Sunday, March 29, 7 PM
On Friday, we notified all resident families of the following adjustments to our health and safety precautions:
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All direct care staff, nurses, care providers, and healthcare specialists are wearing face masks whenever they are tending to residents. This is to maintain a virus-free environment and to ward off any opportunity for spread. When personal protective equipment (PPE) is worn, staff are being trained for donning and doffing processes. Environmental services who must perform services within each of our communities are also training and wearing protective face masks.
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At Charles Morris Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, we are keeping the residents from congregating during meals and are serving meals on trays in their rooms. On our memory care units, we have identified multiple locations for meals so that social distancing can be maintained while assuring resident safety measures while eating. We have converted from serving meals on regular dishes to using the same packaging we have for our Mollie’s Meals food delivery service. This means switching to paper serving products and plastic utensils, all easily disposable after each meal, ensuring even more safety for residents. Serving using paper products has been the norm at Weinberg Terrace since restrictions began and now Charles Morris, Weinberg Village and AHAVA have changed over to paper and plastic dining products as well. Feedback from residents has been positive as food is fresh, warm, and nutritious. We assure everyone these are freshly made kosher meals, prepared by the same dietary staff and under strict kosher guidelines to which JAA has always adhered.
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Our laundry service, Clean Care, has announced it is closing its hospitality plant. Clean Care and JAA both assure you that the laundering of our residents’ personal items will continue despite this closure. Clothes will be delivered as they always have, hygienically clean and fresh, the only difference being with pressing. Clothes may be a bit wrinkled but we accept that as the nature of things right now. Pressing will return to its previous levels as soon as the threat of the virus has ended.
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We have become more aggessive as we screen everyone who enters our buildings. This has been and remains a priority. Beginning Wednesday, March 25, we upgraded our screening processes, posting both security and a staff person at the doors during peak entry times to confirm that everyone coming in:
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has his or her temperature taken and recorded
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answers questions about symptoms and travel history
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and, for nurses and care staff, is provided a new package of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the beginning of each shift
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We remind everyone that we continue to monitor and react to department of health guidance and what we observe in each of our communities, being sure we upgrade practices quickly, carefully, and aggressively.