Retirement communities race to help their mountain counterparts
Nonprofit retirement communities in Charlotte have been sending supplies and volunteers to help senior communities in Western North Carolina affected by devastating flooding
The following article appeared in the October 11, 2024 edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
Amid a surge of elderly residents in the N.C. mountains, retirement communities are pulling together to help senior facilities tackle water outages, supply shortages and exhausted staff members
Staff members from retirement communities in Charlotte and elsewhere across the state have been taking loads of supplies to retirement communities in western North Carolina still reeling from the devastating floods. Sometimes, they also cart away dirty laundry from retirement communities that still don’t have water flowing, and they wash it and bring it back with the next load of supplies. (Photo courtesy of The Sharon at SouthPark)
by Cristina Bolling
On the Sunday night after devastating flooding hit Western North Carolina, the texts went out to leaders of nonprofit retirement communities across the state: the senior facilities in the mountains need our help.
By Monday morning, that help was on the way.
Shuttle buses from retirement communities like The Sharon at SouthPark and Southminster in Charlotte that typically take seniors to grocery stores or theater events were quickly filled with adult diapers, baby wipes, pallets of water and pet food. They set out for communities in the mountains.
And in the ensuing days, the help from Charlotte and across the state has kept on, arriving in rented U-Hauls, facility vans and staff cars, all with the goal of easing the stress for communities that are struggling with water, power and internet issues.
The devastating floods have caused unique challenges to senior communities, which have surged in number in recent years in mountain towns like Asheville.
During the pandemic years of 2020-2022, adults over 65 made up 96.1% of the population increase in Buncombe County, home to Asheville, according to the North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management. Retirement communities have expanded or opened to meet the needs of the new residents.
Tom Akins, the Sunday night text-sender who is president and CEO of LeadingAge North Carolina, a nonprofit membership association of about 50 nonprofit retirement communities across the state, said the response has been remarkable to see, but not unexpected.
Even as donation needs are starting to wane in some communities, staff in facilities spared by the storm are finding ways to volunteer their time, like doing round-the-clock “fire walks” around skilled nursing facilities whose fire detection systems have been compromised but need periodic surveillance to keep their state licenses, Akins said.
“You have this group of people whose natural inclination is to care for others, and that need was there,” Akins said. “I mean, folks just jumped out of the woodwork.”
Ever-changing needs: At The Sharon retirement community in SouthPark, president and CEO Angela Rigsbee started mobilizing as soon as Akins’ Sunday night text came in, and by 9 a.m. the next morning, The Sharon had loaded up three vehicles — including the personal car of chief operating officer Milton McGowian — and was en route to the Carolina Village retirement community in Hendersonville, one of 15 facilities deemed in need of help.
Some mountain retirement communities didn’t have water or power. Some had staff and their families living at the facilities because their homes had been destroyed.
“They were like, ‘We need water, we need pet food, we need protein bars. We need garbage bags. We need disposable bed pads’ … things like that,” Rigsbee said. “Wipes, flashlights, cell chargers, solar chargers — anything you can get your hands on.”
Staff from The Sharon had made eight trips to the mountains as of Wednesday, taking supplies purchased by The Sharon as well as some gathered from residents. As of Wednesday, they’d collected almost $8,000 in donations from residents and their families for LeadingAge North Carolina’s relief fund.
(As of Wednesday afternoon, LeadingAge North Carolina had raised about $280,000 for the effort from members across the state, Akins said.)
Rigsbee said she went up last week to check in on how the communities’ staff were holding up, and she saw how communities quickly adapted to handle the challenges that come with operating a senior care facility. For example, if independent living residents can’t do daily wellness check-ins electronically because power or the internet is down, facilities have town hall-type meetings to make sure everyone is safe and healthy.
Communities’ needs are changing by the day, Rigsbee said.
Some that are farther along in recovery mode are turning away water and supply donations, and asking for them to go to communities that need them more.
In some retirement facilities, nursing homes and independent living communities, the most crucial need right now is for volunteers to relieve burned-out and overworked staff, Rigsbee said, many of whom have suffered personal devastation as a result of the flooding.
‘They’d be doing the same for us’: Leaders of the Southminster retirement community on Park Road also sprung into action on the first Sunday night of the flooding, and also haven’t stopped, bringing water, nonperishable food from Southminster’s kitchen, fuel and other supplies.
Southminster has an on-site laundry facility, so staff from Southminster and The Sharon have been collecting dirty laundry from the mountain communities when they drop off supplies, carting the laundry back to Southminster, and then returning it clean the following day.
In the first two days of their relief efforts, Southminster staff had washed and folded more than 50 loads of linens and clothing for three communities, said Susanne Shaw, communications and public relations manager for Southminster.
Southminster also invited its residents to contribute to LeadingAge North Carolina’s relief fund, with the promise that Southminster will match up to $10,000 in donations, Shaw said.
The energy of staff and residents in retirement communities like Southminster and The Sharon is “a powerful force,” Shaw said.
“These communities are working together because they know that, if this were to happen tomorrow in Charlotte, those Western North Carolina communities would be doing the same for us,” she said.
Cristina Bolling is managing editor of The Ledger: cristina@cltledger.com
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Business manager: Brie Chrisman