Weekly Update from Administrator – June 2, 2020
As always, our team and I hope this finds you safe and healthy. Another “thank you” for all the staff’s hard work, dedication, and compassion for all of our residents here. We remain incredibly grateful for our entire dedicated team! They are doing everything they possibly can to care for those suffering while also implementing preventive measures to minimize the spread of the disease. Everyone is working hard, and their efforts do not go unnoticed.
In addition to ongoing virtual and window visits, we have begun to offer outdoor visits for our residents and their families. 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. Please remember that the perimeter visits must be pre-scheduled to ensure safe and healthy visits for you, the residents, and our staff.
As you know from our communications, managing this pandemic has been very challenging but we continue to focus on our residents and their well-being to get through. We currently have 17 positive residents in house but will discuss our numbers in more detail during our weekly call (information below). Last week, the state DPH and members of the National Guard visited our center for a monitoring visit and found us to be in compliance. We continue to follow all CDC and state guidelines and receive regular updates on new guidelines that are offered.
Good news… As of today, we have seen 52 of our residents be deemed as recovered and are now symptom-free of COVID-19. We are very excited for these residents, their families, and our staff. We anticipate this number to continue to rise and we will continue holding recognition ceremonies to celebrate their success. Check our Facebook page to see updated pictures of our recent graduates- It is truly uplifting for our staff and residents.
Staff Testing
On Monday June 1st, Governor Lamont ordered nursing home workers to be regularly tested for the coronavirus disease. The directive states that testing will begin no later than June 14th and is expected to occur on a weekly basis. We strongly support this idea – but as I have mentioned before, the state is still not there yet. We would love to see mass testing of our staff, but we have not been provided with the state’s plan to address this yet.
We are working with the state and our state association for staff testing. This is not about our finances. This is about access, planning and assuring a process is in place. We are hopeful that this process will commence in the near future to help protect our residents and I will continue to keep you updated as the plan unfolds.
Weekly Call
As a reminder, our next “Town Hall” meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3rd and we will discuss more detailed information during this time. We encourage any residents and family members to contact me with any questions you have about the care we are offering. Our commitment is to be as transparent as possible and work to address any issues that arise. This is an incredibly challenging time and we will continue to do all we can to get through this, together. A reminder that resident-specific questions cannot be answered during these calls or on our Facebook page so please reach out to us directly if needed.
Thank you and please stay safe and healthy! Although the weather outside is becoming warmer and sunnier each day, it is important to remember that it is still necessary to be cautious and aware that the risks of COVID-19 are still present.
Marisa Jones, LNHA, MBA, Administrator