The success and value of operator cohesion

Members of the Retirement Living Council (RLC) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have demonstrated extraordinary cohesion and cooperation. With little guidance from Government, it was an industry led response to keeping residents and staff well.

This has been clearly demonstrated through roundtable operator meetings that have been facilitated by the RLC and the Property Council state divisions since early March, and they continue four months down the track.

These forums initially started on a weekly basis, allowing operators to share protocol, ideas, information, and resources during a time of enormous uncertainty.

As the situation progressed, these forums are now occurring less and less frequently as operators have gained greater and greater control over the situation.

This shows just how quickly the industry reacted as a whole, and it indicates the success that Australian retirement living operators have had to date.

Consistently retirement living operators from various states have come together at this national level. This has been encouraging to watch as operators demonstrate empathy, ingenuity, and compassion in their COVID-19 response.

To create a rough timeline for readers it is pertinent to explain the framework of the scenarios that retirement operators found themselves in and the responses that were implemented.

March was the first month in which COVID-19 became an immediate threat. Operators convened and began discussing what these new and sudden restrictions could mean, how to reassure residents through uncertainty, and ensure that the health of residents and staff were protected.

In hindsight now, this was a positive indicator of the work that was to come over the following months.

April saw lockdown initiated and Australia was in the throes of social isolation. People that may have taken technology for granted before this point in time would have grown a healthy appreciation for the likes of FaceTime and Skype.

Operators worked tirelessly to maintain a level of social interaction for their residents.  This was facilitated through digital devices, television, social-distanced socialising and through RLC databases of resources.

May was the month that saw operators begin to be able to breathe a sigh of relief, and this was a well-deserved waypoint. Australia, seemingly through the worst of it, was beginning to reopen. This came with further issues, like reassuring vulnerable residents that there are still precautions in place.

But this leads us to June, and where the industry is currently. Returning to business as usual with a stronger reputation having demonstrated a capable, sensible and compassionate approach to dealing with the COVID-19 crisis.

The resulting security, confidence and service that Australian retirement village residents received throughout the length of this pandemic is amongst the best in the world.

In May the RLC hosted Lynne Katzmann, a retirement living operator from the United States’ east coast, for a briefing about the US retirement industry’s reaction to COVID-19.

There was a severe impact on retirement operators in the US, as they scrambled to combat this once in a century event.

Anecdotally, there were limited reports of COVID-19 cases and no outbreaks amongst RLC members and the wider Property Council membership.

This can in part be attributed to the communications, support and ideas that were shared and created during these roundtable discussions.

These forums ensured that no operator was left behind, and that as a cohesive unit the retirement living industry was able to effectively coordinate efforts.

Best practise has prevailed. If you were to enter into a retirement community to speak with residents, and you asked them their reasoning as to why they have moved into a community such as this, a common response would be for security.