We continue to be very blessed and do not have any COVID-19 cases among residents or associates. As we have seen a large spikes in cases here in Utah our Associates and Residents have been amazing at wearing a mask, social distancing, and washing hands often. We are also so thankful to our families who have been so great at following guidelines that have been set (even though it is really tough).
Starting next week we are very excited to begin an innovative way to keep everyone as safe as possible! We will begin Pooled Covid testing that will allow us to identify the presence of Covid quickly. This will eliminate the need for us to quarantine residents when they leave the community!
Our community is divided up to to 4 pools, IL Residents, AL residents, associates and vendors, and high risk residents. High risk residents are those who have left the community for any reason. Our IL and AL residents will participate in the pooled testing one time a week and our Associates and High risk residents will participate two times a week. Here is what it will look like: IL residents will need to come to the MPR Mondays or Wednesdays between 10:00-11:30 am where they will give a small saliva sample. If IL Residents are on the “High Risk” list because they have left the community (for Dr appointments, etc) they will need to attend both Monday and Wednesday for 2 weeks. AL residents will be tested one time a week by our Med techs in their own apartments, and twice if they come back after leaving the community. We will test our memory care Residents one time each week. This will allow us to no longer require a 7 day quarantine after leaving the community! (when I announced this yesterday in Chat with Jesse the residents clapped and cheered) We hope that this will encourage our residents to not miss essential appointments moving forward. Kisco is the only company in the country that is currently offering “pooled testing” for residents, we hope that this proactive approach will help us in the months to come by detecting any cases early.
Now for a few upcoming events. The first one is October 22nd we will have our annual costume parade. This will look a lot like the car parade we did in the summer. We have sent a flyer with all the information. Katelen and her incredible team have found a way to have our Halloween parade while keeping our residents safe. The next event is October 29th. We are doing a pumpkin parade for our residents. we are asking families, residents and staff to decorate, carve or paint a pumpkin that we can display in the courtyard where the resident will walk by and vote on some of the best. Please have your pumpkins to the community by October 28th. Thank you for all your support.
Sincerely,
Jesse Buntjer, Executive Director