Spring is in the air! It has been so nice to see so many of you enjoying the warm weather we have had this week and to see a few family members taking walks outside around the community. This is something that we had not officially announced but have been saying yes when asked as we ease back into phasing family visits. If you plan to meet a family member for a walk outside please be sure to wear masks and be mindful of those around you as we continue to be cautious and practice social distancing.
The first step in opening the community back up to visitors is transitioning to a new lab to ensure we have a means in place to test visitors. Unvaccinated visitors will be required to participate in testing. We are working on this process and will communicate it very soon. We are also working on a process for how we will track vaccinated visitors. While we are hopeful that we will be prepared to allow visitors in the next several weeks, we need to ensure that we are up and running with the new lab internally first. We will start with testing our residents and associates next week using an individual saliva test in partnership with Sensiva Labs.
This saliva test will be a little different than our pooled saliva test in that we will not need to drink water and wait 5 mins. before producing saliva. The test kit will provide a saline solution that we will swish (not swallow) in our mouth and spit immediately. The results are expected to come back quicker and the behind the scenes processing of the data is more simplified for our Wellness Director Juleah who has been our testing Champion. During this transition we will continue with our nasal swab testing in addition to the individual saliva test for the remainder of the month of March. Everyone is expected to participate in both, please see the testing schedule below:
UPCOMING COVID-19 TESTING SCHEDULE REMINDER:
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2021
Individual Saliva Test in The Montpelier Room
9:30am—11:30am All Residents, Associates, and Essential Visitors
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021
PCR Nasal Swab Testing in The Montpelier Room
8:00 am-9:30am—Assisted Living Residents testing will be conducted Door to Door
9:30am-11:30am—Independent Living Residents, Associates & Essential Visitors
As a follow up to our recent Resident Satisfaction Survey, we have identified some opportunities in our Dining Services program that have prompted us to want to hear more from you. We will be holding Dining Focus Groups specifically geared to all things Dining. We are asking that you sign up to attend one of these Focus Groups and have a open dialog with myself, Ashley Rosado, Dining Services Director, and Michael Jacinto “MJ”, Chef de Cusine on your experiences. Ashley has recently traveled to one of our Kisco communities in Greensboro, NC and is excited to share some ideas with us on how we can enhance our current menus and service. The signup sheets will be available in the lobby on the table with the Daily Line up sheets. Please see the dates and times below:
DINING FOCUS GROUPS:
TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021
1:00 pm
Chesapeake Dining Room
THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2021
9:00 am
Chesapeake Dining Room
I appreciate everyone’s continued support and patience as we transition the community back into more normalcy. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since we had to put some of the practices into place and is going to take time to undo them, but rest assured it’s our main priority!
Next week, we hope to finish cleaning up the Grange and turn it back into a resident space where you can resume card games, puzzles, and have access to the computers again. We are in the process of finding a new home for the coffee and hot chocolate machine where it can be more accessible to residents. As a reminder coffee is available all day in The Water Edge Dining Room.
Dana Gregory, Interim Executive Director