MAINTENANCE
Navigating the Pandemic
A Maintenance Perspective
BY HECTOR MALDONADO
When the pandemic
started last year , it immediately put the maintenance team at my community - Colorado Station - on high alert . We had to get creative and start making adjustments to fight COVID 19 . The first thing we started to do was to find cleaning supplies like sanitizer , latex gloves , hand wipes , masks , housekeeping cleaning materials and sanitizing dispensers , which was challenging since everyone was doing the same thing and stores and items were running out everywhere .
Once we were able to get the items , we had to get a game plan in place , which included the installation of sanitizing dispensers at the entry of each building , our laundry rooms and outside the elevators . We installed a total of 15 sanitizing stations throughout the property , which are still in use today .
We had to carefully create schedules to make sure the community remained as clean as possible . This included disinfecting everything from the gym equipment down to every door handle in the building and even the elevator buttons . We ran this disinfecting process at least four times daily !
Our team made adjustments on prioritizing work orders as well . When the pandemic began , we only completed emergency work orders and dropped off light bulbs at a resident ’ s front door if they needed one . It was very different time for us , since we are so used to seeing and talking with our residents .
The way we interacted with them changed immediately as well . Prior to leaving for a work order , we called each resident to ask questions around COVID-19 , such as " have you travelled in the last 30 days " or " have you been in contact with anyone who has had Covid ?" etc . At the time , the questions seemed repetitive and important , but we are all used to being asked these questions everywhere we go now .
Some residents didn ' t mind it , but some were really agitated with us asking personal questions . A few months down the road , it was established companywide that the resident was not able to be in the apartment when we were fixing items that they requested , which was difficult for them because almost everyone is working from home and they didn ’ t really have anywhere to go in the meantime .
Overall , it ' s been a challenge navigating the pandemic , but our team has done an exceptional job keeping up with the sanitizing tasks at hand , wearing proper PPE around each other and the residents and keeping our residents and the team safe .
Hector Maldonado is the Maintenance Supervisor at RedPeak Colorado Station . He has been with RedPeak for 14 years .
DAY IN THE LIFE ...
8:00am Sanitize all door handles in the building .
9:00am Sanitize laundry rooms and all washers and dryers
10:00am Sanitize stairwells and handrails , and replenish sanitizing stations .
11:00am Work orders . It was necessary to call each resident to make sure they don ' t not have symptoms or to make sure they wouldn ' t be present in the unit while completing the work
2:00pm Sanitize all door handles in the building .
3:00pm Sanitize laundry rooms and all washers and dryers
4:00pm Sanitize stairwells and handrails , and replenish sanitizing stations . www . aamdhq . org MARCH 2021 TRENDS | 29