We are very excited that the State of Ohio is allowing visitation for nursing home residents starting July 20, 2020.  Our visitation procedures will be different than they were before the pandemic, but our goal throughout this process will be to keep our residents, families and staff as safe as possible.

The state has mandated that facilities restart visitation only after completing COVID-19 testing of all staff members. We have not yet completed our testing but are hoping to hear from the state to schedule that very soon.  At the beginning of July, only around 43% of the state’s nursing facilities had completed this testing, so there are many facilities in Ohio waiting for testing dates.  We are still sharing our plan for visitation protocols so you can familiarize yourself with the requirements.  As soon as we complete our staff testing and have determined a visitation start date, we will let you know.

Per the state’s rule, visits must be outdoors and follow specific protocols.  We have developed the protocols below to comply with the state’s rule and provide safe, meaningful visitation for as many residents as possible.  Exceptions for residents who are at end of life or have other extenuating circumstances will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Scheduling: To schedule a visit, please call or email Janice Holland, Receptionist, at 440-842-2273. The hours for visitation will be from 10:00 AM-4:30 PM, Monday-Friday.

Until we determine how many families will be visiting, we are asking that these visits be kept to 30 minutes and no more than once per day/once per week for now.  We may expand these hours and availability in the future as we see what the demand is.

Visitation Requirements & Limitations:  To comply with the state’s social distancing requirement, we are requesting that no more than 2 people visit during one appointment. Since masks and social distancing are required during the entire visit, we are requesting that visitation be limited to adults over the age of 18.  For the protection of our residents, families and staff, residents who are being quarantined because of a recent hospital stay, outside appointment, or the development of signs/symptoms of COVID-19 will not be permitted to receive visitors.

Environment & Accommodations: Our outdoor visits will be held in an outdoor area that will be protected during inclement weather and provides shade. The area will be adjacent to the reception entrance. Tables and umbrellas/tents will be available, and the area will be marked with red “X” to designate 6 feet social distancing along with signage. Visitation may be cancelled due to inclement weather. This area will be disinfected between appointments.  Visitors are asked to arrive promptly and remain in their cars if they are early. At the appointed visitation time, the visitors will call upon arrival and will be met under the carport to sign in and be screened by a staff member. Residents and visitors should remain in the visitation area for the duration of their visit and maintain 6 feet of social distancing at all times. There will be markers on the ground to help everyone stay at safe intervals.  We understand the importance of physical contact like hugs, but not maintaining social distancing during these visits puts all of our residents at risk.  If social distancing cannot be maintained throughout the visit, it may be necessary for our staff to end the visit early.  In addition, if social distancing is not maintained, the resident will be quarantined for 14 days, during which time visits will not be permitted for that resident.

Screening: All visitors will be screened and temperatures taken upon arrival. If a visitor has symptoms or has tested positive for COVID-19, the visit will be rescheduled. We will have hand sanitizer for our residents and visitors and kindly request that everyone use it at the beginning and the end of each visit.  The screening tool that will be completed prior to your visit is enclosed.  If you have any of these symptoms, for the safety of your loved one, please reschedule your visit.

Face coverings: Both residents and visitors will wear surgical masks or cloth masks for the duration of the visit. All visitors should provide their own face masks, either medical or cloth style.  If there is a medical reason that a visitor cannot wear a mask during the visit, please notify us at the time of scheduling so we can discuss alternate safety options.

Gifts/items: No food/beverage/tobacco will be permitted during visitation. All items brought from home for a resident must follow our regular policy for allowable items.  If you need information on that policy, please reach out or visit our emergency preparedness website, https://lhsohio.com/plv/.

Ohio Public Health Advisory System: Governor DeWine has urged nursing facilities consider the prevalence and spread of local cases, hospital capacity and PPE supply when scheduling visitation.  An Ohio Public Health Advisory System has been created and will be update weekly for each county in the state.  There will be a level and color assigned to each county based on the severity and prevalence of the virus in that county.  For counties that are level 2/orange and above, the state recommends limiting or avoiding unnecessary visitation to hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  This means that our ability to welcome visitors at our facility may change if the pandemic surges in our area.  For more information on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System, please visit www.coronavirus.ohio.gov.

