FORT WORTH — A Fort Worth retirement community implemented an employee vaccination requirement, and the vaccination rate is now at 100%.
Think of this retirement community like an island where you have to be vaccinated to come inside. One-hundred-percent of the employees have gotten their shot, and contractors and visitors have to show proof and check in.
Trinity Terrace residents Donna and Dan Moore have been married for 56 years.
“We met on a blind date in Austin, Texas when I was at the University of Texas,” Donna said.
They were both 20 at the time, and got married a year later.
These soulmates begin every morning at home in their Trinity Terrace living room. Donna writes in her journal, while Dan reads the paper. On Sundays, they go to a church located right next door.
As they enjoy their coffee on the balcony, they “…overlook Trinity Park and the River,” Dan said. “And then typically we’ll eat breakfast and go down and walk the halls for about half an hour or so.”
The couple does laps around their retirement community, and dubbed themselves the hall walkers.
“We’re also known as the couple who is always holding hands,” Donna said with a smile.
During the day they go swimming, attend knitting club, work a shift at the country store, volunteer at the resident-run thrift store and work out.
The reason they are able to be so active and social during the pandemic is because of the high vaccination rate at Trinity Terrace.
“It makes us feel very secure,” Donna explained. “And I think it was a really good thing that Trinity Terrace management commanded that — that they must be.”
The residents themselves have a 99% vaccination rate, so they are all living extremely social lives during this pandemic. It is like their own little bubble.
“And the thing that we do know, is that if we’d been living in a single family residence in a neighborhood, we would not be doing those things,” Donna said.
Even their housekeeping, maintenance and grocery delivery is all internal. Every contractor walking through the front doors has to be vaccinated, and must get their temperature checked every time.
“We live free and secure,” Dan said.
They are even having friends come over for a fancy dinner.
“They will have to show their vaccination card to the hostess when they come in,” Donna said.
But Trinity Terrace associate executive director Line Wilson said not every employee was on board with the vaccine requirement. Before the mandate took effect on September 1, the employee vaccination rate was only 57%. They did a ton of education first, and gave employees a lot of time to decide.
“We have about 210 employees. And when all is said and done, we had eight full-time employees and two part-time employees who ended up leaving us as a result of the vaccine requirement,” Wilson said.
The Moore family believes not being isolated actually kept them healthy during this pandemic.
“Active, interesting and interested,” Donna said.
Trinity Terrace said this mandate was the only logical way to keep all of the residents safe without shutting off all of the lifestyle components that make the place so special