Tuesday 03/22/2022
So in the morning I have a lot of things on my mind. The upcoming trip to Spokane: I keep thinking of things I need to do before departure, and running over to a notepad and writing them down, or (later) crossing them off.
Then there’s the whole thing about staff wanting residents to take over the zoom account, and how would that work. And then, a couple days ago a staff member, Caroline, filed an event request for support with a memorial. The daughter of the deceased wants to hold a memorial, which is common, but she wants to hold it in the Activity room on the 2nd floor, rather than the Auditorium. There’s no real AV in the Activity room, just a couple of loose speakers on stands and a couple of wireless mics that are wrapped in their own power cords on a cart of misc. junk. And they want to show a powerpoint presentation, with music, and make it a zoom thing for distant relatives to attend. All that would be a challenge in the Auditorium. I don’t see how to do it. Plus staff member Caroline notes that she’s requested support from the IT department — so why is she asking resident A/V volunteers to help?
I message Bert asking to talk to him. He is very confident and knowledgeable about how this place works. We set up to meet at 2:30 on his floor lounge. I talk on the phone to Pam, the Events committee person. I do some other things, emails.
At 2:30 Bert helps me get my head straight, as I’d hoped. He points out that staff cannot get rid their zoom account, because Rhonda the CEO wants to hold monthly general meetings, and no way is she going to want to rely on resident volunteers. Probably. Plus, he proposes a much simpler way for them to administer the use of the zoom account, which would take a lot of the stress off them.
He and I go and check out the 2nd floor activity room, and as we recollected, all of its built-in A/V equipment — which it once had — was still disconnected and boxed up in a corner. That was because in early 2020, they had converted what was a general activity room into a Covid ward, with hospital beds and a sealed air system. The de-conversion back to general purpose is only half-done.
So now I had a mission: to talk to Caroline and find out (a) why not the Auditorium and (b) who she’s talked to in the IT department, such that she thinks they will help. I go to the front desk and ask for her, but she doesn’t seem to be working today so I leave her a voice-mail. As for the other issue, I send Yadira an email asking for a 15-minute appointment.
With my mind somewhat relieved I pass a quiet evening.
Codgerville 