Prior to your visit, please review the enclosed educational materials so you are familiar with how to protect you and your loved one from COVID-19.  As the number of COVID-19 cases in our area and around the country continue to fluctuate, we ask that anyone who plans on visiting be very diligent about infection control prevention in their daily lives.  We are so glad that we are able to offer these visits to our residents.  Our residents and staff are very excited to see you and your families again.  Thank you in advance for your understanding and adherence to these guidelines.  Together, we can ensure that these visits are safe for everyone involved.

Dear Residents and Families,

Governor DeWine has released the guidance on how nursing facilities can restart outdoor visitation for families.  There are few key requirements that we are working through for our facility.  Each facility is required to have completed the state mandated testing prior to opening visitation.  We have not yet completed our testing but are hoping to hear from the state soon to schedule that.  As of last week, only around 43% of the state’s nursing facilities had completed this testing, so there are many facilities in Ohio waiting for confirmed testing dates.

In addition, the Governor has urged nursing facilities consider the prevalence and spread of local cases as visitation is reopening.  An Ohio Public Health Advisory System has been created and will be update weekly for each county in the state.  There will be a level and color assigned to each county based on the severity and prevalence of the virus in that county.  For counties that are level 2/orange and above, the state recommends limiting or avoiding unnecessary visitation to hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  This means that our ability to welcome visitors at our facility may change week to week over the next several months as the case numbers in our area change.  For more information on the Ohio Public Health Advisory System, please click HERE.

Once we confirm the start date and process for our outdoor facility visitation, we will update you on this web page.  We appreciate your patience as we work to find a path forward that keeps our residents as safe as possible while still providing them meaningful opportunities to connect with family and friends.

We continue to provide frequent infection control education to our staff, including stressing the importance of wearing a medical mask properly and frequent hand washing. We are also continuing to screen all employees prior to their shifts for signs and symptoms of COVID-19.

As indicated above in the data boxes, collectively since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had:

35 staff tested positive for COVID-19

7 residents tested positive for COVID-19

0 respiratory cases within 72 hours of each other

For more details on nursing home cases throughout Ohio, please visit the State of Ohio Nursing Facility Dashboard.

If you have any questions, please contact me at the facility number.  As always, thank you for your support and understanding as we make our way through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thanks,

Sharon Santoli, LNHA

Dear Residents and Families,

Governor DeWine announced this week that outdoor nursing home visitations will be restarting July 20th.  Our staff is so excited to welcome friends and families back to our facility!  Our residents have missed seeing all of you, so this will be a wonderful change for everyone.  The Governor has not yet released the restart guidance, but we are anticipating it will feature elements from the federal Opening Up America Again plan, like the three phases President Trump and his staff developed.  We also expect that some of the guidelines from the assisted living outdoor visitation rules will be included.

We are anxiously awaiting the Governor’s guidance and are already working through how we will safely welcome visitors at our facility.  There will be a scheduling process and screening requirements for these visits, which we will share with you as soon as they are available.  We also know that outdoor visitations will most likely depend on whether we have active COVID-19 cases in our facility.  Our ongoing staff education continues, focusing on infection control protocols, the proper way to wear a medical mask and frequent hand hygiene.

While we are all eager to restart visitation, we will be carefully reviewing what the state outlines to ensure that we can accommodate visitors safely.  Our goal throughout this process will be to keep our residents as safe as possible.  Thank you for your patience, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Thank you,

Sharon Santoli, LNHA

Dear Residents and Families,

It is hard to believe the Summer Solstice is now behind us and we are moving into the second half of 2020.  As the pandemic continues to impact us globally and locally, our state leadership continues to plan for the safest ways to continue to open the state.  Governor DeWine announced this week that he will be releasing guidance on restarting nursing home visitations soon.  The state restarted visitation to assisted living facilities June 8^th, and the upcoming guidance will be another exciting step forward for senior care providers.  We don’t know what the details or parameters will be yet.  The federal government released an outline for Opening Up America Again, which can be found HERE.  This plan includes a three-phase approach which may be utilized in the state’s plan.

While we are anxious to restart visitation, we will be carefully reviewing what the state outlines to ensure that we can accommodate visitors safely.  The visitation procedures will likely be different than they were before the pandemic, but our goal throughout this process will be to keep our residents as safe as possible.  As we know more about the state’s guidance and how we will implement it at our facility, we will let you know.

