Dear Residents and Families of Heritage Greens:
From the beginning of the pandemic we hoped for a sprint but prepared for a marathon here at Heritage Greens. As the pandemic has dragged on, we have been working diligently behind the scenes to address a variety of issues from making sure we had plenty of PPE on hand to planning Dining and Activities safely within our bubble here. While some of our policies have seemed restrictive, they have been critical in preventing any widespread Covid outbreaks while we waited for testing science to catch up to the virus.
Testing
Over the summer Heritage Greens partnered with Genetworx, a regional lab with years of experience in PCR testing, to begin providing bi-weekly testing for our associates and as needed testing for our residents. Genetworx has been a great partner and has been consistently providing test results in less than 24 hours. With this traditional testing partner in place we have been searching for a fast efficient and less invasive way to regularly test all our residents.
We have now found a new lab partner and in the next couple of weeks will begin to roll out new “pooled” testing for all our Assisted and Independent Living Residents. This new testing process will take samples from larger groups of residents, around 50, combine them and then test the one sample. If that test comes back negative, we know all residents in that “pool” are negative. If the “pool” comes back positive, then we will use the traditional tests to identify any positive cases for treatment. This new “pooled” testing does not involve any of the invasive nasal or throat swabs but instead utilizes a saliva sample. One of the best parts of our new testing capabilities is it will allow us to return to a closer to normal life for our residents here at Heritage Greens.
Dining
Starting on Tuesday, September 29th we will begin reopening our Dining Rooms! Much like North Carolina we will be taking a measured phased approach to this so that we can provide the high level of service our residents deserve while keeping everyone safe and properly spaced in our dining venues. Jason Swanger, our Dining Services Director, will be sharing information with all our residents soon on seating times and assignments. We will also begin to expand our Activity programs to include more options and bring back many of the programs are residents have sorely missed over the last six months.
Heritage Greens appreciates the trust you all put in us and are working diligently to keep our residents, families, and associates happy, healthy, and safe during these unprecedented times. We also know the damage social isolation can cause and are working to get things as close to normal as possible for our residents. With cooler times ahead we are working on interior visitation options and hoping to have some big news to share in the coming weeks, stay connected to find out more. Do you know of any associate at Heritage Greens that has gone above and beyond to make a difference for you or a loved one? You can recognize them here and thank a Kisco Hero today!
Sincerely,
Jeramy Reid