Lewis County Residential Health Care Facility Reopens
for In-Person Visits
Published: June 09, 2021 at
02:00 p.m.
By: Nick
Altmire
Lowville, NY- The Lewis County
Residential Health Care Facility (LCRHCF) reopened to in-person visits on
Tuesday, after completing the required 14-day period with no new positive test
results for COVID-19 for staff or residents.
The facility was
closed to in-person visits on May 18th, when it was announced
that two staff members had tested positive for COVID-19. On May 24th,
an additional staff member tested positive for COVID-19, resetting the
14-day requirement of no positive test results for visits to resume.
On Monday, family
members of residents were notified via a broadblast
alert from the facility that, with no new cases reported, visitation would
resume on Tuesday.
On Tuesday,
LCRHCF was notified that two staff members on the
second floor were diagnosed with scabies. If your loved one was affected
and needs precautionary treatment you will be notified by facility staff,
according to a broadblast alert from the facility.
The first floor has already received treatment, and they will be treating
residents affected on the second floor today, the fourth floor on Thursday,
and the third floor on Friday, as a precautionary measure. The facility
reports that the affected staff members wore appropriate personal
protective equipment, so this means they do not have to close for in-person
visitation as a result of the scabies cases.
However, when visiting a loved one, all visitors will be required to wear appropriate
personal protective equipment, including gloves, a gown, and a facility
issued face mask.
Once all
residents and staff receive treatment, visitors will no longer have to wear
gloves and gowns. Due to
COVID-19,
facility issued masks will still need to be worn at all
times, per New York State Department of
Health
guidelines.
If you are
planning on visiting a resident at the LCRHCF, note the following
visitation guidelines:
·
Visitors must adhere to the core principles of
COVID-19 infection control, which include appropriate personal protective equipment,
a facility-issued mask, 6-foot physical distancing, and hand hygiene.
·
Visitors are not required to have a COVID test and do
not need to schedule a visit. There are no age limitations for visitors.
Also, while there are no restrictions on the time you can spend with your
loved ones, we ask that you consider not visiting the residents during
mealtimes. Visits during mealtime should be limited to those visitors
involved in a scheduled feeding program.
·
Visits should occur in the resident's room. If your
loved one has a roommate who already has a visitor, you may use the
visitation room set up on your loved one's floor or the vestibule area near
the elevators. There is no restriction to the number of visitors; however,
you must maintain the six-foot social distance requirement for indoor
visits. We encourage larger groups to consider visiting outdoors.
·
For contract tracing purposes, all visitors must also
sign in and out for every visit.
The full
visitation guidelines are posted on the Residential
Health Care Facility page of the Lewis County
Health System website. Please review the updated guidelines
before your visit.
|