COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update

Dear Family Members and Friends,

During this difficult time, we are committed to keeping our residents safe by implementing certain practices as recommended by CMS and the CDC. Most of our residents are elderly and may have conditions that put them at high risk for becoming sick or even severely ill with COVID-19. At this time, no residents or employees are known to have an active case of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. We have taken the following actions to reduce the risk of COVID-19 to our residents and staff.

• Visitation remains restricted and only essential persons are allowed into the facility.
• We have cancelled all group activities inside the facility.
• We are monitoring all staff and residents for signs and symptoms of this illness on a routine basis.
• Should the monitoring indicate the possibility of the illness, quarantine and prompt testing of the individual would be recommended.
• Our staff is routinely wearing face coverings and other protective equipment to assist in preventing the spread of respiratory infections as well as following other infection control and prevention practices.
• We have educated staff and residents on infection control measures to include social distancing, hand washing and cough etiquette.
• The facility has established a wing for resident room placement in an effort to prevent exposure.

We appreciate the trust you have placed in us to care for your loved one. We are looking forward to the time when this contagious virus is no longer circulating and we can see all of you again.

This communication is sent to the primary resident contact. Please feel free to share with other interested family members or friends. Please contact us if you have any questions.

WEBSITE ONLY UPDATE: Since it is Mother’s Day weekend, we will be accepting flowers and other accepted items on Saturday May 9th from 8am-7pm. Items will be quarantined for 24 hours.

Dear family members,
I hope this letter finds you all well. As of this writing, there are no known or suspected cases of COVID-19 among residents or staff at Conover Nursing & Rehab. This is a testimony to the tedious work of our staff both while here at Conover as well as their commitment to following social distancing outside of work. For this, I applaud them. We remain committed to keeping our residents and staff as safe as possible.

We encourage you to reach out to your state and federal representatives to encourage the need for crucial PPE and testing for the long term care population. We believe testing is the key to keeping us all safe. Unfortunately shortages still remain and certain criteria must be met in order to be tested. Consistent communication with our state and federal representatives may help us get there quicker.

We will begin sending out email updates soon. If you have not provided your email and want to be included in the email communications, please contact Amber Case at activities@conovernursingandrehab.com. Updates will also be added to our website at www.conovernursingandrehab.com. Be sure to check frequently as we are in the process of updating the site to include a link for COVID19 Updates.

Since our last communication, we have clarified items that we are accepting to be delivered to our residents and extended our hours for delivery. The only food items we are accepting are canned sodas and wrapped candies. All other items must be non-perishable and delivered to the front door Mon-Fri between the hours of 8am-7pm. The items will continue to be quarantened for approximately 24 hours. Please do not deliver items or leave items outside the door after delivery hours.

We have placed benches around the outside of our facility for our family members. Feel free to move these benches in front of your loved one’s window when visiting. Please conduct these visits through closed windows. For those of you who have multilple family members, please communicate these policies to them.
Finally, I would like to thank our families for your continued prayers, donations, and support of our incredible staff as they continue to prove that they are truly heroes. We hold daily prayers after our huddle meetings around 3pm and this has proven to be a powerful tool here at Conover.

Sincerely,
Todd Roper
Administrator

I hope this letter finds you all well. As of this writing, there are no known or suspected cases of COVID-19 among residents or staff at Conover Nursing & Rehab.  We believe this can be attributed to the numerous prayers and proactive infection control measure implemented early on in this pandemic.

We want to thank those of you who have reached out to us in support through donations, prayers left on our voice mail, and words of encouragement.  We appreciate the thoughtful acts of kindness for our courageous staff. We are grateful for the donations of face shields, hand sanitizer, and mask covers in this time of national PPE shortages.

I also want you to know how proud I am of our own staff who have sacrificed time spent with their own families to keep your loved ones safe as well as dedicated so much time to hand-make masks and obtain PPE/sanitizer from outside sources. Thanks to these efforts, our staff have the PPE they need to safely care for our residents. We continue to have a no visitation policy as of this writing.

