Live Update to Residents-April 30, 2020
Daily Live updates to residents on our in-house TV970 have become a popular way for us to stay in touch while social distancing! Today’s update featured John Burns, President and CEO; Anita Adkins, Development Officer-Strategic Gifts & Special Projects; Will Blackwell, Vice President Health Services; Debra Jacobsen, Administrator Resident Services; Lynn McClintock, Director Pastoral Care; and Bill Blake, Resident.
The following updates were shared during the live briefing on TV970.
John Burns
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) reports:
• 90,843 people have been tested for COVID-19, with 5,536 tests since yesterday. This is the biggest day of testing so far.
• Total positive COVID-19 cases are 15,180 with 852 new cases
• 2,322 have been hospitalized
• 543 total deaths
• 2,104 have recovered
• We have 876 cases in Henrico County, 339 in the City of Richmond, 531 in Chesterfield County and 118 in Hanover County.
• 116 outbreaks in long-term care in Virginia as of this morning.
At today’s Governor’s Task Force Meeting, the following updates were shared:
• The National Guard will be utilized for testing during new outbreaks through Point Prevalence Surveys where 500 individuals can be tested per day. It has been utilized nine times so far in long-term care facilities in Virginia.
• Seven days’ worth of personal protective equipment will go to all Medicare/Medicaid long-term care facilities, including Westminster Canterbury Richmond.
• The Centers for Disease Control will be doing remote assessments of facilities to determine whether they are prepared to respond if an outbreak hits.
• Planning is underway in case of a surge of patients returning to long-term care facilities from the hospital.
Dining
Scott Jonté and the dining leadership team have been anticipating disruption in the food supply chain. They have procured around three to four weeks of meat and poultry and will continue working to ensure we have both adequate supplies and safe products.
No Fence Meetings
Please do not try to meet your family members and friends at the fence or Gatehouse. We are not allowing this because it puts everyone at risk. Please use the Azalea drop off program to receive deliveries.
Anita Adkins
Communications
Our whole organization is working hard to make sure we keep everyone informed – our residents, your family members, employees, our board of Trustees and the broader community. Our Incident Command team meets six days per week regarding our latest policies and procedures related to our COVID-19 response and ongoing changes to operations. The latest news is disseminated through all our channels – our website WCRICHMOND.org, Facebook, Touchtown Community Apps, TV970 and 971, The Tales, written memos, email and more.
To prepare for these weekday live briefings, we collect updates and meet at 2 p.m. to make sure we are clear about what is being shared and what questions are being asked. We go live at 3 p.m. As soon as possible after, we produce a written summary and recording of what was shared. The summary is shared with staff via email, on our blog at WCRICHMOND.org and through Touchtown Community Apps. The video is shared on Facebook and YouTube. On campus, the update recording runs on TV971 on the hour. This constant flow of information helps us keep the latest news available to everyone. Please take advantage of all these ways to stay up-to-date. If you need help accessing Touchtown Community Apps, call IT at ext. 4026 or email help@wcrichmond.org.
A lot of the programming we are accustomed to attending together in person, like chapel services, fitness classes and theater performances, is now available for you to watch on TV970. In yesterday’s Tales, there was a new calendar listing the dates and times of all the programming for the coming week, including new movies, a Frankie Valli Tribute Program, and local favorite musician Susan Greenbaum.
Westminster Canterbury Foundation
Thank you for your generosity during these uncertain times. We are grateful for your gifts to two of our greatest needs right now, the W·E·A·V·E program for employees and the Fellowship Program for seniors-in-need. W·E·A·V·E stands for Workforce – Education – Assistance – Volunteerism – Engagement. Your gifts help our employees throughout the year as they pursue education, volunteer in greater Richmond and especially when they need assistance during emergencies. Thank you for showing your appreciation for our employees with your tax-deductible gifts to this program. You make a big difference in the lives of our employees.
Westminster Canterbury promises every resident that they will never be asked to leave due to an inability to pay through no fault of their own thanks to our Fellowship program for seniors-in-need. Annually, around 110 residents receive financial support through this confidential program that provides housing, meals and medical care. Now, perhaps more than ever, the Fellowship Program is needed to help us keep this promise of security and peace of mind for all residents in these uncertain economic times. Thank you so much for your generous support of this important program.
If you have questions or are interested in making a gift to one of these programs or the area of greatest need, call Anita at ext. 6202. Thank you so much for your care and concern during these times.
Will Blackwell
As we hear news of outbreaks at other facilities in the region, please continue to follow the rules we have in place by staying in your apartment and taking care of yourselves so we can all stay healthy.
On Friday, April 24, 2020, CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) released a memo addressing frequently asked questions. Will shared additional FAQs from the memo that can be found in its entirety here:
https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-28-nh.pdf
Q: What type of health care workers are allowed to enter a nursing home?
A: The CMS memorandum (QSO-20-14-NH (Revised)) states that health care workers who do not work in a nursing home, such as hospice workers, surveyors, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel, or dialysis technicians, should be permitted to come into the facility as long as they meet the CDC guidelines for health care workers. Facilities should screen health care workers based on this CDC guidance with exceptions made for urgent entry to deliver emergency care (e.g., EMS) so they can attend to the emergency without delay. We note that the memorandum does not (and cannot) describe every type of service, person, or scenario that may exist in facilities. There are likely other types of health care workers that can be permitted to enter the facility (e.g., lab technicians, radiology technicians, home health nurses, etc.). However, CMS cannot and should not dictate every situation in which a provider could enter a nursing home, because, again, such decisions should be made by nursing homes in consultation with patients, residents, family members, and the other health care provider.
