April 17, 2020 COVID-19 Procedure Update

April 17, 2020

April 17, 2020

Dear residents, families and friends,

Every day the news meets us with a grim new reminder that the world we are living in today couldn’t have been imagined just a few short weeks ago.  We are sad, we are isolated, we are worried about tomorrow…but we are all going to do our best to push through this situation because we WILL get through this but ONLY if we work together.

At the beginning of the month Chris Schenkelberg, Administrator, wrote to all of you to inform you of our emergency plan to use the Bayberry neighborhood as a space for caring for COVID positive residents. At this time we do not have any COVID positive or suspected cases in residents or staff. We will notify our constituents if that changes.

This week we have been doing some rearranging and have created an isolated area in one of the nursing neighborhoods to be used as a 14-day isolation space for any new admission resident or resident who is returning from the hospital.  This gives us the opportunity to separate residents into three levels – (1) COVID suspected/positive, (2) residents with “unknown” status who have been to the hospital and (3) long term, assumingly unexposed residents. Each of these neighborhoods will have dedicated staffing, particularly throughout that shift. This is a mandate by the Iowa Department of Public Health and we agree that “cohorting” residents in this way could help to reduce the likelihood of spreading the virus.

We wanted to share this newest development with you and hope to keep you informed of our plans. Thank you for your support and patience during this remarkable time. It means a great deal to us that so many of you understand the stress of this pandemic and keep us in your prayers.

Sincerely,
Hallie Salmen, CEO     &    Chris Schenkelberg, Administrator

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