wbjournal.com | April 12, 2021 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Higher
education, health care, real estate)
Staff Writer, Monica Busch,
mbusch@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing, equality & inclusion)
Editorial Intern
Amy Thai, athai@wbjournal.com
Sharon Boateng,
sboateng@wbjournal.com
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon
Lead Researcher, Timothy Doyle,
tdoyle@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Account Receivable Specialist,
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Director of Audience Development,
Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Operations Assistant,
Leah Allen,
lallen@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Tom Curtin
tcurtin@hartfordbusinessjournal.com
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special
issues in May, September, October, and December by New
England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester,
MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA.
Copyright 2021. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please
send address changes to: Worcester Business Journal,
PO Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894.
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Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
O
ver the Easter weekend, my
parents drove to my house
from Cleveland, marking
the first time I'd seen them
since just before my moth-
er's cancer surgery in the summer (which
was successful). ey had received both
doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine,
as had my wife and I, since we received a
small priority ahead of the general popu-
lation rollout as the primary caregivers for
special needs children.
With little fanfare, this was our first
foray into post-pandemic life. Don't get
me wrong, we are still masking and social
distancing every time we leave the house,
but this was my wife's and my first time to
be with people outside of our five children
for any extended period in many months.
It turned out to be a perfectly pleasant
family holiday: celebrating Easter, chatting
about this and that, playing with the kids,
showing off my new car, and reconnecting
with my parents aer a year of mostly
texts, FaceTime sessions, and the occa-
sional phone call. Although the visions in
our collective imaginations of post-pan-
demic life feature giant parties full of
hugging, shared cocktails, and revelry, for
me the return was far simpler: just picking
up where we le off in March 2020.
Although the coronavirus still poses
a very real threat and its variants are
keeping public health officials up at night,
the successful and speedy rollout of the
COVID-19 vaccines are inching all of us
to a collective post-pandemic life. Local
colleges are planning to have typical fall
semesters, restaurants are reopening, and
perhaps WBJ returning to live, in-person
events doesn't seem like a far-fetched idea.
In this edition, News Editor Grant Welker
explores how this return to normalcy is
playing out at long-term care facilities
across the region. Oddly, as the initial
COVID infection hotspots, long-term
care facilities have now become among
the first to explore what a post-pandemic
world looks like, thanks to the prioritiza-
tion of nursing homes and senior citizens
in the initial vaccine rollout. As it turns
out, this return to normalcy does include
some major benefits – like hugging and
having visitors – but is mostly centered
around small steps forward.
e coronavirus pandemic sucks, for
I N T H I S I S S U E
many reasons. More than 550,000 Ameri-
cans have died. Businesses have closed per-
manently. Simple social interactions have
disappeared. It has been a long, hard road
to get to this point. We're not 100% the way
back yet, but we're getting closer.
– Brad Kane, editor
Finding normalcy
N E W S & A N A LY S I S
4 Central Mass. In Brief
10 Focus on Senior Planning Guide
24 Know How
25 The List: Top NIH grant winners in
Central Mass.
26 Movers & Shakers
28 Photo Finish
29 Opinion
30 Shop Talk: JNP Coffee
24 10 Things I know about …
Phishing scams
Advice columnist Michelle Drolet helps
companies avoid targeted scams hitting
everything from email to text messages to
social media
29 Early college is a successful
investment
In the Viewpoint opinion column, Timothy
Murray and Mary Jo Marion push for the
Massachusetts legislature to provide $7
million to enhance early college programs
for high schoolers.
D E P A R T M E N T S
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508.769.2944
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