COVID-19 Notice

NEW ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING ON-SITE VISITATIONS AT OUR CENTER EFFECTIVE 9/21/20

We are delighted to tell you that we will be able to welcome you back for General Visitations, Essential Visitations and Compassionate Visitations with your loved one.   Please contact our Activity Team to schedule your appointment.

The State of Florida has determined that the public response to COVID-19 has progressed to the point where long-term care centers can now be reopened to visitors, under carefully controlled guidelines to ensure the continued well-being of our residents. It’s vitally important that everyone carefully comply with these guidelines, both to protect the residents and to make sure no new cases emerge – a circumstance that would force us to once again close to General Visitation until we are free of new cases for at least 14 days.  The center must also have sufficient staff to support management of visitors, adequate PPE, adequate cleaning and disinfecting supplies and adequate capacity at referral hospitals for the center.

Our highest priority is the safety and well-being of our residents – and we know that your visits with them are important to their health and happiness. We will continue screening residents and each approved and scheduled visitor as they enter the center, and will continue testing staff weekly.  Recommendations of the governor’s task force outlined three types of visitors, how often they can visit and the rules each must follow.

In summary, three types are:

• Essential caregivers: Two designated persons, 18-years of age or older, who provide help with a resident’s activities of daily living.
• Compassionate caregivers: Two designated persons, 18-years of age or older, who provide emotional support to help face a hard situation like end of life.
  • These two types of visitors would have scheduled access, however only one of these visitors can be with resident as stipulated in the plan of care at a time. They may provide care only in designated areas identified by the center.
  • It is important to understand a resident can have no more than one visitor from either the Essential Care Giver or Compassionate Care Giver categories a time.
• General Visitors: A person who is 18-years or older. These individuals will be allowed to visit if they are one of the five individuals listed on a resident’s visitor list and only if the center has had no COVID19 positive cases for at least 14 days.

In addition, to help keep the doors open, visitors be required to meet the following conditions:

• Visitors will undergo screening to ensure that no one enters with a fever or other condition that could create a possible risk to our residents. This will include temperature checks, questions about symptoms and potential exposure, and observation about any signs or symptoms.
• Visitation shall be by appointment only and will be conducted in designated areas with center staff supervision.  Visitors shall plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to your appointment to allow for proper screening and education.
• Visitors must ensure social distancing at all times and demonstrate proper hand hygiene.
• All visitors must sign in and out and are required to be 18-years of age or older.
• General Visitation: The resident will have no more than two (2) visitors per visit at any one time and the visit shall not exceed 45 minutes.
• All residents and visitors must wear a facemask throughout the time you are in the center.  If someone is unwilling or unable to meet this requirement, they should not plan to come into the center.
• All visitors shall participate in education of the center’s Infection Prevention and Control polices along with return demonstration of proper hand-hygiene and acknowledge understanding and adherence to the center’s protocols.
• The center will deny access of a visitor for noncompliance with center infection prevention and control requirements.

We know some of these requirements will present a challenge, but they are necessary to protect the loved ones under our care. We appreciate your cooperation in complying with the state’s requirements for visitation. Our residents, staff, and management are thrilled to welcome you back!

As we continue dealing with the unprecedented threat of COVID-19, the health and safety of our residents and staff remains the center’s top priority.

As we have throughout this crisis, we are focusing on limiting COVID-19’s impact at our center. Our professional staff are doing heroic work and have been trained on recommended protocols and guidelines from federal, state, and local public health agencies. The staff continues to follow CDC guidelines, including protocols for pre-screening residents prior to any admission or readmission, ongoing monitoring of all residents, screening of staff, and continual focus on infection control techniques and personal protective equipment recommendations.

The center remains in operation, but with restricted access and limited activities within the center to comply with social distancing. Therapy services continue to be provided in the resident’s room or one-on-one with a therapist in the therapy gym. Meals are served in the resident’s room. We encourage you to set up for virtual visits with your loved one via Zoom, FaceTime, or similar electronic applications.

Part of our mission and our responsibility is to keep you and the public fully informed about the steps we are taking to address COVID-19’s impact in our center. In the interest of transparency, we are providing the most current information about the status of COVID-19 at our center. We urge our residents, their families, and the community to remain safe and well throughout this ongoing situation.

We want to convey our sincere concern for those who have been diagnosed positive for COVID-19. Our thoughts are with them and their loved ones at this challenging time, and our deepest condolences go out to everyone who has lost a loved one during this crisis.

Additional information on mitigating steps the center is taking to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, as well as cumulative information on COVID-19 cases at the center, can be found below.

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