Update from Administrator – October 19, 2020
Dear family members with loved ones at Bayview,
As always, we hope this email finds you safe and healthy. Although we are following social distancing guidelines, handwashing protocols, hygiene recommendations, and wearing masks in our center, we STRONGLY encourage that all staff and residents receive an annual Influenza Vaccine. We have received our shipment of vaccine. Please consider completing a consent form to ensure your loved one receives their vaccine (you will be contacted by our infection control nurse with more information.) We will continue to administer flu vaccines with the goal of 100% participation of staff and residents.
We want to reiterate that this pandemic is still active. The state of Connecticut is reporting an uptick in new cases of COVID and as we see in the news; some states continue to surge with new cases. This serves as a reminder that we must all remain vigilant in following all guidelines, recommendations, and best practices to stay safe and fight this pandemic.
Some updates
- The Department of Public Health (DPH) announced they are resuming routine surveys. As always, we will continue to communicate to you when a state or federal agency has conducted a survey here.
- Food is now allowed to be dropped off by families for their loved one’s enjoyment and take out delivery has also been authorized. Please coordinate delivery with us.
- Each nursing unit has tablets assigned for residents to use for virtual visits, games, etc. Many of our residents are enjoying learning how to use this technology and having the world at their fingertips.
- Our residents have been able to resume some of the regular recreational activities that were put on hold; such as “Lynn’s Place” dining for Coral Reef residents, outdoor concerts for all of the residents, and other small group activities in the recreation room. Please remember to check out our Facebook page to see photos and videos of some of these events.
- Our recreation team has planned a lovely Veteran’s Day celebration for our resident Veterans, and we are donating gift baskets to our local VFW’s.
- Every day, including the weekends, our management team rounds the units and meets with individual residents to let them know we’re here for them and give them an opportunity to voice any questions or concerns they may have directly to us. We also use this time to assess our residents, our environment, and ask our residents specific questions about subjects such as meal satisfaction and preferences, activities being provided, interaction and response from staff, proper operation of all equipment in room and more!
We continue testing our staff and residents at regular intervals as required by CMS, CDC and DPH. The good news is that this enables us to keep our residents safe when we can identify asymptomatic staff members who are unaware they are carrying the virus. Unfortunately, the bad news is that we have, again, had a staff member test positive last week. Most importantly, our residents remain COVID free. As we have explained in previous e-mails, we will not be able to open for indoor visits until we have had 2 consecutive weeks where neither our residents nor staff test positive for the virus.
Indoor Visits
We are in the process of finalizing Bayview’s indoor visitation policy and procedures according to state and federal requirements. Below is a general outline of the policy. We will send everyone the finalized version once it is complete.
- We must limit the number of visitors per patient at one time and limit the total number of visitors in the center at a time. This will be based on the amount of physical space we have designated for our visitation area.
- We need to limit the duration of visits to help ensure all patients can receive visitors. Just like our outdoor visits, once we have more experience behind us, we can adjust this time if necessary.
- Cleaning and disinfecting of the designated visitation area will be done by our staff in between visits. This is another factor affecting the amount of time and number of visitors we can have in our center at the same time.
- Screening will take place for anyone who enters our center. All visitors will have their temperature taken and be required to fill out a health screen questionnaire, and provide a copy of a negative COVID-19 test result from the previous 72 hours.
- We cannot allow visitors to move freely throughout our center. Visitors will go directly to the designated visitation area.
- Hand hygiene must be followed and personal protection equipment (PPE) must be worn by visitors.
- Social distancing requirements remain as they do for our outside visits.
Remember that we do offer iPads for our residents to use for video visits, phone calls, etc. to ensure that you and your loved ones remain in contact, as best as you can, during these very uncertain times. As always, thank you for your patience and please stay safe and healthy!
~ From all of us at Bayview Health Care