Dear Residents and Families of Drake Terrace:
Many of you may have seen the news stories in the past few days about Drake Terrace. Let me first say, we are disappointed in how our community has been portrayed by the media, but we will not let these stories define us. Drake Terrace has a 30-year history as a wonderful place for our residents to live and a great place for our associates to work. This will continue to be the case despite any negative news stories or a global pandemic.
Throughout this unprecedented crisis, we have endeavored to be as transparent as possible in our communication with residents, families and associates. For the media to imply otherwise is irresponsible.
Our executive director’s updates are on the website’s homepage for internal and public sharing. Moving forward, we will increase our communication throughout the week with additional updates from our executive director sent via e-mail to families, letters delivered to residents’ doors and text messages to associates. If you are not receiving email updates, allow us to confirm your information by emailing our Resident Relations Director at Robin.Schepps@kiscosl.com. If you have a question or concern, please reach out and let us know.
Much of the negative news has been around testing, but what the media doesn’t understand is that senior living communities, like Drake Terrace, do not have the same access to COVID-19 testing as nursing homes or other medical settings. We can only request that orders for tests be written by physicians for those residents and associates who are symptomatic (and then help facilitate that testing), which is in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Marin County Health Department. We are working closely with a major healthcare organization and with local and state health authorities, as well as following guidance from the CDC. The Marin County Health Department was at the community earlier this week and commended Dra ke Terrace for having a comprehensive COVID-19 plan and appropriate containment measures in place. We were asked to share our operating guidelines with the Marin County Health Department to benefit other senior living care providers in the area.
I couldn’t be more proud of the associates at Drake Terrace, who are risking their own health and comfort to work around the clock to keep residents safe, engaged with activities, connected with family members, and most importantly, enacting all best practices advised by the CDC and local healthcare authorities to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our associates are unsung heroes who have been going above and beyond – running errands for residents, reaching out to family members with updates and helping families stay connected through “virtual” visits via FaceTime, Skype and other technologies.
It has been a challenging few weeks, but Drake Terrace is a strong community and we will come out of this even stronger. Please know that you will continue to receive timely, accurate, and informative updates weekly from our team. Thank you for your continued support, and if there’s anything you need or if you have specific questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Sincerely,
Leandra Negrete
Regional Vice President of Operations, Kisco Senior Living