Update From Administrator – August 10, 2020
Our team and I hope this email continues to find you safe and healthy.
Please remember that the outdoor visits must be pre-scheduled to ensure safe and healthy visits for you, the residents, and our staff. It also allows our team to ensure your loved one is available and ready for your visit to make the most of your time together. These visits require appropriate PPE (masks) to be worn at all times and a social distance of 6 feet between you and your loved ones for the entirety of the visit. The specific guidelines and details regarding perimeter visits can be found on our website and Facebook page. If these restrictions pose issues for you please keep in mind that we continue to offer other visitation alternatives like Facetime, Skype and window visits. You can schedule a visit by calling 860-489-1008 or emailing us at recreation@valeriemanorhcc.com. Please refrain from hugging and other forms of endearment; though we remain without COVID cases, the potential for a resurgence is always knocking at the back door. Just as an example, Rhode Island is now on the hot list due to an increase in COVID cases. We do not want our residents exposed unnecessarily, and we appreciate your understanding in our efforts to protect our residents and staff. Unfortunately, if the parameters are not followed, we will offer alternative forms of communication.
Other updates from our recreation team include:
- Offering increased activity programming including hallway Bingo, arts and crafts, in-room 1:1 visits (visit our Facebook page to see ongoing pictures of these activities). The residents are participating and loving the hallway Bingo!
- Currently planning activities to celebrate National Skilled Nursing Care Week in August. We are booking entertainment for residents to enjoy along with many other activities. Please see our Facebook page for our Resident activity agenda.
- We will be wrapping up the week with a large Raffle. There are 6 raffle baskets created by various departments based on the theme for the week, “Sharing our Wisdom”. Pictures of the baskets have been uploaded to our Facebook page. We are offering participation in the raffle to our families and residents as well. Should you like to participate, tickets will be on sale, Monday – Friday from 2-3PM in the front of the building. Tickets are 1 for $1 or 8 tickets for $5. We will have tickets available during other times by calling the main number and scheduling a purchase with the Receptionist; this includes weekends. Cash only, please.
- We have received additional tablets for resident use. These tablets may be used for video communications with families or for resident participation with online games, Wordscapes, etc.
We are happy to report that we continue to be Covid free, with no new cases in several weeks. As mentioned on our last Town Hall call, we conducted another round of resident testing this past week and all test results were returned as negative. We are conducting another round this week, to include any new admissions during the last week, and are hopeful that we will remain free of the virus. Some of our families have inquired about increasing time outdoors we can only do this if we remain COVID free and practice per the CDC and DPH guidelines. As we continue to maintain a COVID-free status, we will hopefully be able to reduce restrictions under the guidance of the CDC and CT Department of Public Health. The DPH call this week was canceled so additional guidance has not been received.
We continue to test all employees as well, on a weekly basis. Thus far, all of our employee tests have also come back with a negative result. Through ongoing testing, we are hopeful to keep all our residents and employees safe while at Valerie Manor.
We are currently on generator power. We have limited email, computer and cell phone coverage/access as the Internet is also down. We do not have a time frame for the restoration of power but we continue to contact EVERSOURCE for updates. This has been quite the year! We have scheduled additional therapeutic recreation coverage to offer additional activities to the residents as their Televisions are down.
We are very proud of the work our staff have put into ensuring all our residents are well cared for and protected during these trying times. If you share this sentiment I encourage you to send me a testimonial to share on our website or we always welcome recommendations on our Facebook page. The best compliment you can offer us, is your support on our website as many families make their decision based on those reviews.
Our next “Town Hall” meeting is scheduled for Friday, August 7th at 3PM. We encourage any residents and family members to contact the team with any questions or concerns you may have about the care we are offering. Our commitment is to be as transparent as possible and work to address any issues that arise.
Kind Regards,
Donna