Update from Administrator – November 11, 2020
Good morning everyone,
Just an update.
We conducted our first round of testing of all residents in our center on Thursday 11/5. We found several residents who tested positive in that round of testing. For everyone’s safety, we relocated those individuals up to quarantine/observation on the 4th floor. Families of those specific individuals are notified by the social worker or nursing.
We have one more round of testing to conduct this Thursday 11/12 and that should complete our cycle.
As you may be aware from the local news, the Governor and RI DOH has seen an upswing in COVID-19 in the community. The hospital systems are seeing more individuals in the ER and patients are testing positive. We also see other states experiencing an upswing as a second wave of COVID-19 has come.
In preparation for this increase all nursing facilities and assisted living centers have been asked to put together a plan to anticipate an increase in COVID-19 positive individuals coming to their centers. We have developed our plan and will be submitting it today to RI DOH.
In essence, our plan is to continue to use the 4th floor to quarantine our residents or new individuals who test positive and to admit all new presumed admissions for their 14 day quarantine / observation period. We identified separate hallways and designated the hallways as either COVID -19 positive or presumed COVID -19. When an individual is admitted to Oakland Grove and the hospital indicates that they are COVID positive, we will keep them within the confines on a COVID -19 positive hall. That hallway is separated from the rest of the center by a set of closed doors and dedicated staff will work with those residents only and can not cross to another unit or floor.
The “presumed” COVID -19 individual is someone the hospital deems as negative after testing or we suspect with symptoms not yet confirmed. The individual is quarantined for 14 days before they can transfer with the rest of our residents. The staff that work with that group also are restricted to that part of the building and can not work with other residents.
The second and third floors will be for residents deemed negative for COVID. Following this process we hope we can maintain the two floors clear of COVID -19 and manage the upswing we anticipate will be forthcoming.
If you have any questions and want more clarification please reach out to me. Administrator@OaklandGrovehcc.com. Or 401-769-0800.
Thank you for your support and stay safe.
Susan