We continue to provide frequent infection control education to our staff, including stressing the importance of wearing a medical mask properly and frequent hand washing.

As indicated above in the data boxes, collectively since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had:

2 staff tested positive for COVID-19

16 residents tested positive for COVID-19

0 respiratory cases within 72 hours of each other

For more details on nursing home cases throughout Ohio, please visit the State of Ohio Nursing Facility Dashboard.

If you have any questions, please contact me at the facility number.  As always, thank you for your support and understanding as we make our way through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you,

Sharon Santoli, LNHA

Dear Residents and Families,

Thank you for everyone’s support and feedback as we continue our work on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Since our last update, we have had an additional 3 residents and 1 staff member test positive for COVID-19.  As we have shared, every resident who has tested positive for COVID-19 was very quickly and safely transferred to the COVID-19 Recovery Unit at Pleasantview Care Center.  This partnership has allowed us to minimize the risk to our other residents.  Even with those residents transferring out of our facility, in an abundance of caution, all staff in patient care areas is still wearing full body personal protective equipment.

We have received a number of questions about when nursing home visitation will restart, which we are all eager to see.  The State of Ohio has not released any details on when or how nursing facility visitation will restart.  As soon as we know anything about the state’s plan, we will share that with you.  In the interim, please continue to utilize our virtual visitation through Skype.

We are continuing to focus on infection control measures to reduce the risk of viral spread within our facility.  We continue to do frequent infection control training with our staff, including the proper way to use personal protective equipment, like medical masks, and the importance of good hand hygiene.  These are both very important measures know to reduce the risk of viral spread in congregate living settings like nursing facilities.

In our ongoing transparency efforts, we have added data boxes at the top of this page to help families quickly and easily see our COVID-19 status details.  These data boxes will be updated weekly.  If any additional staff or residents test positive for COVID-19 between our weekly updates, that will be posted as an “Update to Families” below the data boxes.

As indicated above in the data boxes, collectively since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had:

2 staff tested positive for COVID-19

11 residents tested positive for COVID-19

0 respiratory cases within 72 hours of each other

For more details on nursing home cases throughout Ohio, please visit the State of Ohio Nursing Facility Dashboard.

If you have any questions, please contact me at the facility number.  As always, thank you for all of your support and understanding as we make our way through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you,

Sharon Santoli, LNHA

Dear Residents and Families-

Thank you for all of your support and understanding this week as we have worked through mitigation strategies and testing within the facility.  Our staff has done an incredible job managing through the testing, wearing full body PPE and caring for our residents through this time.

Through recent testing, we have identified an additional 7 residents and 1 staff member who have tested positive for COVID-19.  We will continue to closely monitor all of our residents and staff for signs and symptoms of COVID-19.  We are also working very closely with our local health department and hospital leadership to ensure that the protocols we have implemented are appropriate.  As we are identifying residents who test positive for COVID-19, we have been able to safely and quickly transfer each of them to the COVID-19 recovery unit within Pleasantview Care Center, our sister facility at the corner of Ridge and Pleasant Valley.  We are grateful for this partnership opportunity as it has allowed us to reduce the exposure to our other residents and staff.

Collectively since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had:

1 staff tested positive for COVID-19

8 residents tested positive for COVID-19

0 respiratory cases within 72 hours of each other

Any new cases of COVID-19 between our weekly updates will be posted to this website.  For more details on nursing home cases throughout Ohio, please visit the State of Ohio Nursing Facility Dashboard.

If you have any questions, please contact me at the facility number.  As always, thank you for all of your support and understanding as we make our way through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you,

Sharon Santoli, LNHA

Dear Residents and Families,

We are almost five months into the fight against COVID-19 in the United States.  Through the last five months, our state has done a lot to flatten the curve of the infection.  As we look towards summer and the state opening more businesses, we are urging all of our employees to continue to be very mindful of infection control in their personal lives.  We understand that as caregivers, we have a responsibility to keep our residents safe in our facility, and we take that very seriously.

The State of Ohio continues to work through the plan and roll-out for testing all nursing facility employees in collaboration with the National Guard.  Updated information on testing priority levels can be found HERE.  We do not have a date for our facility test, but once we know more we will share those details with you.

