COVID-19 Family Update

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to take some time to update families on how things are going since our facility initiation of level three visitation precautions in response to the potential threat Covid-19 poses to our resident population. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for their cooperation during this difficult time. Please know that your efforts at social distancing are helping to protect the health and safety of your loved ones as well as the staff that care for them. These are trying times, but we will get through it together. The purpose of these emails is to bring you up to date and hopefully answer some of the questions you may have about our center and more importantly, your loved one. I hope this format accomplishes that moving forward.

Activities Recreation– How your loved one is spending their day

This is something we are adjusting to. The visitor precautions placed on all nursing facilities stipulates that no outside entertainers could perform at our center. Like you, we are also practicing social distancing, as best as we can. Therefore, activities are taking place – but in smaller settings, using social distancing and even throughout hallways. We have implemented mobile activity carts, as well as one on one visits when needed.
Our virtual visits are up and running. We appreciate your patience as we developed this and continue to work on making it the best possible experience. The facility has purchased tablets which staff can utilize to assist residents to access various social media platforms. Please reach out to the Elizabeth Leddy Director of Recreation (401) 849-6600 ext. 2112 to book an appointment.
With your permission, we will post more pictures of your loved ones on our facility Facebook page so you can see them engaged in activities and sharing moments with our staff. For those who do not wish to have pictures posted on social media we can still send these pictures to your phone or email upon request. Please reach out to Jamie Sanford, Director of Social Work to provide authorization to post the picture of your loved one, or request the picture be emailed privately to you (401) 849-6600 ext 2110.

Resident Care:

We are monitoring resident condition by obtaining vital signs each shift along with their O2 saturation level, this is a new CDC recommendation that we have implemented. Residents are also monitored for subtle changes in condition such as increased weakness, confusion, agitation.
Residents with sudden onset of symptoms will be placed on “droplet precautions” until their case can be reviewed.
We are pulling the privacy curtains that go between the 2 beds in our semi-private rooms.
Face masks can be used more than once, based on new CDC

Our Employees

An additional measure was added to an existing procedure below to further ensure for everyone’s health.

At the start of each employee’s shift, they are required to

Sign in
Get their temperature taken.
Have their Oxygen saturation taken: This is a new recommendation from CDC which the facility has implemented.
Answer a series of questions on their health, their recent travel and if they have been in contact with someone known to have COVID-19.

Our employees have been great. We hope you agree with us. They are resilient and compassionate individuals who report to work every day ready to provide care to your loved ones.

Info@ email

An added communication tool we are announcing is our “Info@heatherwoodrhcc.com” email address, which is distributed to several department heads, in case you have general questions for our center.

Moving Forward

Please let us know if there is any other topics that you would like to see covered in future emails.

As I have said before, I would like to personally thank you for your patience since these visitation precautions have been initiated. This is an unprecedented time for all of us and we appreciate the support and kind words of encouragement we have received. We continue to monitor and look to our state and federal governing bodies on updates for Covid-19 in Rhode Island. We appreciate the support we have received from families and the general public. We also appreciate the dedication from our employees under these stressful and uncertain times.

Thank you.

Mark Zamperini LNHA

Administrator

Heatherwood Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center