In our last Charlie’s Corner blog, we elaborated on one of our Core Values – Truth.
This time we turn our attention to another of our Core Values – Responsibility.
It is a good and important value, and at Community Homes we live up to our responsibility in several important ways.
When a new resident moves into one of our 287 apartments, he, she, or they are assured that their living quarters are safe, clean, and affordable for the simple reason that Community Homes has assumed the responsibility to deliver on that promise. To do this, we maintain a full-time maintenance team to keep our buildings up to code, and a Resident Services team, that enjoys the responsibility to interact with the resident community and help and guide and advise them though a myriad of issues, from simple advice on managing a checkbook, to searching and finding resources for medical related treatment.
We take seriously our responsibility for the safety of our staff, especially with life as we have known it during the pandemic. Social distancing guidelines are followed strictly Masks are always worn when in one of our buildings. We have had to ban use of the community rooms in each of our Terrace properties. The responsibly of personal safety clearly outweighed the alternative.
Another responsibility we are aggressively pursuing is the plan to grow Community Homes of Lebanon County through specific plans to add more housing to accommodate not only our aging Lebanon County population, but the ambulatory disabled and families in need as well. Our Board of Directors and key supporters in our community are mounting a campaign to build a new 23-unit housing complex on Canal Street in Lebanon. The first phase will be completed in 2022.
Responsibility is an obligation, a duty to serve. It, and the other core values we will cover in future blogs – Hope, Compassion, Fairness, and Safety. drive the mission of Community Homes – “Community Homes of Lebanon County, Inc, in partnership with others, provides housing, related facilities, and supportive services, so that each person, each life we touch, may realize more fully his or her potential physical, social, mental, and spiritual well-being.”
CORE VALUE IN ACTION
Despite having no “legal responsibility” to help residents protect themselves against the Covid-19 virus, Community Homes followed its Core Value responsibility and got directly involved. CEO Charlie Rush reached out to the CDC for help, who in turn assigned the task to the team from CVS Pharmacies. A plan of action ensued, and CVS Pharmacists visited each Community Homes property and administer the vaccine to all residents who signed up. “it would have been very difficult for individual residents to make their own arrangements to get vaccinated,” Rush noted, “We gladly assumed the responsibility, and it worked out very well. Our staff did a great job organizing the sessions and coordinating with the CVS team.”