Kudos to all the staff who handled the pressure admirably to ensure our residents were all taken care of and safe.
Dealing with all of the stress, hard work, and very little sleep, we still managed to stay positive and even have a few good laughs – keeping morale and spirits high.
Thank you, team Cedar Ridge, for saving our resident’s home and taking such good care of our Cedar Ridge family.” – Corrie van Rensburg, Administrator, Cedar Ridge
We are so incredibly proud of Team Cedar Ridge and the ways in which they served their residents. This story is just one of many examples in which our employees have committed to caring for their residents. It brings us great pride – and our resident loved one’s peace of mind – to know that all of the residents we care for are safe in a Sinceri Senior Living community.