Conover Nursing & Rehab is committed to transparancy during this difficult time. We will continue to do our best to keep our families updated on a regular basis including reporting any  known positive cases of COVID19. This will be accomplished by phone calls, letter, and/or regular updates to our website www.conovernursingandrehab.com. Be sure to check frequently as we are in the process of updating the site to include a link for COVID19 Updates.

Finally, we are pleased to announce that we are now accepting some outside items for our residents.  These items must be non-perishable and delivered to the front door Mon-Fri between the hours of 8am-5pm. The items will be quarantened for approximately 24 hours.

We also care about our families. If you feel you are experiencing respiratory symptoms or fever above 100.4 without medication, and have questions, please feel free to call us. Please continue to keep our staff in your prayers.

Sincerely,

Todd Roper
Administrator

Attention: Family and loved ones of Residents currently residing at Conover Nursing and Rehabilitation

As you may already know, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak is of much concern to local, state, national, and international health care personnel, Infection Prevention and Control Specialists, and community members here, and around the globe. Much information is available via many health and news outlets. Regardless of what information you have received, one fact remains clear, we need to protect those in our community most vulnerable to COVID-19. One of the populations most negatively affected by COVID-19, are the elderly. The management team at Conover Nursing and Rehabilitation have made it a priority to protect your family member. We are confident that we have the resources, education, and ability to apply recommendations to prepare for an outbreak, as well as implement appropriate prevention measures. Health officials at the CDC, and State Department of Health and Human Services have made available guidelines in order to PREVENT and PROTECT from the spread of COVID-19.

As part of the above-mentioned recommendations we are currently screening all visitors to the building. This includes family and friends, outside health care providers, vendors, and anyone else who walks through the doors of our building. We understand the importance of visits from family and friends to the quality of life of our residents and as always, we encourage this time spent with loved ones. There are currently three exceptions to visitation of which we would like to inform you. A screening questionnaire is required to be completed and signed upon entrance, each time an individual comes into the building (one per day) until further notice. We will restrict entrance into the building for individuals who meet any of the following criteria:

1. Have Traveled from an affected geographic area within the last 14 days. For updated information on affected geographic areas, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html
2. Have had contact with someone laboratory-confirmed for COVID-19.
3. Have signs or symptoms of a respiratory infection, such as a fever, cough, and sore throat. (Without having a diagnosis such as COPD, or Asthma)

If you meet any of the above criteria, we are asking that you refrain from coming to our building at this time. If you are having signs or symptoms of a respiratory illness, please refrain from visiting until your symptoms have been resolved for at least 48 hours. Especially if you have a fever with, or without other symptoms. Please notify any other family members or friends who may be visitors of your loved one so that they may also take appropriate action to assist us in following guidelines appropriately. We are asking for your complete cooperation with this policy so that we can best PREVENT and PROTECT your loved one from infection.

Additionally, there are some practical things we can all do in our own homes to prevent the spread of any respiratory illness, such as COVID-19, cold, or flu. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use of an alcohol-based hand rub with at least 60% alcohol can be used if hands are not visibly soiled. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Stay home when you are sick. Cover your cough or sneeze with the inside of your elbow or a tissue, then throw it away. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using regular household cleaning spray.

Please be aware that as this outbreak progresses, we may be required to enforce increasing levels of restriction as necessary. For example, the restrictions currently being enforced today may change at some point to include additional screening criteria based on the visitor’s location of residence, age, recent travel, etc. If you have any questions regarding the steps we are taking to PROTECT and PREVENT infections from negatively impacting your loved one, please feel free to contact me. Thank You in advance for helping to keep our community save, happy, and healthy.

Sincerely,

Jessica McCain, LPN/IPC
Infection Prevention and Control Specialist
828-695-8282 EXT.3215