Why one woman is relieved to be living at Wind Crest

By Laurie Whittier
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Lia Wischow didn’t find out about Erickson’s plans to build Wind Crest until after her apartment was burglarized at a different retirement community. If she had known, she would have waited for Wind Crest to open.

Wischow moved to Colorado from Erickson’s Greenspring property in Springfield, Va., to be closer to her daughter who had moved to Colorado Springs. Unaware of any plans for an Erickson community in Colorado at the time, she moved into a community near her daughter’s home.

Upon returning from a trip, she discovered someone had entered her apartment and stolen some of her valuables. “I was horrified,” she told the Tribune. “I never expected something like that to happen, because I was used to the security of an Erickson community.”

The place where Wischow had been living had on-site security, but not 24 hours a day like Erickson communities do. “They also did not have a 24-hour guarded entrance,” she says.

Security matters
According to a spokesperson from the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Department, measures like Wind Crest’s 24-hour guarded security entrance as well as vehicle and foot patrols are effective in keeping residents safe. For starters, the gated entrance ensures that no one gains access to Wind Crest unless they have a valid reason for being there.

“Anyone who doesn’t have a Wind Crest ID badge must have the right information in order to get past the gate,” says Security Manager Paul Loveland.

Guards double as EMTs
At Wind Crest, most of the security guards are also certified emergency medical technicians, or EMTs. So they’re at the ready if anyone should require immediate medical attention, explains Loveland. Since they’re on-site, they can respond in three minutes or less.

“In medical emergencies, seconds are critical. For every minute that’s shaved off of response time, a person’s chance of survival increases by 10%,” explains Loveland.