Dear Residents, Families and Associates of Abbotswood Irving Park:
As we continue the path of managing through the Covid-19 pandemic, the safety and health of our residents and associates remains our foremost priority. While we have seen some encouraging news in recent weeks, its is imperative that we remain cautious. The health and well-being of our residents and our “Abbotswood Heroes” must continue to be our number one priority.
We completed another round of surveillance testing this week. As a reminder, we randomly test 25% of the campus population on a bi-weekly basis. We have been working with Genetworx, a regional lab with years of experience in PCR testing, to provide bi-weekly surveillance testing for our residents and associates. Genetworx has been a great partner and has been consistently providing test results in less than 24 hours. With this traditional testing partner in place, we have been searching for a faster, more efficient, and less invasive way to regularly test all our residents and associates.
As discussed in a previous update, we have now found a new lab partner and in the next couple of weeks will begin to roll out new “pooled” testing for all our Assisted and Independent Living Residents. This “pooled” testing is approved by the CDC, meets all local/state/federal requirements and is very simple to administer. It does not involve any of the invasive nasal or throat swabs but instead utilizes a saliva sample. This new process will take 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.
We believe that this high frequency of testing, along with local/state mandates, current community Covid markers as well as company oversight, will allow us to open up our dining venues with reduced capacity and conduct more Wellness programming. Please stay tuned for further information from Dining Services and Wellness, in the coming days. We are very excited to be on the cusp of re-opening!
We will continue to carefully monitor the operations and health status within each community. Through a collaborative process with our Home Office and Community Leadership Teams, along with our new “pooled” testing methods, we will begin the phase of slowly re-opening parts of the community that we have been missing. I am truly appreciative of your trust and patience. We understand that this can be a frustrating process but given the vulnerability of many who live in our communities, we believe that this approach will provide the greatest level of protection.
Sincerely,
William Eubank – Assistant Executive Director