To determine if a health care worker should enter the facility, facilities should evaluate their residents’ needs, the services needed to meet those needs, and the individuals who provide those services. Facilities should also ensure that the precautions needed to prevent COVID- 19 transmission will be available for any individual that enters the facility (e.g., PPE availability). In other words, there is not a blanket approval for all health care workers to always be allowed to enter. Similarly, CMS has not enacted a blanket ban on any type of health care worker. On a case by case basis, facilities should permit a health care worker to enter by determining if the services they provide are essential to continue, need to be discontinued or postponed, or can be done remotely. Note, due to the risk COVID-19 poses to nursing home residents, we recommend facilities only continue critical services, and only allow individuals who are essential to provide those critical services into the facility.
CMS also encourages the use of telehealth, so residents can be seen virtually by their practitioner. We recently released a nursing home telehealth toolkit that facilities may find helpful.
At Westminster Canterbury, everyone entering campus follows the same process of question and temperature screenings.
Q: Can residents leave the nursing home for an appointment or outside activity?
A: Facilities should consider the necessity of the appointment to the resident’s health, and whether it is critical for the resident to attend the appointment. If the appointment is not critical, it is recommended that the appointment be deferred to a later date or be accomplished virtually, if the resident agrees. Decisions and any concerns about keeping or postponing the appointment should be discussed with the resident, resident representative, and the resident’s physician. If attending the appointment is necessary, the facility should help arrange for the resident to attend the appointment by taking precautions to minimize the risk of transmission of COVID-19 (e.g., giving the resident a surgical mask to wear while attending the appointment). Also, the facility should monitor the resident upon return for fever and signs and symptoms of respiratory infection for 14 days after the outside appointment (preferably in a space dedicated for observation of asymptomatic residents).
With regard to outside activities, the CMS memorandum (QSO-20-14-NH (Revised)) states that facilities should cancel “all group activities such as internal and external group activities.” This means there should be no group activities occurring outside or inside of the building, due to the risk of transmission.
CMS also encourages the use of telehealth, so residents can be seen virtually by their practitioner.
Debra Jacobsen
Transportation to appointments
Residents who live in Independent Living are able to make appointments with our transportation department to go to medical appointments, though they are encouraged to reschedule for a later time if possible. Residents are required to wear a mask and sit behind the driver, who also wears a mask. The resident is taken straight to their appointment and then returned to their apartment. If the appointment is within a hospital, the resident is quarantined for 14 days within their apartment, the same as residents who spend time in the hospital and return straight to Independent Living.
Residents needing to get to the bank or to handle other business matters are also able to utilize transportation services, with all the same precautions. If you would like to use this service, please call the bank to confirm that your transaction is able to be done through the drive-through window.
As a reminder, all parts of the campus are closed to group activities. We are not ready to start discussing when some of these spaces will reopen to resident use as we continue to practice an abundance of caution in keeping everyone safe and healthy. We appreciate your understanding as we stick to these measures.
Absentee Ballot Application – Dual Primary Election – Tuesday, June 23
The Henrico County Voter Registrar has notified us that our district is only hosting a Republican Primary for the upcoming Dual Primary Election scheduled for Tuesday, June 23. If you have already submitted your Absentee Application to vote in the Democratic Primary, you will not receive a ballot. If you would like to participate in the Republican Primary for our district, even though you initially selected Democratic Primary on your application, please notify Residents Services at ext. 6082 or contact Anne Marie Middlesworth at the Henrico Voter Registrar’s Office at (804) 501-4685. Residents who initially applied to vote in the Republican Primary will receive their ballots as planned. We apologize for the inconvenience. The Absentee Ballot Application due date is June 16.
Library Books
You may return library books on Mondays to the return box in the back office. The books will be sanitized and returned to the shelves. Please do not take books from the return box, as we want to make sure they are sanitized first.
Masks
We continue to offer masks for residents. You may request one by calling ext. 6082. Emily Williamson has done a great job managing the distribution of the masks that Sarah Abernathie has collected from volunteers. A big thank you for all involved in this process.
Publix
On Monday, we will begin our Publix grocery ordering process. Please call ext. 6262 to order and refer to this week’s Tales for instructions. We continue with the Monday, Wednesday and Friday drop off from friends and family at Azalea. Many of you have contacted transportation to ask to return items to family members. Please coordinate this with transportation and with your family members. Make sure the day you ask us to return items is the same day that your family member is dropping off. We have taken items for pick up, and then the family member is not there to pick it up. This is creating storage and labor issues for our staff that we can avoid with your support.
Mother’s Day
If family members would like to send flowers or packages for Mother’s Day, there two ways to do so:
• Sending them through ways that are delivered via mail, UPS or FedEx is easiest.
• You may also drop off at Azalea on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1-3 p.m.
FaceTime, Skype and Zoom
For Independent Living residents who would like the opportunity to video chat with your family members, and who do not have iPads or tablets, you can contact the IT department at ext. 4026 to make an appointment. The appointment does need to be initiated by the resident, and then IT will coordinate with your family. This same service is available in Assisted Living and Parsons Health Center through recreation staff.
Pastoral Care
Daily Prayer Booklets are available for the month of May. The booklet contains prayers submitted by some of our resident clergy, as well as suggested scriptures to read and ponder during the day. If you would like a copy please call David Curtis at ext. 5179 or Vanessa Perry at ext. 1502.
Bill Blake
Luke 24:13-16
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
Prayer
In the Words of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “O Jesus, ever with us stay; make all our moments calm and bright; banish the sin of earth, we pray; shed o’re the world thy holy light.” Amen.