With seniors facing the biggest threat the pandemic has to offer, a Richmond low-income seniors building is proud to have the record of having had zero cases of COVID.
The Kiwanis Towers building – near Minoru Boulevard and Westminster Highway, where the youngest tenant is 61 and the oldest 97 – is apparently a place where the management team is willing to go “the extra mile.”
Resident Betty Zhang told the Richmond News that the secret behind the zero-case record is the building’s management team’s compassion.
“The manager Milan Kljajic, and his two co-workers, John Lin and Kaven Chan, have risked their lives and kept their circle small to protect us. I am very thankful that these individuals are protecting us...Kudos to the management team,” said Zhang, who has been living in the tower since 2015.
“I am grateful that God has given us Milan Kljajic to take care of us and to create a worry-free and comfortable place to live.”
However, Kljajic, whose team received lots of appreciation messages from residents, attributed “zero COVID-19 cases” to the team effort.
“I am the face of the organization, but there is a lot behind the scenes,” he said.
“It’s a team effort between the staff members, the board of directors and our tenants. We communicated with our tenants since day one, and they are also very responsible.”
Kljajic added that almost 99 per cent of residents were already wearing masks before the mask-mandatory rule was put in place by the provincial health officer.
Indeed, thinking and acting ahead of the curve to implement safety measures played a vital role in minimizing the spread of the virus, said Kljajic, noting that before B.C. went into full lockdown in March last year, they had already shut down all entertainment programs, such as line dancing, body stretch classes, yoga classes and even on-site hair salons.
