9/21/2020
Dear Maristhill Residents and Families,
The facility has tested all of our staff on September 9th and 14th per Department of Public Health guidance for those individuals that had previously tested negative. Our staff continues to show no signs or symptoms of COVID-19. We will continue to test all of our staff every two weeks as directed by CMS and DPH. In addition, all the residents of Maristhill as of the date of this letter show no signs or symptoms of COVID-19. Our medical staff continues to monitor each resident’s health status for the COVID-19 virus.
How are YOU and your family members doing personally during this stressful COVID19 pandemic with your loved one at Maristhill? Would you be interested in participating in a Virtual Family Support Group? We will be starting this support group very soon. An introductory session will be offered Tuesday evening October 6th from 7:00-8:00pm virtually and ongoing bi-weekly meetings are planned for the first and third Tuesday evenings of each month from 7:00 – 8:30 pm, beginning October 20th. Please see the attached flyer regarding this very important support group.
We are pleased to inform you that the Department of Public Health has given us additional guidance to allow under certain restrictions communal dining, outside activities, compassionate care and in-person visitations. The restrictions include maintaining social distancing, sufficient staff availability, existing space limitations, hand hygiene compliance and usage of protective personal equipment by residents/staff. The staff is making every effort to include all residents so that we can minimize the fatigue and stress of this on-going pandemic on them. A consequence of expanding our outside activities, communal dining and off hour/shift visitations is that it impacts the availability of staff to assist in the routine outside visitation schedule for residents and their families. The addition of expanded time slots, off hours and weekend visitations has exhausted the current staffing resources of Maristhill. We are requesting that families limit their visits to once a week. This request will allow more opportunities for other families to visit at least once a week as well.
The facility will be allowing indoor visitations starting September 25th along with brief physical contact that will be allowed if desired by both the resident and visitor. However, in order to reduce risk of transmission, individuals must:
— Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol before and after contact;
— Hug with faces in opposite directions; and
— Limit the duration of close physical contact and avoid close face-to-face contact even when face masks are used.
There can be no exceptions to this rule and I will ask staff to monitor this requirement. If, the requirements for in-person visits are not adhered to I will request that future visitations will not be allowed for that visitor.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has taken a toll on our community and we still have a way to go before we see the end of this crisis. However, together with your support and the exceptional work done by the staff for our residents Maristhill will weather this storm.
We ask that our residents and staff do all that they can to support our facility and our community by following the recommendations set forth by the CDC and DPH:
• Social Distancing/staying home if possible and wear a facemask in public;
• Washing Hands for 20 seconds with soap and water or use a hand sanitizer;
• Self-isolating if showing any signs or symptoms of COVID-19; and
• Seek medical assistance as necessary
We wish to remind you that we have updated our Maristhill website and we hope that this updated version will be helpful for the families to keep in contact with the activities and news from Maristhill. Also, we still utilize Facetime and Skype for visits with families and residents.
Thank you all for your support. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Regards,
James Tracy
James Tracy,
President
