Updates to visitation have been positive in the last week. Again, fully vaccinated individuals may consent to touching visitors and visiting within social distancing guidelines as long as both parties are wearing a face mask properly. In addition, quarantine requirements have been relaxed related to fully vaccinated individuals who have contact with individuals outside the facility (i.e. physician appointments, etc.). This will greatly enhance the quality of life for our residents as we return to a more normalized health care system. Finally, rules for visitation in resident rooms has been provided. This will be more difficult to accomplish for residents who are in semi-private rooms but if this is a desire, please coordinate prior to the visit so we may work to meet the requirements if possible.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank our families for their patience in the visitation practices. While you may not be happy with the manner we execute our visits, these are the guidelines are provided by the Health Department. It is not as simple as change as we like to make it better or visiting and not following the guidelines. The organization is still under intense pressure to maintain strict infection control practices and the penalties that can be leveled on the organization are severe and the potential for return of an outbreak is still present. Your continued compliance with the guidelines adds to our infection control practices and the safety of residents and staff. Finally, the visits are booked for several days if not longer in advance. Should something occur that results in your needed to reschedule or cancel a visit, please let us know as soon as possible. We have a list of individuals who have requested visits during these booked times, and we can contact to schedule a visit when an opening occurs. If you have not communicated with the staff booking appointments you would like to be on this contact
list, let them know the next time you call. As a reminder, we are booking no more than two visits per resident per week to allow as many to visit as possible.
Active outbreaks are at 22 (22 last week) still active in the community with 5 of those being in health facilities/entities. Positives through March 30 th are 462, however the rolling average for positive results for individuals tested in the last 7 days increased again to 11.7%. The community continues the increase in daily
positives over the last few days with several days of over 30 new positive cases. Parkview Hospital increased hospitalizations related to COVID with 21 cases as of yesterday (more than double from previous week) while St Mary Corwin has 1 COVID case in their care. Parkview reported occupancy at 174 while St Mary Corwin is reporting 15 for occupancy. This leaves 96 available beds between the hospitals.
As a reminder, this letter is provided electronically either through email or our website. We do mail a copy the first week a new admit joins us if no email has been provided to share the information how to receive future copies via the website. If you are not receiving by email and would like to do so, let us know your address. Please contact the facilities with your questions and I appreciate your patience with our return calls to address your concerns or questions.
Sincerely,
Keith Jackson
Executive Director