As we shared this week, Legacy Health Services has been approved by the State of Ohio to utilize the third floor of Legacy Place Parma, the assisted living building in Parma connected to Pleasantview Care Center, as a dedicated space for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.  This unit is designed to safely care for those recovering from COVID-19.  This unit will have a dedicated set of staff, along with a nurse practitioner and telehealth capabilities.  The physical layout of the third floor allows for dedicated entrance and exit points with space for staff to sanitize before leaving the area.  This design helps protect the other areas of the facility from risk of cross-contamination.  The unit will accommodate up to 30 individuals and is scheduled to open on June 8, 2020.  After June 8^th, if any of our residents test positive for COVID-19, there may be an opportunity to be transferred to this unit while they recover.  We have engaged a private transportation company who is equipped to transport residents should the need arise.  This is a unique opportunity for our company and facility to help us reduce the risk of spread of COVID-19.

We have not had any residents or staff test positive for COVID-19 since our cumulative update last week.

Our numbers remain the same, and collectively since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had:

0 staff tested positive for COVID-19

0 resident tested positive for COVID-19

0 respiratory cases within 72 hours of each other

While we will not be sharing any personal details publicly, we do share information regarding all of our positive cases with the CDC, CMS and the local department of health. Information regarding the incidence of positive cases at long-term care facilities, including ours, may be accessed on the Ohio Department of Health’s (ODH) website.  Any new cases of COVID-19 between our weekly updates will be posted to this website.

Thank you again for your kindness and support through this pandemic.  Our staff has appreciated all of the lovely sentiments you have shared via our Kudoboard and through cards and phone calls.

Thank you,

Sharon Santoli, LNHA

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact all aspects of our work and personal lives.  At Legacy Health Services, our staff is doing their very best to  minimize and contain the risk to our residents, who are a very vulnerable population.  Their dedication to infection control protocols, masking and hand hygiene has absolutely saved lives within our facility.

Governor DeWine has issued a new order opening assisted living facility visitation beginning June 8^th.  This is an exciting step forward as we work through the pandemic and all the ways it has changed our lives.  We are awaiting more guidance from the state on their expectations and requirements to ensure that our residents are kept safe during these visits.  We will be working through those details as they become available to us, and will share them with you as we know more.  Unfortunately, this is strictly limited to our assisted living at this time- our nursing home units are still under a visitation ban.  We are all anxious to resume visitation, but we must follow the guidance from the state so we don’t see a spike in COVID-19 cases, which would be a set-back in the re-opening process.

As you may have heard from the Director of the Department of Medicaid, Maureen Corcoran, Ohio has created an option for nursing facilities to designate a dedicated space to treat COVID-19 positive individuals.  Legacy Health Services has been approved to utilize the third floor of Legacy Place Parma, the assisted living building in Parma connected to Pleasantview Care Center, as a dedicated space for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.  This unit is designed to safely care for those recovering from COVID-19.  Once open, this unit will have a dedicated set of staff, along with a nurse practitioner and telehealth capabilities.  The physical layout of the third floor allows for dedicated entrance and exit points with space for staff to sanitize before leaving the area.  This design helps protect the other areas of the facility from risk of cross-contamination.  The unit will accommodate up to 30 individuals.    As we know more about the date the unit will be officially open, we will let you know.  Our staff has done their very best to protect the safety and wellbeing of our residents as we continue through this pandemic.  This unit is the next step in that mission, and we are proud that we have the space and equipment to accommodate this model within Legacy Health Services.

Thank you all for your continued kindness, support and understanding during this time.

Sincerely,

Amy Kraynak, LNHA

Dear Residents and Families,

We hope everyone had a safe and restful Memorial Day weekend.  Our staff continues to work diligently to protect our residents and try to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  As Governor DeWine shared this week, the state has developed a plan to do more widespread testing within Ohio nursing homes.  As we know more about the testing roll-out and schedule, we will share those details with you.  The state will be utilizing the National Guard to assist with this process.  Please know that the guardsman who will be conducting the testing have medical backgrounds.  The well being and safety of our residents is everyone’s first priority.  For more information about this initiative, please CLICK HERE.

