BOCA RATON, Fla. — A Boca Raton senior living community is testing out a new tool to help keep residents safe during the pandemic.
At Sinai Residences in Boca Raton, the servers are working hard to prepare and plate food.
But a new employee is helping to serve it. Its name is "Servi," a robotic food runner.
"Obviously, the less hands the better, and it's a much quick and efficient way to send something out of the kitchen in the dining room or from the dining room back into the kitchen," Rachel Blumberg said.
Blumberg is the executive director of Sinai Residences.
"When it comes to the health and the safety of residents, we spare no expense," she said.
Blumberg said COVID-19 has presented its challenges and now with cases back on the rise here in Florida, she and her team are thinking about long-term safety practices.
"Such as sprayers that they can wear on their backpack," she said. "At this point, we are using disposable one use only tools to mop."
The newest edition to the team is Servi.
"It's been a wonderful solution to assist our employees and it doesn't replace our employees," Blumberg said. "It's actually more of a tool to help them."
Blumberg said they are renting Servi from a technology company. She said it averages out to cost about $2 an hour.
What about the reaction from residents?
"Why not? Why not?" Shelly Woldoff said, laughing. "We deserve it."