The Background

Calamar is one of the largest active senior housing real estate developers in the United States, consisting of several vertically integrated companies.  Within this core space exists property management services, in-house and third-party construction services, and capital fundraising services.  While Calamar’s corporate office is located in the State of New York, its footprint is distributed across multiple states and time zones.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of Calamar’s services were deemed  “essential” business. They were required to manage operations through a complex and ever-changing environment consisting of federal, state, and local mandates that affect operations, employees, and the communities that they manage across the U.S.

Challenges with COVID-19

In response to COVID-19, maintaining employee and resident health was one of Calamar’s paramount concerns. It was important to keep their senior residents safe and active, while sharing vital information to staff and community members so they could make real-time decisions to maintain best practices for personal and group/building safety measures.

To aid these efforts, Calamar temporarily shut down and modified a significant part of their community programming and activities and purchased and distributed personal protective equipment (PPE) for their teams throughout the U.S. in the fastest and most economical manner possible. Calamar also made significant changes to the volume and locations of employees in office workspaces, while establishing novel policies at their construction sites to comply with various local, state, and federal regulations.

With distancing precautions and PPE in place, Calamar also needed to find a way to perform a daily health assessment that was readily available and reliable for all employees. The varied offices, construction site locations, and active senior communities made this a difficult challenge to manage. Calamar sought out a survey with a self-assessment option to serve their needs that would meet the stringent regulatory requirements while also allowing for a seamless company-wide policy. 

Managing the company policy and following mandated and ever-changing regulations without a digital solution for their numerous locations across the U.S. would been extremely time-consuming and inefficient for Calamar.  They found that the GoCanvas solution, which they customized to meet the regulatory needs across its national platform, met its needs and saved time and manpower that would have otherwise been excessive and costly.

The Results

Using GoCanvas for its COVID-19 health screening, Calamar ensures that its corporate policy is being managed in accordance with best practices throughout its multi-state platform.  The automatic notifications from GoCanvas have helped Calamar address potential risks and noncompliance issues quickly, helping their staff take comfort in knowing that they are uniformly following all of the same measures to maintain the health and safety of each other and our residents.

‘GoCanvas has been an instrumental and invaluable tool in assisting Calamar to manage and monitor our employee health across the country while simultaneously ensuring the safety of our residents and others in the community,’ says Kim Stahura, Executive Assistant to the Chairman & CEO. ‘It allows us to comply with mandates and includes tracking needs should a COVID-19 case develop. The ease of use by our employees has been most beneficial and is a significant reduction in time and labor that we would otherwise have had to incur. In many locations, we would not have someone available to administer and to screen employees.’

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.