We are continuing to do frequent inservicing with our staff regarding infection control protocols.  Hand hygiene and wearing medical masks properly and consistently are very important measures in preventing the spread of COVID-19.  We are also continuing to educate our staff on staying diligent in their personal lives as the state continues to open more businesses.

At this time, we are proud to share that we have not had any residents test positive for COVID-19.  Below you will find our collective numbers since the beginning of the pandemic.  Please note, this is not a count of current active cases.  For privacy reasons, we are not disclosing any personal details or outcomes for our staff or residents who test positive for COVID-19.

Collectively since the beginning of the pandemic, we have had:

1 staff tested positive for COVID-19

0 residents tested positive for COVID-19

0 respiratory cases within 72 hours of each other

Any new cases of COVID-19 between our weekly updates will be posted to this website.  For more details on nursing home cases throughout Ohio, please visit the State of Ohio Nursing Facility Dashboard.

We know that our families are all eager to visit the facility and their loved ones.  The state of Ohio has not lifted the visitation ban for nursing facilities at this time.  We know this is frustrating, but it is for the safety of our residents.  Please continue to utilize our Skype Virtual Visitations in the meantime.  We have received very positive feedback so far and will continue to offer those until further notice.  To schedule a Skype Virtual Visit, please email parkside7040@gmail.com.

Thank you again for your patience, support and kindness as we all navigate through this pandemic.

Amy Kraynak, LNHA

Resident Safety is Our Priority

The coronavirus pandemic continues to affect every aspect of our personal and professional lives. News stories recently are focusing on the increased risk to individuals living in congregate settings like nursing facilities. We have spent many weeks reviewing all the local, state and federal guidance, training our staff and doing everything in our power to protect those we serve.

We are very proud to share that our efforts have been successful so far, and we have NOT HAD ANY resident cases of COVID-19 in our facility.

This is a very contagious virus, and we are very proud of our staff and their ongoing dedication to keeping our residents safe. These are a few of the highlights from our current infection control practices. These may change based on guidance from the local health department and CDC as they learn more about this virus and its spread.

1. N95s. We have been using medical masks, primarily N95s, for all staff in the facility since the March 17th. Over two weeks later, April 1st, The Ohio Department of Health recommended that all staff in long-term care facilities wear a surgical/medical facemask while working to avoid asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 to residents and other staff. Ohio Department of Health further suggested this include facilities NOT known to be affected by COVID-19. We are really proud that we were the first nursing home company in our area to search for, find, and immediately provide this level of protection to all of our staff WITHOUT having any residents known to be affected by COVID-19.
2. PPE. We continue to obtain adequate PPE for our staff and will continue to identify new supply chain options to protect our employees.
3. Staff Screening & Education. All staff are self-screening for increased temperatures and other coronavirus symptoms prior to their shifts. Once at the facility, employees are completing symptom screening forms and having their temperatures taken and documented. In addition, we have completed extensive education with all of our staff, so they understand the importance of infection control, staying home when sick and reporting any onset of illness right away.
4. New Residents remain in their room. When a new admission is welcomed into our facility, the person is in a designated area and primarily remains in his or her room to reduce the risk of exposure to any of our other residents. The person is monitored in this area for fourteen days for signs or symptoms of the coronavirus. After that fourteen-day quarantine, the person can be transferred to another area of the facility.
5. New Residents screened. All new admissions are thoroughly screened by the hospital, as well as by our staff upon admission, for any risk factors or potential coronavirus exposure.
6. Visitors. Following the CDC mandate, we are only allowing family visitation for individuals who are at the end of their lives. We understand that this is frustrating for families, but the risk to our residents from visitors is too great at this time. We know the coronavirus can be spread by individuals who are not showing any symptoms. Please continue to utilize other communication methods, including our Skype calls.
7. Group Activities. Our community activities, including dining and social interactions, have been decreased to allow for appropriate social distancing and infection control. Meals are being offered in resident rooms, and our activities department has been very creative in their calendar events.
8. Resident Masks. Any resident leaving our facility for an appointment or dialysis is given a mask to wear to reduce his or her exposure to viral illnesses.
9. Non-staff screenings. All vendors, outside transportation personnel and healthcare professionals are screened, including their temperatures, as soon as they enter the facility. If someone is symptomatic or has a fever, they are not permitted to enter the facility.

