Update from Administrator – January, 6, 2022

Happy New Year to All!

With health experts now warning of “waning immunity” and “break-through” cases, and the positivity rate in our areas on the rise, we do ask everyone to continue with caution and vigilance. We need to be vigilant about protecting our loved ones and ensure proper social distancing, masking, and infection prevention protocols are followed, even outside our center.

Center Visits

If you would like to visit, please do so, following the guidance and recommendations of the CDC and our state health department. While your vaccination is not required for visitation, we continue to strongly encourage vaccination for everyone and booster shots for those now eligible.

As a reminder, all visitors are required to complete our COVID screening protocol, including temperature check and our questionnaire. You are also required to wear a mask while in the center. We ask that you proceed directly to your loved one’s room for your visit and not wander the center, to further reduce any potential exposure.

While it is safer for visitors not to enter the facility during an outbreak investigation, visitors must still be allowed in the facility. Visitors should be made aware of the potential risk of visiting when there have been cases in the last 14 days in the facility and adhere to the core principles of infection prevention. If residents or their representative would like to have a visit, they should wear face coverings or masks during visits, regardless of vaccination status, and visits should ideally occur in the resident’s room.

Resident Room Visitation Space:

• Residents who are fully vaccinated to visit with loved ones who are fully vaccinated in their rooms, if they reside in a private room or if their roommate is also fully vaccinated and not immune compromised.
• Residents who are fully vaccinated may visit with loved ones who are fully vaccinated without maintaining social distancing.

In addition, the long-term care facility must: if a resident room is not available,

• Identify a designated space for visitation that is as close to the entrance as possible where visits can be socially distanced from other residents and minimize visitor impact in the facility.

Outdoor Visitation Space:

In addition to the in-person indoor visitation, the long-term care facility continues to offer outdoor visitation and adhere to the following:

• Ensure visits with a resident occur in a designated outdoor space; outdoor visits will be dependent on permissible weather conditions, availability of outdoor space, health, and well-being of the resident.
• Residents who are fully vaccinated may visit with loved ones who are fully vaccinated without maintaining social distancing or wearing masks.

Robert Macarelli, LNHA