Update from Administrator – March 17, 2021

Update from Administrator – March 17, 2021

March 17, 2021

Dear Residents, Families and Friends,

At long last – we have new guidance from the CDC on nursing home visitation! This new guidance reflects updates to address the vaccination of residents and individuals from the community, as well as the decrease in community spread and changes to visitation during an “outbreak.”

While the CDC release their new guidance later on March 10^th, we reviewed their materials, along with guidance that followed the next day from our state’s health leaders and our operator, Athena Health Care Systems to update our existing policies and procedures to accommodate the new guidance.

For details on the CDC guidance, please visit their website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/infection-control-after-vaccination.html.

Visitation Reminders / UPDATES (in ITALICS)

As before, when an outbreak is detected among residents or staff, all visitations must be suspended except for compassionate care visits, until at least one round of facility wide testing is completed.

We always offer visitations using our technology (iPads, tablets, calls, etc.) and when we can, window visits and outside visits. If you do not have an appointment scheduled, please contact Rita in Recreation at 508-765-9188 x 1820 for an outdoor visit, window visit or virtual visit.

We continue to take all necessary precautions, including wearing personal protective equipment and conducting regular testing of our staff and residents, to ensure the safety of our residents and staff.

We want to provide some reminders about our visitation policy, based on requirements set by our state’s DPH and the CDC. We do apologize, but the below is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity for visits, under the strict state and federal guidelines we must adhere to. We know this is not the optimal way to visit your loved one, but these guidelines have been put in place with your loved ones and our staff’s best interest in mind.

To clarify a few of the below points, a “fully vaccinated” individual is defined as your loved one is two weeks post receiving BOTH of their vaccination doses.

• Call Rita in recreation at 508-765-9133 x 1820 or email us at recreation@southbridgerhcc.com to set up appointment.
• Available visiting times are 10:00am to 7 pm Monday through Friday, 10 am to 6 pm Saturday and Sunday.
• Residents may have up to 2 visitors at a time, and one visits per resident per week at this time.
• Visiting can be up to 45 minutes long.
• Please, do not bring food or beverages to the visit, as masks must remain on at all times.
• Come to the building with a mask on that covers your nose and mouth.
• When you arrive, please sanitize hands, fill out COVID exposure questionnaire and sign the one-time document acknowledging that you will follow the visiting guidelines. The recreation assistant will take your temperature. Go directly to the visitation area in the courtyard.  Please do not stop at the nurses’ station, other offices, etc.
• All visitors and residents must wear a facemask that fully covers your nose and mouth, and it must remain in place throughout the entire visit; you must perform hand hygiene prior to approaching the visit area.
• Please maintain social distancing during the visit. ** If your loved one is fully vaccinated (two weeks post receiving BOTH of their vaccination doses), you may have close contact with your loved one. Please continue to practice social distancing with our staff and any others you may encounter. This is for indoor and outdoor visitation.
• A staff member will be on hand to answer questions, assist during the visit, and sanitize in between visits.

Recreation

• Small group activities have resumed.
• When there is a COVID-19 positive resident on a unit, floor or care area, group activities will be paused for residents on the unit, floor, or care area until the unit, floor or care area has gone 14 days without a new COVID-19 positive resident.
• A reminder to everyone that we do have various tablet devices for your loved one to utilize to access games, various communication tools, games, news, and more. We have done some tutoring and training of the tablets so that residents are more comfortable with them.

Dining

• Small groups of residents who are fully vaccinated may dine together at a table without social distancing. Tables will be 6 feet apart from one another and dining companions should be consistent across meals and days.

Hairdresser

• Donna is back and will re-open the salon on Thursday, March 18^th. If you would like an appointment for your loved one, please call the floor where they reside and Donna will be notified.

Thank you and, as always, please stay safe and healthy!

Robin High

Administrator