We thank you for your continued support through the COVID-19 pandemic. Our main goal remains to provide high-quality care and to keep your loved ones safe.
Our guidance from state and federal governing bodies continues to change rapidly. We are continuing to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Health guidelines with regard to infection control policies and procedures for prevention and mitigation of COVID-19.
We continue to have no positive or residents with symptoms in our facility as of today. Jewish Home staff continues to receive weekly based on Lackawanna County positivity rate remaining above 5%. We tested our staff group on Nov 9 and 10. Unfortunately, we did receive positive test results on Nov 12 for two staff members. These staff members will be out of the building in quarantine in accordance with regulations. There is one more result pending as of the writing of this letter.
Based on our review of the positive staff members work assignments and direct contact with residents, we placed our 5th floor unit on yellow status to monitor and rule out COVID in this group due to potential contact. Because this unit is designated as yellow status, we are not able to take residents from this unit to other areas in the building, therefore window visits for this unit are on hold until the required 14 day time period ends and there are no additional positive results. Staff going onto yellow zone units will be in full PPE when performing direct resident care. Compassionate visits will be held in accordance with our reopening plan. All residents on the 5th floor will be tested on Monday November 16 in accordance with regulatory guidance. Our full staff group will be scheduled for testing again on Monday, November 16, and Tuesday, November 17.
Our facility is back on closed status for routine visits therefore will switch back to window visits for our residents in the green zone (second, third, and fourth floors) until we have a fourteen period of no additional positive cases among staff or residents.
Our Facility’s Resident Impact (Since March 30, 2020, through November 12, 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
32 – 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.
We have been working on changes to our visitation guidelines based on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines regarding visitation. These guidelines related to visitations and screenings are based on COVID-19 county positivity rates.
Since the outset of this pandemic, our primary goal is to protect our staff and residents by not introducing COVID-19 from the outside. These cautionary practices are in place for the protection of you and your loved ones and our staff.
The recommendations are summarized in the attached document. We will be providing more guidance and specifics as we are able to open back up.
Please Email Lee Rutkowski at lrutkowski@jhep.org or call her 570-344-6177 ext. 1175 to schedule window visits.
FaceTime or Skype visits can be scheduled for residents in all zones. Sherri Collins, Life Enrichment Director, will make appointments for video chats. Sherri can be reached at 570-344-6177 ext. 1113 or scollins@jhep.org.
The holiday season is upon us and the coronavirus will have a definite effect. This week, the CDC released its recommendations for holiday celebrations during the pandemic. We will abide by these rules. The complete report is linked to from our website Jhep.org COVID-19 page, as are other pandemic cautionary documents and links.
Time slots and general type of window/indoor visits for the Thanksgiving holiday will be limited to our weekend availability and based upon our facility COVID outbreak status.
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
