May 27, 2020
Good morning from all of us at Pickering Manor….
We wanted to provide you with the latest update as we continue to remain COVID-19-free in our resident population with one employee testing positive more than a month ago. All infection-control measures continue to be in place, and we are continuing to be very cautious as we observe closely the responses from the reopening of areas across the nation. It has been made very clear that nursing facilities will be among the last to reopen to visitors. We have already been considering changes that will remain in place during the Recovery Phase of this pandemic.
The mission of this particular message is not only to share current information with you but to also assure you that we remain committed to the process of transparency. Many questions, including my own stemmed from Pickering Manor not being included in the list of facilities published by the media with Coronavirus data. I have reached out to the Department of Health (DOH) for clarification and have not yet received a response.
We will share with you that we have reported daily to the Department of Health for weeks. There are two other reporting sites, a second one from the DOH that requires daily reporting and one from the CDC requiring at least weekly reporting. Should we have a positive resident, there is yet another DOH site that requires reporting! So, as you can see, there are many areas where data is being collected.
There has also been much conversation regarding the CDC’s recommendation to test the residents and staff weekly. To date, there continues to be an issue surrounding the availability of enough tests to meet the weekly testing recommendation, and just as importantly, the source of funding for all the testing that will be required. We have not made the decision to perform the testing at this point and will continue to assess and monitor as we have done from the beginning.
We are also focused on keeping the residents entertained with Facetime and one-on-one activities with our staff. They receive ‘Room Service’ three times/day! As the weather has become nicer, we are scheduling more and more “porch visits” and I’m hoping that many of you have been able to take advantage of these. We know that as spring turns into summer, being outdoors is important for all of us and we will make sure that as many residents as possible enjoy the fresh air!
In terms of an update on the opening of our new expansion, we continue to wait for the State of PA to reopen. We were within two days of having the needed inspections when the State closed due to COVID-19. I am confident that we are high on the list once the restrictions have lifted. We’re looking forward to introducing and touring all of you as we celebrate that opening, although it will be “quieter” than we had hoped!
In the meantime, we will continue to earn your trust and know that it is a great responsibility that you have shared with us. We are always on the other end of a call or a FaceTime conversation. We continue to miss you too and we hope that we will be able to reunite someday soon.
Michelle
Michelle Knobloch
Chief Executive Officer
Terry
Terry Ziegler
Director of Nursing
