Dear Residents, Representatives, and Families:
June 26, 2020
Dear Residents, Families, and Representatives:
It is hard to believe how much time has passed since the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest and life changed for us all. On behalf of everyone here at Evergreen, we so appreciate your support, kind words of encouragement, those of you who made the beautiful masks and sent to us, and your patience as we’ve all gone through this together.
The Virginia Dept. of Health published guidance for phased re-opening of Virginia nursing facilities on June 19, 2020, with revisions on June 24, 2020. The re-opening guidance published in these documents address nursing facilities only and should not be confused with the phases of community reopening that have been occurring.
The guidance calls for reopening in three phases, with certain criteria that have to be met before attesting to and moving to the next phase. We currently are working on completing all the criteria in Phase One. Baseline COVID-19 testing of all residents and staff has to be completed in this phase. That testing will occur here at Evergreen in July. We will be notifying you by phone to let you know when that testing is scheduled. We will have to conduct two additional weekly tests after the baseline one before we know if we can move into Phase Two. Consideration of allowing visitors back into the facility will not occur until Phase Three. There is no way to predict at this point when that might be. We will continue to provide Zoom video calls and allow window visits where possible. Thank you in advance for your continued patience. We will continue to take every precaution we have been with monitoring and screening for signs and symptoms of any resident or staff member on a daily basis. We continue to have had no resident or staff diagnosed with COVID-19. We do have some concerns about the reopening because we – staff, residents, and families alike, have all worked hard and given up much to keep us all safe. Please know that scrutiny and caution will continue to guide us in our decisions as we enter this re-opening phase. We will keep you updated. Should you have questions please feel free to reach out to us.
Stay well and stay safe,
Ramona Ringstaff
Administrator