Thank you for your words of support and understanding as we all navigate this new reality. As new guidance is released from local, state and federal officials, we are prepared to adjust our protocols accordingly.

If you have any questions about these details, please reach out to our administrator anytime.

We continue to have great success with our Skype virtual visitation calls.  If you have not signed up, please see the link under Facility Information for details on how to arrange for a virtual visit with your loved one.  Our residents love seeing each of you, even though it cannot be in person at this time.

If you do not already, please follow us on Facebook!  Our staff is trying to capture some of the things our residents are enjoying, and we want to share the fun with you!

Lifespan on Surfaces

We are all being very cautious in our homes and in public spaces. Do you know how long the Coronavirus lives on the different surfaces around us? This USA Today article provides great details to remember!

Bright Corner

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History is offering their CMNH@Home series where you can tune into Facebook Live on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 12 pm to discover fun and interesting facts about the museum!

Museum Mondays: Looking for a fun science class for kids? Virtually tour their galleries with Museum educators as your guide on Museum Mondays.

Wildlife Wednesdays: Interested in Ohio’s native species? Check out Wildlife Wednesdays to hear from their animal experts.

Scientist Saturdays: Want the inside scoop on science and research? Join Museum curators for Scientist Saturdays.

CDC Cleaning Tips

As the national pandemic continues, we are all doing our best to keep our home and work environments germ free. Did you know you can make a homemade bleach solution that kills Coronavirus and other viruses? Check out this LINK from CDC for more information!

Bright Corner

It is important to take a moment each day to focus on your own well being. Our daily updates will include a Bright Corner topic designed to help you find balance, peace or just a reason to smile.

Yoga with Adriene is a free YouTube yoga channel that is great for reducing anxiety and stress! Her channel features both meditation and yoga videos of all sorts! Some great videos to check out include:

• • Healthy Body Yoga
  • Meditation for Anxiety
  • Yoga for Anxiety
  • Yoga for Anxiety and Stress
  • Yoga for Stress Relief

Thank you so much for your patience as we have been working through setting up Virtual Visitations for our facility.  We are happy to share that we have our Skype service set up and are ready to start scheduling calls!  If you are interested in participating, please complete the following steps:

1. Download the Skype app to your phone or tablet.  Data charges may apply depending on your cellular plan.  If you do not feel comfortable using the app, you can also visit web.skype.com from a laptop with a webcam/microphone and participate that way.
2. Create an account if you do not already have one.  This will require an email address to set up.
3. Email us at the email address listed below with the follow information:
   1. The name your Skype account is under
   2. The email address your Skype account is under
   3. The resident you want to speak with
   4. Your preferred date and time for the call (If you could please keep it a little flexible- morning, mid-day, afternoon).  At this time our availability for video calls is during business hours but we may expand that depending on demand.  If you cannot participate during this time, please email us and we will try to work with you on scheduling.

We will email you a confirmation of the date/time of your Virtual Visit.

The facility email address is: hillside18220@gmail.com

Please bear with us as we work through this process.  Since we are trying to accommodate as many people as possible, we are asking that your calls be around 15 minutes.  We will try to help each resident make as many calls as he or she wants based on demand.  If you have multiple family members who want to call, please email those requests separately.  Please do not call the facility device without a pre-arranged appointment as we are using a shared device (which will be thoroughly sanitized between residents).

If your loved one has a mobile device (or you are looking to purchase one) and needs help setting it up for video chats, please let us know and we can help.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.  Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Dear residents and families-

Thank you to all of you for your understanding during this ever evolving Coronavirus situation.  We wanted to update you on a few things that have occurred over the last few days.

• Visitation is now restricted to only end-of-life visits per Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rule.  This rule change applies to all nursing homes in the United States.  We are no longer able to accommodate visitors for any other reason.  We have also restricted visits from any non-essential professional personnel.  For those that are essential providers, we are actively screening all employees, vendors, physicians and healthcare professionals who enter our building.  They are screened for signs of respiratory illness, and temperatures are being taken and documented every time the individual enters our facility.  This is all in an effort to keep our residents as safe as possible.
• We are actively working on setting up the ability for all residents to participate in Skype Video calls using facility devices.  We hope to have this functional within the next 24-48 hours.  While we are working on this on our end, we encourage families to download this app on your own devices so you are ready too.  The Skype app is available for Apple and android devices.  Data charges may apply- please contact your cell phone carrier for more details.  We hope that this availability helps our residents stay connected to their families in a meaningful way.
• We have changed our community dining and activities policies to comply with the latest CMS guidance regarding social distancing in a care facility. For those residents requiring staff assistance to set up/eat meals, assistance will be provided either individually or in small groups that are spaced appropriately in the dining room. Residents who eat independently will receive meal service in their rooms.

