Petaluma Profile: Assisting those with dementia during pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic, which has hit assisted living facilities particularly hard, is top of mind for Berkley and Kelly Sturgeon. The couple, who have owned and operated Creekside Cottage and Creekside Place Assisted Living on Ely Street in Petaluma since December 2011, are working to keep their residents and staff safe during the outbreak.

Victims of downsizing in 2008, the Sturgeons realized their biggest asset was their home, and with Kelly’s previous experience as the activities director at a mid-sized care-facility, that Senior Care was the next big need.

“Our friend, Dean Greisen is a contractor, and after the plans were approved, he widened doors, installed fire exits, and upgraded the bathrooms while Kelly and I went to school to earn our senior-care administration certificates,” says Berkley Sturgeon. “Our facility runs on the ‘non-medical’ social model and so we report to doctors and take orders from doctors. We have ten CNA’s (certified nursing assistants) on site as caregivers. Many of our residents have dementia, and if anyone needs additional care, they are transferred to a skilled nursing facility.”

Dementia Care comes with certain issues attached, Sturgeon points out.

“I have to give credit for our success to a number of ‘angels,’?” he says. “First of these is Jane Van Dyke-Perez, who is a seraphim among the heavenly host. She taught the assisted living education classes, and has helped in so many different ways. Perhaps her greatest inspiration is by telling us, ‘I would move my mom into your home in a heartbeat.’?”

When the house next door went into foreclosure, the Sturgeon’s decided to expand operations. “The building was a mirror image of our first one, so it was a simple matter to create plans and specifications for another upgrade,” he says. “Dean (Greisen) used the same construction crew, and worked nights and weekends to do the alterations on time and under budget. Everything was working out really well.”

Until, that is, the Sturgeons took notice of the coronavirus outbreak at an assisted living facility in Redmond, Washington.”

“I started a regular schedule of daily check-ins with Johns Hopkins Research University, the Sonoma County Department of Health, and the California Department of Social Services,” Sturgeon explains, “and on March 10th we implemented social distancing, closed Creekside down to visitors and postponed family visits.”

They wanted to create a “bubble” around the residents and caregivers, Sturgeon explains.

“What we didn’t foresee is the effect this would have on people we care about,” he allows. “I can’t say enough about our caregivers - conscientious, caring, responsible people. Several are homeschooling their kids and taking care of their husband at home, or living alone without any social contacts. So we started counseling everyone, to being all in this together.”

“The dementia patients aren’t really aware of current events,” he says.

“But when the son who used to visit every Friday stops coming, or you aren’t allowed to have burgers at In & Out once a week like you used to …” Sturgeon says, the thought trailing off into an audible shrug. “We try to offer tangible support and make everyone feel extra special by setting up Zoom and FaceTime for family visits, or bringing back sixteen In & Out cheeseburgers and serving them for lunch.”

There has, he adds, been some difficulty sourcing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), specifically gloves, paper towels and protective eyewear.

“But Petaluma stepped up,” he says. “K.C. Greening made over fifty masks and Jodi Boyle sewed us some hospital gowns.”

Asked how he and Kelly are doing, Sturgeon says, “Personally, Kelly and I are doing okay supporting each other, by encouraging healthy habits like physical exercise and keeping routines. We are fortunate to have our 5-year-old grandson and 29-year-old son sheltering in place with us, and we’ve installed a basketball hoop and ping-pong table to enjoy the time we spend together.”

Sturgeon has one final thought for his Petaluma friends and neighbors.

“At Creekside, we have come closer together as we distance,” he says. “Please be aware, how very important it is to follow science by practicing social distancing and sheltering in place orders for all our frontline people. How very seriously we take this and to keep making sacrifices a little bit longer … it will pay off.”

(Gil Mansergh can be reached at gilmansergh@comcast.net)