Residents and Family Members,
We continue to be COVID free on the campus. This daily county report identified 189 cases for August through yesterday. The last 4 days have shown a decrease in the daily identified positive cases over the trend for the month. The hospital census is currently 4 positives (same as last week), or presumptive COVID patients reported in Parkview and 0 in St Mary Corwin. A new outbreak in the last week in Pueblo County was identified at a construction site.
Today we are performing testing focused primarily towards staff. The results from the state lab should be known within a few days. We have continued to screen staff daily and update our screening questions based on evolving data of symptoms identified by the CDC. In addition, we also have continued with daily vitals for all our residents to monitor for any symptoms. Both Tiffani at Chateau and Christine at the Care Center work with staff to evaluate the results of the vitals as well as provide ongoing education for infection control practices with our staff.
Recently we had state surveyors on campus reviewing our infection control practices for both levels of care. While we received positive feedback in many of our practices, some areas were identified for improvement or continued effort. Encouraging mask wearing by residents while outside their rooms or when staff enter the room to perform care is an area the nursing leadership has continued to stress and was identified as an area for improvement. The expectation is each time a staff member interacts or passes a resident the reminder for a mask is to be addressed. In some ways, this is difficult as for years we have stressed to staff that quality care starts by knowing our residents and staff have taken this to heart. So, they know “Sue” will not wear a mask as they have tried repeatedly and will honor her right by not asking with each interaction. We will work to continue to strive to overcome this. Another area that has the same issue for staff compliance is social distancing. In some cases, residents do not have the presence to understand what is being asked, in others it is simply the desire for human interaction. Most of us in our daily interactions do not ensure 6 feet separation and therefore don’t even think about distancing for interpersonal interactions. These two areas are always our biggest challenge as staff have become far more compliant with mask and eye protection.
Sincerely,
Keith Jackson
Executive Director
