January 6, 2022
Dear Residents and Family Members,
Today I have more to write about than I had ever hoped for. Before I share the positive staff cases that we are experiencing, I want to state that we have and continue to do contact tracing. In addition, we have notified all mandated regulatory agencies. And lastly, we continue to follow CDC guidelines for employees returning to work.
Additionally, and I am asking this with every hope that you will hear my request, if a resident must leave the campus with a family member, and hopefully only for a medical appointment, it is only fair to ask families to test before taking the resident out of the building. We have already had multiple situations where a resident went to a family member’s home and returned only to have COVID-19 within days. We ask families to test out of an obligation to themselves, their loved ones, and the hundreds of residents and staff on the campus. We have had recent resident cases, and this is how the virus came into the building.
On that note, we understand that there are residents celebrating birthdays and/or other special events in the coming weeks. Please, we ask that you not leave the building and that families not come to the building. This is a very critical time on our campus, and we have to all work together.
Below is a lot of information, and you may have questions. We continue to share in this detail so that you are fully informed. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to any member of our management team. We are all here and readily available.
Today we must report 15 employees who have tested positive for the COVID-19 Virus.
We will get through this together. Our team is strong and many of us are learning just how much more we can do than we ever imagined. We know you join us in sending healing prayers to our many employees who are home recovering.
With much gratitude,
Pam Ferris
President and CEO
The Melvin Garb Foundation Presidential Chair