Dear Residents, Families, and Associates of Byron Park,
The holidays are fast approaching, and we are in full swing starting with our phenomenal annual Veterans day breakfast, roll call and happy hour last week and this week kicked off with a fall themed week complete with dress days, fall treats and the long-awaited reopening of dinner service! Our weekly pooled saliva testing that was implemented at the beginning of October has allowed our community to safely reopen and enjoy the things we love most- dining and imbibing together, engaging in meaningful wellness opportunities, maintaining our physically fitness be it in class, a pool or the gym and even competing in a Nationwide spelling bee competition! Congratulations to our very own Phil Wesler, resident and Gia Aron, Resident Relations Director better known as Team Painting Pals for entering the Finals for our Kisco competition!
While life may look and feel closer to normal in our bubble of safety, we also want to acknowledge what is happening in the greater community of Contra Costa County and California. 41 Counties in California moved back to the most restrictive “Purple Tier”. Our county positivity rate is at 3.7% albeit moderate but swiftly increasing. This is a sobering reminder that we all must remain vigilant in our efforts to stay as safe as possible. In alignment with our State and County shelter in place order we are strongly discouraging residents to go home for the holidays or gather with anyone in close, prolonged, and unprotected contact.
We understand this holiday season is even more emotionally challenging due to the constraints that COVID-19 is presenting. However, we have a new testing capability for family members and protocols and procedures in place that are allowing our residents and families to have that much needed time together.
With our visitation testing program family members may now come to the community to visit their loved one after providing a saliva sample and receiving a negative COVID-19 test. Family member will need to sign a consent form which gives the community permission to receive the test results as well as the person providing the sample. Additionally, a copy of the family member’s insurance card / information is required to be sent to the lab with the sample. The sample will be sent via FedEx® to the lab and results are normally received within 48 hours.
Once we receive the negative test results, there will be a 24-hour window for the family member to come into the community to visit their loved one. The 24-hour clock starts when the negative test result is received. The visit will occur in our community while both parties are wearing masks. Our customer service representatives will notify you via phone once results are received. Our community will remain single point entry and all guests will check in at the front desk through our kiosk and complete the screening questionnaire and temperature check.
All visits are for 2 hours and can take place in any of our common areas indoors and outdoors.
We have a limit of 2 visitors per party for each resident with a community maximum every day. Reservations and scheduling can be made at the front desk 24 hours/7 days a week. For anyone that would not like to participate in our testing program our visitation station located in the bistro will continue to operate. This visit is limited to 45 minutes and guests are not permitted to leave the visitation station and must remain masked and socially distant.
We thank everyone for their continued participation in our testing programs, along with proper social distancing, mask use, hand hygiene, and ongoing health monitoring, we can provide an excellent line of defense in the fight against Covid-19. We will continue to adjust and enhance the lifestyle offerings Byron Park is known for. We remain enthusiastic about our next phase but know it is a fluid environment and our lifestyle offerings; containment initiatives and safety restrictions will change from time to time based on the prevalence of COVID-19 in our community and Contra Costa County. As always, we thank you for your confidence and partnership during this exceptional time. If you have any questions, kudos, comments or concerns please let me know.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Pastora
Executive Director