Update from Administrator – May 15, 2020
I hope this finds you all safe and healthy. Thanks again for all the support you have shown the staff at Northwood. We appreciate your patience with this stressful situation.
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 pandemic, Northwood initiated, sometimes at the direction of the Department of Public Health, 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. We conveyed this in weekly email messages to be as transparent as possible, given the state directed visitor restrictions in place.
As you know, this virus has impacted nursing homes at a disproportionately high rate. In Massachusetts, patients and staff have tested positive in 340 centers as of the 14th, which is 89%.
We currently have 2 COVID-19 positive residents but have lost no one to the deadly disease this week. This continues to be a very trying time for our staff and families.
I can now report that 70 previously positive residents are now considered recovered and symptom-free! We have 6 residents that are in quarantine; they have no symptoms and were considered negative on admission but have to remain in quarantine for at least 14 days after admission.
Northwood has had a total of 52 staff that has tested positive and 43 are recovered and have been back to work. Testing of staff is ongoing pursuant to meeting the mandated minimum 90% staff tested by May 25.
Our Therapy and Activity Departments continue to get residents out of the facility for some fresh air. As the weather improves, we hope we will be able to do much more of this.
In accordance with guidance from the state Department of Public Health, we are moving patients with positive results together on the same units to the extent possible. I know how disturbing this is to those of you that have become familiar with the unit your loved one resides on, but moving people together was the guidance we received. We have re-deployed staff to try and keep your loved one seeing familiar faces to the extent that people can be recognized in protective gear. As patients are considered recovered, we are slowly moving them to keep recovered patients and negative patients together in accordance with directives from the Department of Public Health State Epidemiologist.
We continue to be in daily touch with the Department of Public Health and our local Health Department. We also are following all CDC and state 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. It probably goes without saying that more and more is being learned about COVID-19 every day, and we do our best to keep up with it all.
Tim Churchill, Administrator