STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — You’ve heard the old saying, not all heroes wear capes.
In this case, it’s true, according to Donna Moore, Chief Operating Officer for Isakson Living, which runs Park Springs Senior Living in Stone Mountain.
“For our staff living on campus, we have over 70 employees that I now call heroes living on campus," Moore said. "They have soaked up this new approach like a sponge. They wanted to protect themselves. They wanted to protect members.
Park Springs has been on lockdown since March. Employees are staying on the 61-acre campus. Some sleeping on air mattresses and in tents to limit the virus’ spread, while still being able to care for the residents.
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“Initially, we had over 60 volunteers. This is before they even knew what the deal was,” Moore explained.
Justin Craft, who oversees the food service, is one the employees making the sacrifice.
For weeks, he has been away from his wife and two kids, but still trying to stay connected with them too.
“That has been our new normal for the past six weeks. Just trying to maintain our routine as a family,” Craft said.
“Whether it’s picking up food from our favorite restaurants where her [wife] and I will sit down and have a date night across from a fence from each other and hangout to the boys packing up a picnic,” he explained.
Park Springs said right now there are no coronavirus cases at the campus. Initially, Moore asked employees to stay through the end of April.However, now she’s asked if they can stay longer. Maybe through May.
Park Springs told 11Alive most said, “they’re staying until the end.”
“No one told us to do what we are doing. We did it because we believe what we do in this place. We believe in our mission,” Moore said.
“We can’t stay locked in forever. So, we got to figure out what does the next phase of this look like.” she stated.
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