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.
Our COVID -19 vaccine campaign for our staff and residents is underway. While we don’t have exact date of the clinic yet from our assigned vaccine provider, Walgreens, we are anticipating that it will be sometime in early January. Last week we sent out a separate email for you with information on the vaccine. We are planning education sessions for our residents who are able to provide their own consent and staff.
I would like to invite all family members to join us in a Zoom video education session with our clinical team, Denise Skrzysowski RN, Infection Preventionist, Gina McCabe, RN, MSN, CCRN, CNRN, CNML, CPPS, Clinical Operations Executive, Brittany Elko, MSW, NHA, Director of Social Services, and myself to provide an overview on how the vaccine clinic will work at the Jewish Home and answer any questions or concerns on our vaccine campaign.
The Zoom meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 30, 2020, at 3 p.m. For those of you who are receiving this letter via email, we will send you a separate invite link on Monday, December 28, 2020, to provide you with the link to join the Zoom meeting. Please watch for this email invitation. If you are receiving this letter via regular mail since you don’t have an email address and want to participate the group Zoom education on the vaccine via a telephone call, please reach out to Brittany Elko at 570-344-6177 ext. 1154 or myself at extension 1101 to obtain information on how to call in.
We are targeting obtaining all needed consents by December 31, 2020, this 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 are pleased to report that all of our residents have continued to test negative for COVID-19 from last week’s test on Friday, December 18, 2020. The residents were retested again today due to the lab being closed due to the holiday. We tested our staff this week on Monday and Tuesday. Results are pending at this time. Staff testing continues weekly and resident testing for next week is dependent on results from this week for both the resident and staff group.
At this time we remain closed to visitation pending test results of residents and staff.
Our Facility’s Resident Impact (Since March 30, 2020, through December 22, 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.
Chanukah gifts went out early this week and last week. They were well received by residents celebrating this holiday. There have been many Christmas gifts dropped off for our residents which will be delivered by staff on Christmas Eve. Thank you for participating in this to brighten the holiday for your loved ones. Festive meals will be served as well as special treats for residents on the holiday.
Thank you for entrusting us to care for your loved ones and your patience and support of us during these trying times. If you have any questions, we are always available for you.
Please have a safe and blessed holiday season. We are all looking forward to 2021!
Sincerely,
Mary Rose Applegate, MBA, RD, NHA
Administrator
