AUSTINTOWN — The Austintown Senior Center is taking steps now to ensure members’ safety when the word comes to reopen.

New equipment and new procedures will become the norm when that day comes.

“We closed March 13,” said Jessica Ricker, technology director. “Since then, we have been taking proactive steps before we are given the green light to open.”

One new piece of equipment that will be in place soon is an infrared thermal scanner. Ricker said it can do groups all at once and pick out someone who is above the temperature threshold. That person would then be scanned with a hand-held device and if the reading is the same, the entire group could be asked to return home and self-quarantine.

A second device purchased is an ionizer. This device would kill any virus on furniture, tables and any surface at the center, she said, and should be delivered soon.

Ricker is waiting to hear on a third device that would be a little more costly, but would help clean the air at the center. She said it is a piece of equipment that attaches to the HVAC system and would clean the air traveling through the building’s duct system. The device kills mold and even the common cold residue, as well as being proven effective for COVID-19.

While the equipment will offer a round of protection for members, the senior center just got a major cleaning. Members of the Austintown Fire Department gave the center a final walk-through last week to clean all the surfaces.

During the height of the pandemic, Austintown firefighters and paramedics were using the senior center to quarantine. When they went on calls for possible COVID-19, they had the option to stay at the center as opposed to possibly affecting their family members. Six firefighters and paramedics stayed at the center.

“We came back to do a final cleaning,” firefighter Jared Vinkler said.

Because the crews were at the center, a washer and dryer were brought there. Ricker said the appliances are staying and the center could use them to wash and sterilize face masks. Ricker said if the center can secure re-useable facemasks, it could provide them to seniors who don’t have one.

Many of the center’s programs have to take a little different approach. Ricker said people could space out more for yoga, possibly in two sessions. Some of the other programs could do spacing as well.

“Right now we are looking at Bingo,” Ricker said. “Obviously we can’t have six to eight people at a table.”

She said the number at a table could be lessened to four or three. The Bingo cards are a challenge as they can’t really reuse the cardboard cards, which also cannot be disinfected. Ricker is looking into a throwaway card, and is considering using plastic Bingo chips that could be placed in a bowl and disinfected.

Ricker is the only one at the center right now and she is using her time to work out a lot of the kinks before the word to go reopen comes from the governor.

But she feels the center is already ahead of the curve.

“The Ohio Association of Senior Centers is working on the opening criteria,” she said. “We didn’t want to wait so we started ordering the equipment we need to be safe so we could ensure having it in time.”

jtwhitehouse@tribtoday.com