COVID-19 UPDATES
KEEPING YOU UP-TO-DATE ON OUR COVID-19 POLICIES
From Heather Merrills, Administrator (518) 686-5167
Residents, Families, Friends, and Staff:
March 7, 2022:
February 24, 2021: The governor recently issued Skilled Nursing Facility Visitation guidelines. We want to make you aware this does not include visitation in Adult Care Facilities, like The Danforth. This means that we are not included in these new guidelines.
We do not currently have any updates on these guidelines, but anticipate we will shortly. Many of our residents are receiving their second vaccine today. According to the CDC, protection occurs one to two weeks after the second vaccine is given, which may explain why our visitation guidance has not been issued. We are pleased to inform you that all residents that were medically able and gave consent have received their second vaccine. Only 1% of our residents have declined the vaccine that were medically able to receive it. 100% of employees who are medically able will receive the vaccine. Each resident will continue to have their symptoms and temperatures monitored daily. Staff will continue to be tested weekly and have daily screening prior to starting their shift. As always, our residents' and staff’s health are our main focus. We will continue to be diligent with our infection control procedures.
We are (presently) offering window and virtual visits. Please contact Amy Parker at amy@danforthadultcare.com to set up either virtual visits or window visits. As always, please feel free to contact Jill Nolan RN, Director of Nursing at jill@danforthadultcare.com, or Danielle Holbrook LPN, Case Manager at danielle@danforthadultcare.com with questions or concerns. As more information about visitation becomes available, we will send an update. Thank you for your understanding and continued support during this difficult time.
January 14, 2021: On Tuesday, January 12, the Danforth staff and some of our residents received their first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. Based on the recommendation of the CDC, it is critical that health care workers are vaccinated first in order to protect your loved ones. Early access to the vaccine is critical to ensuring the health and safety of our employees. On February 2, staff will receive their second dose of vaccine, and the remainder of our residents will receive their first vaccine dose. 21 days later, residents will get their second dose of vaccine. Your loved ones' health and well-being is our top priority.
September 28, 2020: Due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in Hoosick Falls we will be putting a hold on outdoor visitations for the next two weeks. We will review the situation on October 12th and make a decision at that time if we will can resume outdoor visitations or if we need to extend the hold. We will continue with window visits and online visits. Please call (518) 686-5167 or email Amy Parker at amy@danforthadultcare.com to schedule a window or online visit. The window visit must be scheduled if your loved one needs assistance or they need the use of a phone to be able to talk through the closed window. If your loved one does not need assistance you do not need to schedule the window visit. Thank you for your continued support.
September 11, 2020: Our priorities remain the health and safety of the residents and staff at The Danforth. It is expected that the spread of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. will continue. It is essential that we maintain awareness about the disease, its signs and symptoms, where cases and outbreaks are occurring and infection control procedures. While continuing to monitor staff with weekly COVID testing and current infection control procedures we strive to be COVID free. We understand that it has taken a toll on residents, loved ones and staff during this time when visitors have not been allowed. We are pleased to be able to share with you that we can resume with limited structured visitations weather permitting. Although the plan may not be the most convenient, we believe that we have put in place a plan that will put the residents and staffs safety first. Please see the page below for information on structured outdoor visitations.
August 26, 2020: We are pleased to share with you that all of the resident and staff COVID test that were done have all returned with negative results. Unfortunately we are unable to restart visitations at this time. Guidelines set up by The Department of Health prohibit us from resuming visitations for 28 days beginning August 15th. Before visitations may resume we must have 28 days from that date with no positive COVID test results. We then need to submit a new safety plan for approval. Once the safety plan is approved we can move forward with scheduling structured outdoor visitations. We will resend the guidelines for visitations once the plan is approved. We will continue to require a COVID test within 7 days of the scheduled visitation. The visits will be outdoors only. As we move into colder weather it will be more difficult to schedule visits. We will not be offering indoor visits at this time. Thank you for your continued support and understanding as our main priority is the safety of the residents and our staff.
August 14, 2020: Today we have unfortunate news to share. We have had our first case of COVID-19. We learned today that one of our employee’s tested positive. The employee was swabbed on 8/5/2020. We have been experiencing long wait times on the results and only found out today that an employee tested positive. The employee was tested again 8/12/2020 during our weekly staff testing. The employee has been asymptomatic and was unaware that they had been exposed. The employee is not a direct care staff and has had minimal contact with the residents. Moving forward we will be placing any resident that has had any close contact with the staff in isolation from the date of the contact for 14 days and testing those residents as well as a sample of other residents to help contain any outbreak. We have and will continue to be diligent on our infection control procedures. We will be pausing all structured visitations until further notice. We are not going to be offering window visits at this time and will update you when visits may resume. As always please feel free to contact us for any questions. Thank you for your understanding and continued support during this difficult time.
July, 2020: Our priorities remain the health and safety of the residents and staff at The Danforth. It is expected that the spread of COVID-19 infections in the U.S. will continue. It is essential that we maintain awareness about the disease, its signs and symptoms, where cases and outbreaks are occurring and infection control procedures. While continuing to monitor staff with weekly COVID testing and current infection control procedures we have been able to remain COVID free. We understand that it has taken a toll on residents, loved ones and staff during this time when visitors have not been allowed. We have formulated a plan to move forward with limited structured visitations. Although the plan may not be the most convenient, we believe that we have put in place a plan that will put the safety of our residents and staffs first.
March, 2020: The Danforth is following strict guidelines from the Department of Health and the CDC regarding precautions and procedures for our facility during the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Our priority is the health and safety of our residents and staff. While some individuals may be asymptomatic or have mild illness, older individuals, particularly those with other underlying health conditions, have shown greater susceptibility to the virus and often experience much more serious illness and outcomes. This potential for more serious illness, coupled with the communal nature of adult care residential services, represents a risk of outbreak and a substantial challenge for Adult Care Facilities.
Daily, frequent cleaning and disinfection of all surfaces is being done with EPA registered, hospital-grade disinfectant to decrease environmental contamination within the facility. The Danforth has taken steps to reschedule all non-essential appointments outside of the facility to limit community exposure to residents. In addition, any staff that are found to be ill will be sent home and will need to contact their primary care physician immediately.
If a resident is suspected of infection with COVID-19 they will be given a face mask to wear and the facility will immediately contact the primary physician, emergency contact and the NYS Department of Health. The resident will be isolated in a private room, and the staff will follow CDC guidelines while caring for the resident. We will provide continuing education for the staff to ensure we are providing the residents and staff with the most updated guidelines provided by the Department of Health and the CDC.
Visitors may introduce COVID-19 infection into the facility if they are ill as a result of community transmission or if they have close contact (within feet) to a person(s) with COVID-19. The facility will screen visitors for symptoms or potential exposure to someone with COVID-19. Under current regulations, the facility must restrict or prohibit visitors to the facility, where there is a reasonable cause to believe such visitors would directly endanger the safety of such residents.
Family members who wish to call and speak to their loved one are encouraged to make phone calls as well as video chats. If you would like to set up a video chat, please email amy@danforthadultcare.com or call Amy Parker at (518) 686-5167.
We will be sanitizing all items brought by family members prior to bringing them into the facility. Please drop off items at The Danforth Monday through Friday, between 9 am and 2 pm. Please call to arrange drop off. All items must be labeled and left outside our front door. Danforth staff will then sanitize and deliver them.
