Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Senior Center serves the aging community in northern King County. Home to more than 56,000 residents, with at least 15% counting toward the “senior” population, Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Senior Center has its work cut out for it.
“Our current challenge is a matter of people resourcing… As people are called back to work or need to stay home with kids for distance learning, we needed to find new people and train them up on how to best reach an already isolated client base, ” states Jarrod Wright, Administrative Coordinator for the Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Senior Center.The staff continue to work together to find safe and effective ways to best serve the individuals that depend on services offered by the senior center.
Safety is their number one priority, for staff and limited visitors alike. The senior center has reinforced this by providing disinfecting stations throughout the senior center, having visitors temperature checked and logged for contact tracing, and providing a digital space for virtual activity participation.
Wright continues to say, “We speak with members daily, regarding lunch status, class registrations, tutorials on using Zoom and what services we are offering while the facility is locked. They all miss seeing each other and want to get back as soon as possible, but also understand how our facility could become a vector.”
In the meantime, members are doing their best to stay connected over the phone or in video calls. Members recognize the efforts put forth by senior center staff and have been sending pictures and notes praising the to-go meals’ chef, Donnie, and the virtual exercise instructors, Toshiko and CeCe.
Ultimately, Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Senior Center is opting to host most activities and programs online, aside from in-house foot care, which still requires masks among other COVID regulations. “Essentially, we are being flexible to the shifting regulations and keeping our community safe while they are staying connected.”
Contact Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Senior Center
If you would like to get in touch with Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Senior Center staff, you can visit their website for current virtual activities or call them at (206) 365-1536.