December 18, 2020
Dear Friends and families,
We thank you for your continued support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Our goal is to provide high-quality care for your loved ones.
In hopes of defeating this pandemic, we look forward to administering the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)-approved vaccine in the coming weeks. We encourage participation for safety’s sake.
We have been in contact with Walgreens and are beginning the discussions on how the administration of this vaccine will work at the Jewish Home. Later today, we will be sending out information on the vaccine along with a consent form. We ask that you read this information and return the consent form to us as soon as possible, but no later than December 31st, 2020. At this time, we have been advised that the vaccine will be administered by staff from our pharmacy partner. Due to this, and the fact that the vaccine is a series of two injections, we will be scheduling specific days for vaccine clinics.
Obtaining all needed consents prior to December 31, 2020, will assist us in making this a seamless process for you and our residents. Please return consent forms to Denise Skrzysowski at dskrzysowski@jhep.org. If you are responding via mail, please put it to the attention of Denise Skrzysowski.
We encourage everyone who is able to take the vaccine to participate. If you have questions or concerns regarding the vaccine, please contact Denise Skrzysowski, Infection Preventionist at dskrzysowski@jhep.org or by calling the Jewish Home and dialing extension 1173. As we learn more and plans develop, additional information will be provided.
Our primary goal is to give staff and residents our utmost support. We continue to focus on the basic principles of cleanliness set forth by policies and procedures from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Department of Health (DOH), and Regional Response Health Collaboration Program (RRHCP).
The CDC offers recommendations for holiday celebrations during the pandemic. We will abide by these rules. Please see the links on our website’s COVID-19 page for more information.
We are pleased to report that all of our residents have continued to test negative for COVID-19. We will be testing all residents again today. Staff testing continues weekly. While we continue to await all test results, we did have one staff member test positive this week. The staff member was in direct resident care position. The staff person remains in quarantine at this time. As result of this positive test result, our third floor has been changed to a yellow zone. Residents on the third floor will continue to be tested weekly until we have reached 14 days with no positive cases.
At this time we remain closed to visitation pending test results of residents and staff. Should the remainder of the tests for this week remain negative, we will be able to resume window visits for our residents in green zones.
Our Facility’s Resident Impact (Since March 30, 2020, through December 17, 2020)
0 – Residents currently in our building with a confirmed active case of COVID 19
56 – CONFIRMED: Residents with laboratory positive COVID-19
0 – SUSPECTED: Residents with new suspected COVID-19
37 – Confirmed Staff Total: with a positive COVID -19
- Please note that test results are reported on our daily call in line at 570-207-6711.
Family members and all others impacted by the virus will be contacted directly and provided with results/updates.
A reminder for all holiday gifts to be delivered on Christmas Eve – please have Christmas gifts delivered to us by December 23rd. Please include a note attached to the gift indicating the resident name. Please also specify on the note that it is a holiday gift so that it is separated from regular deliveries. For gifts to be given during Chanukah please bring the gift to the facility 24 hours before it is to be delivered to the resident. If there is a specific day that you wish for the gift to be received, please indicate the date on the package. Please note perishable deliveries such as flowers or food items will not be held and will be delivered when received.
We thank our frontline workers for their exceptional efforts and encourage staff to maintain social distancing, use caution when attending gatherings, wear a mask and practice hand hygiene while at work and home.
Thank you for entrusting us to care for your loved ones. If you have any questions, we are always available for you.
Sincerely,
Mary Rose Applegate, MBA, RD, NHA
Administrator
