CONNECTION
We each, as resident, employee, board, and family member offer our own colorful thread to EastView’s wonderfully woven web of connection…
Passions
Our residents bring unique experiences, passions, expertise, and inspiration with them to EastView…joining together with others gives each the opportunity to shine a brighter light. Art lovers, painters, woodworkers, and photographers created the Resident Art Committee. Physicians, nurses, and wellness practitioners created the Health & Wellness Committee. Musicians gathered to form the Music Committee, working together to secure the donation of our beautiful Steinway. Lovers of the landscape, from Master Gardeners through backyard hobbyists, formed the Landscape Committee and GardenArbors Group. The individual contributions to the community are meaningful and each lends richness to life here.
Participation
Organizationally, residents are encouraged to engage as vital contributors. One resident serves as a voting Board member, while others participate on the Board’s Finance Committee and Values & Growth strategic planning group. Residents and staff connect weekly through Residents’ Council committees, to continue to lead EastView forward through thoughtful dialogue and actionable endeavors on EastView’s behalf. The Landscape Committee partnered with Leadership to commission a Master Landscape plan and guide the design of an efficiently lit walkway between the Cottages and the Inn. In gratitude for our dedicated workforce, Residents unite annually offering financial gifts that enhance the lives of our employees.
Collaboration
Further flung, we connect within our broader community in response to need and to offer hope and resources. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff formed a distribution system “Masks en Masse” to enable fabric masks crafted by our residents and staff and generous sewers throughout the region to be mailed to the most vulnerable members of our region. We regularly partner with the local food shelf to repackage food staples in family-sized quantities, prepare gleaned fruits & vegetables for their freezers, and deliver hundreds of pounds of donated food annually to help stock their pantry shelves.
Dialogue
While respecting the realities of a rapidly changing world, maintaining connection is essential. Here at EastView, we have safeguarded our residents and workforce as we quickly stepped up to an unparalleled global pandemic. In recognition of the treasured connections here, each staff member and resident immediately honored the need to maintain physical distance, wear a mask, and minimize exposure risks by altering his or her lifestyle. Family members of our MeadowSweet and GardenSong residents have adapted to window visits for both big celebrations and to just throw a hug. Our Board has transitioned to video conference meetings, and staff not working directly on the front line have shifted to remote offices. All regular staff have received extra appreciation pay and a nutritious meal each shift. Staff crafted a video of inspiration to keep spirits high.
Community Strong through Fertile Connection
Within the first couple of weeks and on-going, we have changed how we gather, while creatively inventing new ways to connect, have fun, and support each other. EastView established grocery shopping services, and staff have guided residents with TeleHealth appointments, trained residents on the use of Zoom, delivered meals to individual homes, and Zoomed weekly update meetings with Residents and staff. There’s been a resident-led phone check-in, a regular mid-day neighborhood gathering in a cottage neighborhood just to be able to send a smile and a wave across the wide-spaced circle, and one day we held a community-wide howl outside across a wide expanse (just to release the known and unknown pent up stressors).
Consider Connecting your Threads to EastView’s Tapestry…
100 EastView Terrace
Middlebury, VT 05753
