COVID-19 Letter from Administrator – 4/13/20
4/13/20
I hope this finds you all safe and healthy.
First, thank you for all the support you have shown the staff at Orchard View over the past several weeks. I know this is a very stressful time for everyone. The kind words of support have been incredibly uplifting to our staff.
We wanted to take this opportunity to offer you an update on the state of care here at Orchard View. This pandemic has been an incredibly challenging time, and we are working every day to ensure that we provide the safest possible care for our patients. At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Orchard View initiated a series of protections aimed at mitigating the threat of coronavirus at our center. These included restricting visitors to our buildings, dramatically increasing the cleaning and infection control measures, taking the temperature of anyone who entered the facility, and increasing the monitoring of all residents at every shift.
At this time, the virus has impacted more than a dozen nursing homes and senior communities across Rhode Island. Sadly, Orchard View has been significantly impacted. The State of Rhode Island has conducted extensive testing on our residents and we have been informed that more than 80 of our residents have now tested positive. We are devastated that patients in our care have contracted this virus. We are doing all we can to treat them and our thoughts are with those patients inflicted with this virus and their loved ones.
We are also doing all we can to protect our other residents. We are conducting cleanings and infection control measures multiple times per day, with extra care on high touch areas. We are limiting the number of staff going into resident rooms to only direct care staff. And we are monitoring our personal protective equipment – and request additional equipment from the state – to ensure our staff has the protection they need to keep them and residents safe.
We are in daily touch with the Department of Public Health and our local Health Department. We also are following all CDC and state of Rhode Island guidelines, and receive regular updates on new guidelines that are offered. This information is shared with our staff and additional training is continually taking place.
We understand how difficult this situation is and how isolated you must feel from your loved one. Our team wants you to know we are doing all we can to keep our residents healthy and safe.
We encourage any residents and family members to contact NAME NUMBER with any questions they have about the care we are offering. Our commitment is to be as transparent as possible and work to address any issues that arise. This is an incredibly challenging time and we will continue to do all we can to get through this, together.
Thank you.