650 Vaccinated At The Towers

Three hundred fifty staff members at The Towers senior assisting-living home received their Covid-19 vaccine shots on Wednesday.

Three hundred residents were delivered doses directly in their rooms a day earlier by Walgreens pharmacists and Tower Lane employees.

All staff and residents have been tested for Covid-19 once a week since last June. Towers CEO Gus Keach-Longo (pictured on the right) said that staff has been mandated to get vaccinated. Two residents are currently quarantined in their apartments due to the possibility of being exposed to the virus by their caregivers.

“Luckily, we have had very few cases of the virus here, because we started testing so early here that we were ahead of the curve. We haven’t had any deaths at The Towers or community spread in the building,” Keach-Longo said. Those who came down with Covid-19 either went outside to rehab or caught it from an individual caregiver.

Currently no one is permitted in the building unless they have been tested negative for the virus. In order to get through the door, you must show a negative test that was administered prior to 10 days. The procedure will possibly be changed in the future to show proof of vaccination with a card.

Out of 320 residents, roughly 20 had opted out of the vaccine.

Director of Support Services Dawn Staton has been handling the contact tracing under the Covid-19 testing program at The Towers; she said that a majority of occupants couldn’t wait to receive their vaccination.

“Mostly everyone said, ​‘Please come in! We’ve been waiting.’ We had two of the pharmacists gently encourage everyone to get the vaccination to stay safe and protect the community,” Keach-Longo said. ​“If we had a caregiver or resident that was positive then we would trace who’ve they’ve seen during a specific period of time. Since the pandemic began, our overall mortality rate has been the same.”

Isidor ​“Izzy” Juda (pictured) was one of the residents who received their vaccine on Tuesday. He is 99 years old, a Holocaust survivor, and a World War II veteran.

“Taking the vaccine didn’t make me nervous. I’ve been through a lot more than that,” Juda said. ​“What worries me more than anything else is people who are selfish and don’t follow the orders. Why do you have to be selfish and expose yourself, and expose others?”

Sixty percent of residents and staff at The Towers are Jewish. Rabbi Benjamin Scolnic from Temple Beth Sholom in Hamden (pictured in the first image) opened up the routine of vaccinations throughout Tower One with a Jewish prayer, Shehecheyanu, which marks special occasions.

“This is a prayer for life. If there’s anything that’s maintaining life it’s what we’re doing here today. Judaism above everything else believes that life is paramount,” Scolnic said. ​“Doing this today is almost like following a commandment. You should do everything that you can to sustain your life.”

As Scolnic waited in line for his vaccine, he noted that as a rabbi he is called to go to death beds.

“I’ve seen people who have gotten Covid and who are isolated all by themselves, and I think that they didn’t die from Covid. I think they’ve died from loneliness,” Scolnic said. ““This vaccine will allow me to do my job without fear of getting infected or giving the virus to my family.”

Walgreens Pharmacist Megan Parsi, who administered Scolnic his Covid vaccination, said that it’s a good feeling to be saving lives.

“I’m happy to be a part of history and to give back to the community,” Parsi said. ​“I’m hoping this gets us one step closer to becoming normal again.”

Triple-threat board member, caregiver, and family member Linda Cedarbaum held up a sign as she received her vaccine that read, ​“We thank you.” Cedarbaum said her mother, Beatrice Breiner, who lives at The Towers, is relieved that everyone has received their Covid-19 vaccine.

“My mother misses being in the communal settings, but she knows that we are keeping her safe,” Cedarbaum said.

Towers Board Chair Cindy Leffell said the isolation has been difficult for the elderly throughout the pandemic.

“As soon as we can open up again a little bit, residents can come down from their apartments in small groups,” Leffell said. ​“Instead of having one group with 20 people, they will run it three times so that everyone has a chance to interact with each other.”

The next two trials at The Towers will be completed by the end of February. Keach-Longo said that the plan is to allow residents to gradually start group activities again.

“My hope is that around the beginning of May, we might have opened a cafe with just a couple of tables and carefully, slowly grow that again so that people can spend time together. It’s so important here as a community,” Keach-Longo said. ​“Testing and vaccinations are making all of the difference in the world.”