Redwood Community Open and Busy
Redwood Community opened a year ago in 2020, just before the California shelter-in-place order. In 2019, Redwood Community had a significant remodel, including a redone kitchen and ADA compliant bathrooms, to help serve future patients better. Redwood Community now has five patients, which is close to its full capacity. Fern Lodge continues to help Redwood Community by providing administrative services as well as some staff. Late in 2020, Redwood Community and Fern Lodge reorganized their board members, so that Redwood Community board would have good representation from the local community in Santa Rosa, California. It has been a blessing for both organizations to see this Christian Science nursing home resume operations and bless people in the North Bay area.
Zooming
During this time period, patients have been grateful to continue to see family and attend church services over tablets and TVs using Zoom. We are grateful that this technology has allowed families to continue to see their loved ones even when they were unable to travel.
Reading Science and Health
The staff of Fern Lodge have been getting together to share inspiration from reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Every few weeks we read a chapter, and then we gather together to see how the chapter applies to our work together at Fern Lodge. This is helping to keep our focus on core ideas of Christian Science and healing.
Staff Housing Project
Fern Lodge has purchased an empty lot a few doors up the road from our facility to build staff housing that is walking distance to our facility. This will be of great benefit to the staff of Fern Lodge, as the housing prices in the San Francisco Bay Area consistently rank among the most expensive in the United States. Our current plan is to build 2-4 small houses, depending on county regulations.