With seniors among the most vulnerable to the spread of the coronavirus, retirement communities are having to step up their efforts to keep residents safe. The real trick, though, lies in not just keeping residents safe but in maintaining a sense of normalcy within such communities.

One community that has managed to meet those two objectives is Hibiscus Court of Melbourne, where the new normal can best be described as a virtual normal. For example, in place of personal visits from family members, Hibiscus Court is conducting virtual visits using video conferencing software such as Zoom.

“We’ve all seen the viral posts of people meeting at windows, and we started with that, but we’ve actually found that it’s better for our residents and their families to have these meetings through Zoom,’’ says Charisse Durham, director of sales and marketing at Hibiscus Court of Melbourne.

“So what we’re doing is teaching the families how to use the Zoom technology, and once we’ve done that, we set up a Zoom meeting for them. During that visit, we are there with the resident to help them navigate through it or translate if they have any trouble hearing or seeing their family members. It’s working out really well.”

Another example of the new virtual normal at Hibiscus Court of Melbourne took place last week, when the community changed up its regular Rolling With Laughter event. When the Hibiscus comedy troupe, “Off Their Rockers” had to cancel its event, the community held a virtual Rolling with Laughter event.

“We accepted submissions from residents, family members, referral sources and care partners,” Charisse explains. “All of them sent in different jokes and we had several different showings for small groups where our programming director and residents presented the jokes.

“It went over very well, and for some of our residents who could not attend one of the showings, we went to their rooms and shared the jokes with them individually. We also printed some of the jokes that were short and sweet and took photos of our residents with the joke and a smile then posted them on our Facebook page to share them that way.”

One of the biggest challenges retirement communities now face comes at meal time, when residents typically gather en masse to dine and socialize. Social distancing guidelines prohibit such mass gatherings, however, so at Hibiscus Court of Melbourne, residents are now served the same meals they would receive in the dining room in their own suites or in small, adequately spaced common areas.

That said, socializing is not a thing of the past at Hibiscus Court of Melbourne. Just as it did with its comedy show, the community now conducts several exercise and activity periods each day where small groups of six residents gather and participate while maintaining a safe social distance from one another.

“Another thing we did recently was hold a virtual 99^th birthday party for one of our residents,’’ Charisse explains. “We also had a no-contact pet parade, where local participants came and walked their dogs around our parking lot and we let our residents know so they could watch from their rooms or at a safe distance.”

It’s not just the residents of Hibiscus Court of Melbourne who are getting special attention during these difficult times. The community’s staff members, who are working extra hard each day to ensure residents are safe and comfortable, have not been forgotten.

“We’ve had families provide lunch for the entire team; other families have sent gourmet caramel apples or bulk boxes of treats,” Charisse reports. “They know our team works tirelessly to provide the best care for their loved ones. Many families’ have taken the opportunity to say thank you. Even though we’re not in a hospital or skilled setting, we are providing health care and life care and many are working additional hours and occasionally double shifts.

“Our leadership team is also committed to thanking our direct caregivers daily with some item of appreciation. Somebody every day is doing something to say thank you to our team, because they know that we’re here trying to protect people and that our care team also has to take additional measures to protect themselves and their families when they leave, because they can’t bring the virus back into our community.

“It’s a difficult time for everyone but everyone is pitching in and doing what they can to help each other out. The dedication to our residents’ care and the creativity in that is truly remarkable. I’m inspired every day.”

What was old is now new again.

House calls, where a doctor arrives at your door with a black bag and stethoscope, are making a comeback.

Only this time, medical providers come equipped with portable X-ray machines, labs and even EKG machines.

“We’re bringing house calls back to medicine because we believe in high-quality patient-centered, convenient care,” says Dr. Paul Nanda, chief medical officer of Tampa General Hospital Urgent Care powered by Fast Track. “As medical providers, we want to provide a concierge service for our patients, convenient care when they need it most in the comfort of their own home.”

The hospital and its urgent care partner recently began offering house calls in South Tampa and Riverview, with plans to expand the service to other areas. A discounted fee of $149 is offered through Nov. 30; after that, the standard fee is $199 per visit.

The service provides treatments for cough, colds, sore throat, ear infections, eye problems, urinary tract infections, vomiting, rashes, fevers and sprains. Urgent Care at Home powered by Fast Track also provides medical testing and diagnostics for flu, strep, rapid RSV, urinalysis and more for anyone ages three months and older.

Tampa General Hospital’s move comes as startups threaten to disrupt the health care system across the nation with technology that allows physicians access to equipment and supplies that once bound them to offices.

Here’s how it typically works: patients can contact the services through an online app, the website or simply make a phone call. A staff member takes information about the person’s symptoms and determines if a house call is the appropriate method of treatment.

Anyone with an emergency is urged to call 9-1-1. Otherwise, the staff member schedules an appointment and sends the care team to the patient’s home. A mobile unit arrives with everything available at a traditional urgent care center.

DispatchHealth, a Denver-based company, offers in-home services in 10 markets across eight states. Florida is not one of those states, but according to its website,  the company is “coming soon” to Tampa.

It accepts most forms of insurance and says those with private insurance plans can expect to pay about $50 per visit. For those without insurance, services are available for a flat fee of $275.

DispatchHealth spokeswoman Andrea Pearson confirmed that the company will begin offering services to Tampa in 2020 but did not provide further details.

