Dear Residents and Families of BridgePoint at Los Altos,
Our fight to protect our community from COVID-19 continues and I am pleased to report an overall positive past week with no new cases among our staff and residents. The one resident with a positive COVID-19 case has been cleared by the Santa Clara Health Department. The Health Department has been complimentary of how we have managed this resident’s care and while we hope to not have any other residents test positive, we have a comprehensive operating plan to deploy again if needed.
We are thankful for our residents who have complied with challenging quarantine measures, our associates who have been diligent in containment practices, and our partners and families for their understanding and support. We remain focused on all the things we know can and will help this virus from spreading. Here is an update of what we have been doing, a reminder of key protocols, and other information to help you stay connected to our community.
Sheltering in Place at BLA:
• All residents are required to remain in their apartment unless leaving for a medically essential need. If a resident must leave, we strongly request that all resident’s wear a face mask at all times while outside of the community. We will provide a mask to residents.
• Our staff continues to disinfect surfaces (rails, doorknobs, elevator, etc.) throughout community every 2 hours 24/7. Residents’ apartments are also disinfected once per week. To minimize contact, apartment cleaning is modified to focus on sanitizing the bathroom, kitchen, and high touch areas.
• All meals and daily snacks are delivered to residents. We provide a weekly menu to each resident for their review. Servers take each resident’s individual orders for the following day. While all meals are delivered, high-quality food remains a priority! Entrees are cooked from scratch in our kitchen and our menu offers variety to accommodate health needs and taste preferences as it always has. Later this week we will be introducing an eco-friendly container for in-room dining.
o Please note the following mealtimes:
Breakfast will be delivered between 7:30am to 9:00am
Lunch will be delivered between 11:30am to 1:00pm
Dinner will be delivered between 4:30pm to 6:00pm
• All incoming packages are received at the front door and disinfected before deliver to residents.
• We have suspended new move-ins until further notice.
• Any residents needing to moveout, please contact Michelle Benigno to go over logistics.
• Associates that enter resident’s apartment are wearing mask and gloves.
• Associates will only wear full personal protective equipment (PPE) when entering an apartment that is under quarantine.
• A core team is designated to be sole providers of care for any residents in the future that have COVID-19.
• Extended paid sick time available to all associates to enforce staying at home when unwell without income insecurity.
• Mail is systemically delivered based on floors at minimum twice a week.
• Daily delivery of wellness cart with refreshments and goodie bags of self-entertainment (crosswords puzzle, books, etc.). These items are disinfected and individually packaged.
• Wellness and Sales Directors scheduled to provide in-apartment 10-15 minutes exercise and companionship visits with residents based on interest and need.
• Each resident has been given one antibacterial handwashing soap per apartment as required by health department. We are monitoring and will replace as needed.
• A resident may call the front desk to provide a list of essential items needed from the local stores. Shopping items will be purchased and delivered within 48 hours. Expenses will be added to your rent statement.
• Temperatures taken of residents using a no-touch infrared thermometer 2x per day and anyone over 99.6 will be addressed. Associate temperatures checked daily as well.
• FaceTime using Google Duo with residents’ family available and facilitated.
• We are assisting residents with telehealth and virtual medical appointments.
• All residents returning to the community who have been staying off-site (for personal or medical reasons) will be required to quarantine in their apartment for 14 days.
We continue to restrict ALL visitors except those deemed “Essential” as follows:
• “Compassionate” visits of direct family or verified close friends (only in instances of end-of-life)
• Individuals directly providing direct medically related assistance
These visitor restrictions prohibit family, friends, clergy, salon and other personal services providers, private duty aides, entertainers, and all other individuals deemed “non-essential” at this time. We apologize for the impact this may have on your normal visitation frequency, and we appreciate your support of our desire to prioritize the health of our residents. We appreciate your diligent compliance with this restriction.
All essential visitors are required to wear a face mask and gloves at all times while within the community. For the professional providers who are providing services to the residents we are asking that they provide their own gloves and masks.
We cannot thank you enough for your well wishes, cooperation and understanding throughout this past month. In order to keep BLA contained we feel it is important to keep maximum measures in place until this disease curve flattens in the greater Santa Clara County. I will continue to keep you informed of changes every Monday at a minimum and certainly let you know when some restrictions are lifted. Stay safe and healthy!
Sincerely,
Maria Quintero
Executive Director