As the COVID vaccine becomes more available and Park Manor staff and residents receive their second vaccine on February 9th, many residents and family members ask us if things will return to “normal” soon. The quick answer to that question is probably not. Our contact with health officials at the federal and state government levels tell us it could be months before our daily activities at Park Manor are the same as they were pre-COVID. Until the majority of the population in the United States gets vaccinated and the level of COVID infections slow down, the risk of infection or reinfection for those at high risk (senior citizens, individuals with chronic health conditions) is still high. While the vaccine provides high levels of immunity, it is not 100%. We are hopeful that as COVID in Price County starts to subside, Park Manor will be able to get past our outbreak status and open up for limited visiting again. Social distancing, masks, temperature checks and routine hand washing will be part of our days even after visiting begins again!
As a result of routine testing this week, we identified an office staff employee that was COVID positive. Because of this employee’s limited exposure to residents, we did not have to initiate or extend resident quarantine. There were no residents with positive COVID test results! As of today, we have one resident who still resides in our COVID quarantine unit and one second floor wing that is still in precautionary quarantine. All other areas of the building are open for business!
Until our outbreak is over, we will continue with our COVID-19 infection control processes to minimize the risk of any further spread of COVID-19 to our residents and staff. These include daily health screening of all staff, enhanced cleaning, use of PPE by all staff and residents, extra resident symptom screening, increased hand washing/sanitizing, social distancing of residents during activities and limited visiting. Our twice per week COVID testing will continue until Park Manor has 14 days with no positive tests. The county positive test rate this week is down to 6.1% so we are headed in the right direction again!
While routine resident visits are still prohibited due to the COVID pandemic, with the moderate winter weather we encourage family and friends to continue with window visits or social media visits. We are also able to provide limited compassionate care visits for residents. Contact Park Manor activities department to schedule a window or social media visit or Georgiana Fischer, social worker, if you would like to be considered for a compassionate care visit.
Please feel free to contact Park Manor administration should you have any questions. Also, continue to watch for routine updates at www.parkmanorwi.com or our Facebook page Park Manor Ltd
