Guidelines have been put in place to protect and prevent the spread of infectious disease including COVID-19 for residents and staff.
PROCEDURE FOR VISITORS AND STAFF
- The facility will require all staff and visitors to have temperatures taken at the entryway before entering the facility.
- Any person with a noted temp of 99.0 or greater will not be allowed to enter the facility.
- Any person that answers ‘Yes” to the questions on the spreadsheet will not be allowed access.
- Travel out of the panhandle?
- Signs of respiratory infection?
- Contact with a positive Covid-19 infected person?
- Any person sent home will be directed to contact their medical provider and follow their directions.
- If any person is sent home due to answers on the spreadsheet they will not be allowed to return to the facility within a minimum of 14 days or with a negative Covid-19 test result
- Upon entering the facility all persons will be required to don a face mask. The mask is required to cover the mouth and nose area and a 6 foot social distancing will be required within the facility.
- Face masks are not to be removed until leaving the building. A basket is available at the exit for disposal of masks to be laundered at the facility.
- Staff that work a shift for longer than 4 hours are required to have a temperature taken two times during their shift. They may require a temperature check at any time during their shift if they begin to feel ill and contact their supervisor as soon as possible.
- Visitors will be identified as essential workers such as contract employees, or family members of a Hospice resident.
- Handwashing will be increased during the pandemic and frequent reminders to staff to follow handwashing requirement. Anti-bacterial hand gels are available to staff when a sink is not in the direct vicinity. Hand gels, however, are not a substitute for handwashing.
- Staff are issued a letter from the CEO to identify them as an essential worker.
- A staff member may be released back to duty before the required time if it becomes necessary for the needs of the building and all other alternative solutions have been exhausted.
PROCEDURE FOR CARE CENTER RESIDENTS
- Residents that are admitted from the hospital that are not symptomatic will be required to stay in the designated rooms that have been quarantined off at the west end of the North hallway for 14 days. They may be moved to another part of the building after 14 days if they remain asymptomatic.
- The facility may request a COVID-19 test to be run on a resident prior to approval of admission to the facility. The resident will still be required to stay in the quarantine area for 14 days.
- Daily temperatures will be logged for all residents.
- Respiratory assessments will be done on all residents.
- Primary physician will be contacted if any signs of respiratory symptoms or fever develop.
- The IDT will determine if the resident needs to be moved to the quarantined area of the building or if the resident will remain in their room and isolation precautions begin there. The resident will not be allowed to leave the isolation room during the assessment period and until the physician deems it safe to do so.
- Staff taking care of quarantined resident will be required to don PPE (gloves and gowns) when delivering cares to the resident that puts them at risk for physical contact with the resident or any secretions, including airborne contact.
- Staff caring for any COVID-19 residents will be primary care for those residents only and will not cross the barrier to care for other residents to reduce the chance of cross-contamination.
- Residents requiring outside appointments or emergency room visits will be approved by the Director of Nursing by a case by case basis.
- The resident will have communication with their physicians via Zoom meetings with the Charge Nurse to keep their plan of care up to date as much as possible. Along with any communication needed to the physician between the routine visits or on an as needed basis.
