COVID-19 Letter from Administrator
I would personally like to thank you for your patience during this very unusual time we are all facing. This is an unprecedented time for all of us, and we appreciate the support and kind words of encouragement we have received. We are continuing to monitor and look to our state and federal governing bodies on updates for Covid-19.
Most of you already know that we are an Athena Health Care Systems’ managed center, which means we are part of southern New England’s largest provider of skilled nursing and post-acute care services. As such, we have access to many policies and procedures to plan for such circumstances ,and also have access to additional resources for planning and contingencies.
Some of these contingencies include ensuring that we have adequate staffing in times of natural and other disasters; as-well as access to needed provisions to ensure uninterrupted care of our resident. These cares , include food, medical supplies and other necessities.
Our centers have many policies and procedures for regular cleaning and infection prevention protocols, all of which we follow daily. During flu season and certain times throughout the year, we are at an increased level for infection prevention. We are now at an even more heightened level. We have stepped up our typical cleaning and disinfecting schedule that would normally be in place during the flu season to include an enhanced cleaning schedule and upping our surface cleaning on high contact areas, to name a few.
We all have many questions regarding Covid-19, and will leave that to our local and national leaders to share. However, we know one of your biggest questions is, “how can I visit with my loved one?” As soon as we know of any changes to the restrictions on visitors, we will let you know. We will provide email updates as often as possible and ff you have Facebook – please like and follow our page and look for updates there as well.
For Families who do residents laundry offsite, we offer two options:
1)Temporarily, the facility can take over the responsibility of doing the residents laundry to lessen the burden on family members, Or; 2) The facility can arrange a pickup and drop off time that is convenient for you, and exchange laundries that need to be picked up and/or dropped off if you choose to continue doing your loved one’s laundry.
To continue fostering communication between residents and their families, we have set up the capability of communicating with your loved one via “SKYPE” for family members who prefer to conduct video conferencing. If a family doesn’t know how to access this type of free online video service and is unable to get help through other local avenues, the facility may be able to provide you with some helpful information on how to set this up on your device.
Finally, families can make phone calls to their loved ones. Our staff is available to help residents who may need help making phone calls to their family members.
We will continue to give you updates from time to time as we learn more about this situation. Please contact the facility at 860-346-9299, and ask to speak to Director of Nurses, or the Administrator if you have any questions regarding this memo.
Thank you!
Management Team.