Thank you to all of you for your kind words of encouragement to our staff and understanding during this time.  Please know that we will continue to do everything in our power to keep our residents safe.

To Our Residents and Family Members:

We know many of you are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 (the new coronavirus) and how it may impact our facilities. Ensuring residents are cared for in a safe and healthy environment is our first priority. At this time, we don’t have any cases in our facility. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended a variety of steps that we are implementing to help reduce the potential for the virus to enter our building. However, we need your help in battling COVID-19. Below are some examples of how you can help protect the residents, as well as prevent the spread throughout the community.

At this time, we request that family and friends do not visit the facility. Out of an abundance of caution, we are limiting all visitors to our facility unless absolutely necessary. Please see this information sheet on the reason for this request. We are posting signs on our entryway doors to notify visitors of this process and actively screening individuals, including staff, who need to come into the building. If you believe a visit to the facility is necessary, we kindly request that you check in with the front desk upon arrival (or call first if visiting after hours).

As another way to protect our residents from exposure, we are temporarily limiting any unnecessary field trips outside of the facility. Similarly, we are requesting families refrain from taking their loved ones out of the facility to minimize the risk of exposure.

Please make sure we have your most current, emergency contact information, including your email address. We want to make sure we efficiently communicate with you should there be any new developments. Please reach out to admissions with your updated contact information.

Residents and families, please help prevent the spread of infection by exercising proper hand washing hygiene as well as coughing and sneezing etiquette. We offer hand washing and alcohol-based hand sanitizer stations throughout the building, which you are welcome to use. Please also avoid shaking hands and hugs with any individual. If you are experiencing a cough, fever, sore throat, runny nose, and/or shortness of breath, please let a staff member know immediately.

Our facility is following the recommendations of the CDC on prevention steps, including following strict hand washing procedures, and in many circumstances, wearing gowns and gloves when interacting with residents who present symptoms. We also are staying up to date with the CDC recommendations as they may continue to change. In addition, our facility is in close contact with the local and state health department, and we are following their guidance.

We will continue to update you as we know more. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact one of us or our nursing supervisors who are available every shift.

For additional information, please visit the CDC’s coronavirus disease information page at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus

Over the last couple months, we have all heard news stories about the novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19.  The virus originated in China but has now become a global concern.  The vast majority of Americans are considered low risk of exposure to the Coronavirus.  Those with compromised immune systems and other respiratory diseases may be at an increased risk of exposure.

Resident safety is always our top priority.  Our facility staff follows all CDC guidelines related to infection control.  All staff, regardless of department, receives routine training on how to prevent the spread of illness.  We also have strict cleaning and disinfection policies to minimize the presence of germs within our facility.  These policies help keep our residents, visitors and staff as healthy as possible.

In an effort to avoid exposure to the Coronavirus and other communicable diseases (like influenza), we need your help too!  The following recommendations are based on CDC guidance:

• Wash your hands and cover your cough!  The best way to protect yourself and our residents is to follow good personal health habits to prevent the spread of illness.  Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol (which is available throughout the facility). Always wash your hands with soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
• If you are ill, please refrain from visiting our facility until you are symptom free for at least 24 hours.  We are happy to help your loved one make or receive phone calls until you are able to visit in person.
• If you or a close contact have traveled to a country under a CDC Level 3 Travel Notice (full list available HERE), please refrain from visiting our facility for at least two weeks after your return.

Our staff will continue to monitor the situation closely and follow guidance from the CDC and local health departments.

If you would like more information, please visit the CDC website for the latest news and updates.  Click Info Sheet about COVID-19 for information from the World Health Organization regarding the Coronavirus and healthcare facilities.  If you have any other questions, please email info@lhshealth.com.