In honor of Thanksgiving, Heritage resident Heather Bittenbender shared her gratitude for the community’s support during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’m thankful for how they have taken such good care of us,” she said. “They have been incredibly good to us. It really has been a blessing… I feel like they have been so conscious about what we need to get through this”
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The 78-year-old expressed her gratitude to the administrators at the Heritage of Green Hills in Cumru Township for keeping those living at the retirement community safe during the pandemic.
“I’m thankful for how they have taken such good care of us,” she said. “They have been incredibly good to us. It really has been a blessing.”
Bittenbender, whose husband passed away eight years ago, said the staff stepped up to make sure residents had what they needed when they made the decision in March to close off access to the community.
That included delivering food to her doorstep and launching their own TV channel featuring daily exercise programs, meditation sessions, the latest news on the coronavirus response and a classic movie each night.
“This is a very, very caring place,” she said. “I feel like they have been so conscious about what we need to get through this.”
Bittenbender said being quarantined for so long also led to a greater appreciation for technology.
Those months of isolation were a little easier to get through thanks to a friend who sent her an Amazon Echo. She said that gift has allowed her to stay in touch with her three children and four grandchildren through her virtual assistant.
“My lovely Alexa keeps me connected to my family and she reads me books from the library, which is absolutely grand,” she said, adding that she has been playing a lot of sudoku and listening to a lot of music to help pass the time.
