Dear Residents and Families of Heritage Greens:
As the Covid pandemic continues and cases are starting to trend up in both North Carolina and the nation as whole we are staying vigilant while also looking for ways to enrich both our resident and their family’s lives in the best way possible. Kisco has become a national leader in Senior Living Covid testing and is currently the only to offer bi-weekly pooled testing (read more on our blog).
We are now in our second week of our new pooled testing protocol and happy to report that all tests have come back negative. This new testing process takes samples from larger groups of residents, around 50, combine them and then test the one sample. If that test comes back negative, we know all residents in that “pool” are negative. If the “pool” comes back positive, then we will use the traditional tests to identify any positive cases for treatment. This new “pooled” testing does not involve any of the invasive nasal or throat swabs but instead utilizes a saliva sample. Currently we are testing our associates twice weekly and testing most residents once a week. For those residents that frequently leave the community or regularly have family visitation, our “Frequent Flyers”, as well as all third-party providers we are also testing twice a week. Our testing schedule is as follows: all residents and associates provide individual saliva samples on Tuesday or Wednesday and those are overnighted to the lab on Thursday and we receive the results on Friday. We then collect samples from all our associates, third-party providers, and “Frequent Flyers” on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning.
This second batch of samples is then shipped on Monday so that we receive results on Tuesday. As I mentioned in my previous update, we know the toll separation has caused to our residents and are excited to offer a new in building visitation process! We are working with our lab partner Genetworx to offer individual PCR saliva testing to our resident’s families. Each Monday, starting 10/28, from 2:00 6:00 family members who would like to visit can stop by the front desk at Heritage Greens. You will be asked to fill out a form and to provide a copy of your health insurance card and we will provide you with the testing kit. Once you have completed the test you will return the sealed sample to the front desk and a courier from the lab will pick up the tests by 7:00pm each Monday. We should have results back by mid-day on Tuesday, their typical turnaround on results is 12-18 hours. Once you have received notification of your negative test results you will have a 24-hour window to visit with your loved ones inside the community. During these visits we do ask that that you always wear your mask and remain in common areas. We do realize for many of you there will be things in the resident’s apartments that may require your attention or that you may need a private moment during your visit we just ask that you keep your time in their apartments to a minimum. The lab will file the charge for the test with your health insurance provided, in the event that your insurance does not cover the cost of the testing the $75 testing fee will be added to the resident’s statement. As we move forward with this new visitation process we welcome your feedback and will be looking to add a second testing window later in the week to allow for weekend visitation as well.
We appreciate the trust you put in us and are working diligently to keep our residents, families, and associates happy, healthy, and safe during these unprecedented times. Do you know of any associate at Heritage Greens that has gone above and beyond to make a difference for you or a loved one? You can recognize them here https://www.kiscoseniorliving.com/send-a-heartfelt-message-to-our-heroes/ thank a Kisco Hero today!
Sincerely,
Jeramy Reid