Update from Administrator – March 18, 2021
March 18, 2021
Dear Families,
First and foremost, it has been an honor to care for your loved ones during these trying times. For those of you I have met in person, I valued each of these interactions. For those that called me or emailed me with any questions, comments, or concerns – I hope I was able to solve them to your satisfaction. April 6thwill be last day at Summit Commons as I explore another employment opportunity.
At long last – we have new guidance from the CDC on nursing home visitation! This new guidance reflects updates to address the vaccination of residents and individuals from the community, as well as the decrease in community spread and changes to visitation during an “outbreak.”
While the CDC release their new guidance later on March 10th, we reviewed their materials, along with guidance that followed the next day from our state’s health leaders and our operator, Athena Health Care Systems to update our existing policies and procedures to accommodate the new guidance.
For details on the CDC guidance, please visit their website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/infection-control-after-vaccination.html.
Visitation Reminders / UPDATES
As before, when an outbreak is detected among residents or staff, all visitations must be suspended except for compassionate care visits, until at least one round of facility wide testing is completed.
Our current visitation status is: OPEN
We always offer visitations using our technology (iPads, tablets, calls, etc.) and when we can, window visits and outside visits. If you do not have an appointment scheduled, please contact the Receptionist Brittany Demelo at 401-574-4800 to schedule an appointment for an outdoor visit, window visit or virtual visit.
We continue to take all necessary precautions, including wearing personal protective equipment and conducting regular testing of our staff and residents, to ensure the safety of our residents and staff.
We want to provide some reminders about our visitation policy, based on requirements set by our state’s DPH and the CDC. We do apologize, but the below is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity for visits, under the strict state and federal guidelines we must adhere to. We know this is not the optimal way to visit your loved one, but we these guidelines have been put in place with your loved ones and out staff’s best interest in mind.
Recreation
- Small group activities have resumed.
- When there is a COVID-19 positive resident on a unit, floor or care area, group activities will be paused for residents on the unit, floor, or care area until the unit, floor or care area has gone 14 days without a new COVID-19 positive resident.
- A reminder to everyone that we do have various tablet devices for your loved one to utilize to access games, various communication tools, games, news, and more. We have done some tutoring and training of the tablets so that residents are more comfortable with them.
Thank you and, as always, please stay safe and healthy!