She said the house call services are “ideal for seniors and people who have frequent needs for acute medical care” as well as for those “who think the emergency room is their only option.”

The new doctor’s offices on wheels are getting the attention of more than just potential patients. A four-year-old tech startup called Heal has raised more than $75 million in venture capital and is backed by celebrity investors such as Lionel Richie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Unlike Dispatch Health, which defines its role as an urgent care partner with established health care providers, Heal also provides preventive and primary care.

“It’s a concept for health care that is so simple, so cost-effective and so personal,” Richie told CNBC. “Patients love the individualized attention. Doctors love the fact they can practice medicine without all the administrative paperwork and expense of operating an office or clinic.”

Bush, who also sits on the Heal’s board, said the company, which now serves nine metro areas, told the network that he sees Heal eventually going national.

“There are managed-care companies interested in partnering with Heal, and doctors love it,” he said. “But scaling services in each market will take time.”

Even the federal government has gotten in on the act. A pilot project that was approved along with the Affordable Care Act incentivizes house calls for chronically ill Medicare patients in an attempt to keep them out of emergency rooms and lower health care costs.

The Independence at Home program reported a total savings of $24.7 million during the first three years, which included 10,000 patients in 15 locations.

According to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid, statistics from the fifth year in 2017 found that costs were reduced by an average of $2,711 per patient, about 8.4 percent below target expenditures.

In 2018, Congress extended the program until the end of 2020.

“Home-based primary care allows health care providers to spend more time with their patients, perform assessments in a patient’s home, and assume greater accountability for all aspects of the patient’s care,” according to Medicare officials.

“This focus on timely and appropriate care is designed to improve overall quality of care and quality of life for patients served while lowering health care costs by forestalling the need for care in institutional settings.”

Every day, nearly 13,000 Americans are injured on the job. The more startling fact is that all these injuries are preventable. Workplace safety is a main point of focus for the Nation Safety Council, and not just during National Safety Month in June. Businesses and employees must be aware of potential safety hazards all twelve months of the year.

Workplace safety involves a vast number of concerns. Some of the more commons are hazardous chemicals, drug use in the workplace, and slips and falls. Of course, I can’t cover all safety topics here, so I’m going to take a brief look at three that the Safety Council and other organizations have chosen as priorities this year.

Things like toxic chemicals and boxes blocking exits are obvious safety hazards, but we might not think of fatigue as a safety risk. One thing you’ve got to realize is that fatigue is more than just being tired. Fatigue is a whole-body weariness that includes feeling tired, but also feeling reduced energy and needing to put more effort into doing everyday tasks at the level you desire.

The truth is people who feel this way let down their guard, and their safety performance decreases, so does their job performance. It’s estimated that fatigued workers cost employers $136 billion annually in health-related lost productivity.

Eating right, exercising and getting an appropriate amount of sleep can all help ward off fatigue. According to the National Safety Council, adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each day to reach peak performance at work. However, 30 percent of workers report averaging less than six hours. It’s time to get some sleep and be safer at work, and everywhere else.

Here’s another interesting fact from the National Safety Council. They say two million American workers report being victims of workplace violence every year. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in 2014, 409 people were fatally injured in attacks at work, about 16 percent of the total workplace deaths that year.

Here are some more recent statistics. A 2016 publication reported that workplace violence and deaths occurred in most every type of occupation, even ones you wouldn’t suspect. They noted that there were 4,460 injuries and 65 deaths in professional and business services. Who’da thunk it!

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health divides workplace violence into four categories: criminal intent, customer/client, worker-on-worker and personal relationship. Women are most often the victims of personal relationship violence at work. Of course, there’s the active shooter situation. That would fall under the criminal intent category.

There are a few steps employers and businesses can take to help curb and prevent violence on the job. First of all, they need to create a violence prevention plan and make it an essential part of their strategic health and safety plan.

A few things they can include in their plans are making sure the workplace is secure and their employees know whom to call in an emergency, doing background checks on new employees and providing active shooter training. There are other suggestions in this article.

It’s likely the next workplace hazard plays a role in both fatigue and violence. It’s work-related stress. Research has found that 45 percent of lost work days are due to stress, anxiety or depression. That comes out to 11.7 million days. What’s more, the cost of lost productivity due to a stressful work environment is staggering. It totals $500 billion annually.

An in-depth survey done in 2017 by Mental Health America noted that overstressed people add to unhappiness in the workplace, which has an indirect effect on everyone else. That means that stressed-out people who dread coming to work contribute to productivity losses. Those losses are often not reflected in the calculated numbers, so that annual cost figure could actually be higher.

We know stress affects us emotionally. It can lead to disorders such as anxiety and depression. But stress has a negative effect on us physically as well. According to the American Institute of Stress, there are few diseases in which stress doesn’t play an aggravating role. Some of the conditions linked to stress are heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure and an increased susceptibility to infections. To learn more about the symptoms and effects of stress, read this.

Reducing stress at work can be challenging, but it’s important for your mental and physical health. There are many articles on the net with helpful tips, and this is one of them. Among the tips in is this article are: try medication and contemplation, balance your work and professional lives, learn to say “no,” and write down and remember the things that you’re grateful for.

There’s so much more to know about workplace safety, but your best bet is to be aware. Know your surroundings, take the proper precautions and always be safety-conscious.