During the COVID-19 pandemic staff at New Court have been working together with homeowners to ensure they can continue to cherish their retirement.
General Manager at New Court, Clinton Lewis told us some of the ways they have been adapting to the challenges faced.
We have always prided ourselves on the service we provide at New Court and how we go above and beyond our homeowners expectations. We sat down as a team and discussed a list of the difficulties they might be experiencing and how we could assist them.
The first item was to ensure owners had access to food without having to leave New Court. We were able to tackle this on two fronts; the first was adapting our on-site restaurant and introducing deliveries to their door with restaurant quality food, and the second was helping them to do their own shopping. Because of demand for home deliveries by some supermarkets and difficulties in our homeowners getting delivery slots, we introduced an essentials shopping list that we could collect for them and deliver to their door. We wanted to make sure everyone had access to fresh produce and would never be without essentials. This has been such a success that we will be introducing it as part of a regular service, which has been really well received.
In line with government advice we made sure hygiene remained of paramount importance, making sure that coronavirus was prevented at New Court. The Housekeeping team were asked to cover seven days a week, cleaning all touch points regularly to ensure the hygiene of New Court was kept at 100%. They didn’t even question this decision and said they were more than willing to help where they can, again demonstrating the attitude of the team at New Court and how they are always thinking of the owners here.
The concierge team introduced wellbeing calls, every day to every owner at New Court. Normally we would see most of the owners every day, as socialising is a big part of the community, and with lockdown we wanted to ensure we were able to keep their spirits up and to keep some element of socialising available at a distance. We have since had owners family members contact us to personally thank us, stating that they felt at ease knowing their loved ones were in such a safe and secure environment.
New Court owners have always had a busy events schedule and this was always going to be difficult to keep up during lockdown; however we have introduced some activities to keep everyone’s spirits buoyed. We are now using Zoom video to carry out a weekly quiz and a monthly book club, we also managed to celebrate VE day with owners gathered on their balconies where possible and socially distanced in the grounds if they didn’t have a balcony. We set a time where everyone could celebrate together with a nice glass of fizz.
The owners have also utilised the amazing gardens and grounds at New Court to keep up their fitness levels. We are hoping that we will be able to welcome back our fitness classes in the next few weeks with the aid of technology whilst complying with social distancing.
Now with the introduction of groups of six being allowed to gather outside, safely observing social distancing guidelines, we are able to host regular coffee mornings again. This is an opportunity for owners to be updated by me about what is happening at New Court, what we are doing to keep them safe and help them in these uncertain times and also to have the opportunity to have their own say. We have always maintained an open relationship with the owners at New Court and feel this is why we have always had their full support; now more than ever it is just as important that we maintain this approach.
I have been so proud of how my team have adapted to the changes, whilst still managing to maintain a smile.
