COVID-19 March Visitation Update
March 9, 2021**This is a lengthy announcement, but all important information- so please read in full and forward to other family members that will want to know or visit. Thank you!**
Hello Jones-Harrison Residents and Families,
In light of new guidance released this week by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, we are so pleased to share that we are re-opening our doors to responsible indoor visitation. This development comes on exactly the one-year anniversary since we closed our campus to visitors, and we are beyond happy and thrilled that this day has finally arrived!
We will be welcoming visitors for all residents in the Care Center and Assisted Living at all times during which we have the staffing resources to screen and educate guests. Visits will be subject to a narrow set of exceptions as discussed below. This re-opening is effective Tuesday, March 16th. Any visits that are currently pre-scheduled for our visiting lounges will be moved to the new schedule, but the visits can occur within the resident/patient room/apartment. You may get emails notifying you of cancelations and re-schedules, be reassured it is just back-end logistics and your visit remains. We will call you if there are necessary adjustments. Due to honoring existing visits, open slots might not be available right away- please be patient.
The guidance does continue to promote outdoor visitation as the safest visitation method but allows us to re-open to indoor visitation for both vaccinated and unvaccinated residents, so long as at least 70% of facility residents have been vaccinated and there is no current evidence of internal spread of Covid19. County positivity rates do not affect the ability to allow visitation if at least 70% of residents are fully vaccinated. We proudly exceed this statistic!
We may have to suspend visitation if a resident or staff at Jones-Harrison is positive for COVID 19 until we can complete a round of outbreak testing, but will communicate more regarding this should we need to.
Responsible indoor visitation includes:
- Screening of all visitors upon entrance.
- Always requiring well-fitting face coverings for all visitors.
- Maintaining the physical distance between visitors and all facility staff and other residents; fully vaccinated residents may choose to have physical contact with their visitors, so long as the visitor performs hand hygiene before and after the contact, masks are worn, and both parties understand the associated risk.
Because we must screen and educate all visitors upon entrance, visits will need to be scheduled and during hours that Resident Services is staffed to complete screening procedures. The following guidelines outline how Jones-Harrison will be conducting visitation based on CMS guidelines:
Visitation must be scheduled in advance using the Appointlet website linked below. Please select a time frame based on the unit your loved one lives in. If you have any questions, please call!
- We have time slots broken out in shifts and by the unit to ensure we can maintain adequate distancing and traffic flow in our buildings. Visitors may not just show up and expect to see residents at this time.
- All indoor visits will take place in resident rooms/apartments. Visitors should go directly to the room/apartment of the person they are visiting, and not stop in any other area along the way. The same direct route-policy applies when visitors leave the facility.
- To ensure physical distancing in our resident/patient rooms/apartments, regular visitation will be limited to 2 visitors per appointment.
- If residents of our Care Center are in semi-private rooms (double occupancy) and are not comfortable with their roommate having visitors, alternative locations for the roommate and visitors to gather will be arranged- outdoors, lounges, conference rooms, etc.
- As the weather allows, we encourage visitors to gather in our lovely courtyard and front area, so long as physical distancing can be maintained. Use of well-fitting face coverings will be required on all campus grounds, including outdoors.
- Visitors may take their residents to Frank’s Café but we ask that you not dine together, as this requires both parties to be unmasked.
- Due to the expected influx of visitors, we will see at this initial phase of re-opening, we ask that you are conservative in your sign-ups so that we can accommodate everyone who wants to come and manage the flow of people in and out. We reserve the right to reschedule visits if we see this happening.
- Please be prepared for some delay in getting screened in and to the person you are here to visit if we are experiencing heavy traffic. Circumventing the desk is not permitted.
- Children able to comply with using well-fitting face coverings will be allowed to visit, but there must be one adult present per child to ensure proper supervision and prevent any breach of distancing or masking protocol.
- Pets are welcome to accompany visitors, so long as they are leashed/restrained, potty-trained, and only visit with the resident they are here to see.
- You may take your loved one for a walk in the community as long as well-fitting masks are worn the entire time.
Please understand that all of this is a starting point. We will continue to make changes that ease some of these practices as we are able and will communicate accordingly. Along the same line, we may encounter unexpected challenges with implementing some of these practices, so please bear with us if we need to make regular tweaks to how we are doing things. We appreciate your understanding, support, patience, and whatever collaboration and compromise we might land on.
The safety of our residents/patients and staff will always be our main priority, but we will always strive to do all that we can to ensure our residents/patients have as much freedom as we all have and that their social wellbeing needs are met. While we hope we do not encounter any visitors who are non-compliant, disruptive, or aggressive; if we do, we will restrict access to such individuals. Remember that these guidelines truly do serve a purpose, and that is to eradicate this virus as soon as possible. While we are benefiting from the effects of the vaccine at this time, the general public has several months yet before they do as well. Anything less than total compliance with these guidelines risks us having to scale it all back, we want to avoid that and only keep moving forward!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the love and prayer that continues to come our way from the wonderful community we serve! We have had such a challenging year, but we feel so blessed to have traveled this journey with the most supportive, kind, and understanding families and friends anyone could hope to have. This has been a total team effort, and we look forward to the day that everyone who wants a vaccine has one and we can safely reunite in pre-pandemic style!
For Assisted Living scheduling questions contact:
Marnie Lazurus
Mlazarus@Jones-Harrison.org
612-925-7286
For Care Center scheduling questions contact:
Scott Lindberg
slindberg@jones-harrison.org
612-213-7060