COVID-19 has been difficult on everyone this past year. We have endured much together and are anxious for you to be able to visit your loved ones again.
Our staff testing completed this past week retuned all negative results! All of our zones remain green except for our designated 4th floor yellow zone for returning and newly admitted residents. The positivity rate for Lackawanna County was checked this week and remains in the yellow zone (>5% )and unfortunately is trending upward again, so caution is really required for all. We will be continuing weekly staff testing on Mondays.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announced this week that responsible in-person visitation for nursing homes is allowed. Read the report:
https://www.phca.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/QSO-20-39-NH-Revised_0.pdf
Although this is a ray of hope, these visits have to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) core principles and will still require screening protocols for all visitors and staff, practice social distancing, face mask wearing and proper sanitization. https://www.cdc.gov.
The following is a reminder of the core visitor principles that will again be implemented:
- Visitation scheduled at designated times
- Adherence to infection control principles
- Visit is limited to designated area/resident room
- Despite relaxed restrictions for visitation, we will continue routine testing and, in the event of any new positive results, modified visitation restrictions will be implemented and there will be immediate notifications of changes to visitation schedules.
As we roll out changes to expand our visits safely within the core visitor principles, we will alert you of some of the changes in our visiting process which will be coming soon. One area which we will be implementing for our visits right now is that “residents that are fully vaccinated choosing to have close contact (including touch) with their visitor while wearing a well-fitting face mask and performing hand-hygiene before and after”. So brief hugs and hand touching will be possible at the end of our scheduled visits on our first floor areas . To schedule a visit please contact Lee Rutkowski Monday through Friday by email at lrutkowski@jhep.org or call her 570-344-6177 ext. 1175.
If you have additional vaccine questions, please refer to our website’s COVID-19 page.
Another source is the Department of Health (DOH) family member eligibility, locations and scheduling website: https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/disease/coronavirus/Vaccine/Pages/Vaccine.aspx
Our Facility’s Resident Impact (Since March 30, 2020, through March11, 2021)
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
52 – 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 and updates.
Thank you again for entrusting with the care of your loved ones. If you have any questions, we are always available for you.
Sincerely,
Mary Rose Applegate, MBA, RD, NHA
Administrator
