chad jensen - new dawn developments

I’d like to introduce Chad Jensen, President of New Dawn Developments.

How has the current Covid-19 situation affected your daily operations?

Staff levels in the office have been reduced, shifting to having people working remotely from home in order to keep things moving. The overall production and sales have declined, but we are fortunate that we have been able to maintain operations as best as we can during this time. Our client meetings have been limited to distance based communication like email, phone calls, zoom/skype meetings, etc with staff communications and meetings following the same structure as much as practicably possible.

We have also made adjustments to our on-site production in order to reduce the number of staff and trades on sites at any given time. We have increased the number of hand-washing stations and disinfectant wipes on our work sites, we’ve ensured there is hand sanitizer in all of our work vehicles and porta-potties, and have implemented controlled paths of movement through the sites such as specific entrance & exit points and stairways that are only for up or down traffic in order to keep contact to an absolute minimum.

What positive or uplifting things are you seeing during this time?

Seeing the birthday parades around town has been great, I’d like to say thank you to everyone that’s been involved in organizing and participating in those. Also, seeing the awareness and appreciation for all of the front-line workers, health professionals and first responders that often don’t get the recognition they deserve.

What are you doing to find joy right now?

We’ve been spending a lot of time as a family; playing games and working on projects together, making more time for reading and learning activities, and getting out on our dirtbikes & sxs. We’ve also been taking our dogs out for a lot of hikes, and are now able to get out to play some golf as well.

Is there anything specific you’d like to share, or wish people knew right now?

I feel that we are extremely fortunate to live in the Kootenays and feel generally sheltered from the Covid pandemic. We need to stay diligent in preventing further spread of the virus over the coming months. The benefits of living in Cranbrook and the East Kootenays is overlooked. As we witnessed city after city virtually locked down with very little to do outside your home, we are still able to use the Community Forest and surrounding areas to hike, bike, and recreate while socially distancing. With lakes and parks opening back up, our day to day life will be significantly more “normal” than what I am hearing is happening in the bigger cities.

Working remotely from home has also opened up the possibility for many people to consider moving to the area to enjoy everything that we have to offer.