Happy New Year, Arden Place of Grapevine community! I hope everyone had a fun, festive and safe holiday season filled with good food and good company. The year 2020 took us on quite the journey, one in which tested all of us, one where we all came together to get through it as a team. I want to personally thank all of the staff, residents, loved ones and the community for helping us make it through this past year. Looking ahead into the New Year we want to make sure everyone has information regarding visits to our facility so I’d like to take this time to remind everyone of the CMS and health department approved Essential Caregiver Visits.
Per the Texas Health and Human Services website, “residents in any facility (or their legal representative) will be able to designate up to two essential caregivers who will be trained by the facility on PPE use and infection control, and they must meet the testing requirement. Essential caregivers, as defined in the emergency rules, must have a negative COVID-19 test result from a test performed no more than 14 days before the first essential caregiver visit, unless the facility chooses to perform a rapid test prior to entry into the facility.” Essential caregivers will then be allowed to visit the resident in a facility designated area, one at a time, by appointment, provided the resident is not COVID positive, using PPE, being screened, being escorted into and out of the designated area.
Also, we have now been allowed to have residents go out on pass outside of the facility into the community. All residents/family members who would like to do this must call ahead of time to schedule an outing and receive the proper education and paperwork to fill out. At this time, we have not been approved to open our outdoor visits back up just yet.
If you have any further questions or would like to schedule an essential caregiver visit, please reach out to the facility for assistance.
Sincerely,
– Samaria “Sam” Epps, LNFA, MSM, SLPA
Nursing Home Administrator
