Living well, pandemic style: How a Dallas community adapts to a new norm by Deana Lisenby, BS

Most of us probably remember the exact moment we realized life would no longer look the same. At Presbyterian Village North (PVN), the announcement came on Friday, March 13, 2020. We had just competed in a 48-hour "March Madness" CyberCycle challenge, and our community was still celebrating placing third overall as well as having three residents in the top 20 riders worldwide. At that moment, it seemed as though 2020 was shaping up to be an exciting year for our wellness program. None of us anticipated the chaos waiting to boil over into our daily lives. Fast forward to 2021, we're still navigating our way through a global pandemic. A "new normal" has become precedent: face masks, social distancing, and persistent handwashing and sanitation. Guidelines and compliance regulations change daily. As turbulence continues to reign during the COVID crisis, traditional resident programming has taken an unprecedented hiatus. Instead of focusing on what cannot be done, however, our wellness and life enrichment teams have embraced thinking outside of the box. The result is an innovative twist on the traditional lifestyle residents know and love.