At Cerenity Senior Care, our priority is to maintain the health, wellness and safety of our residents, tenants and associates. Our Communities are ready and prepared for emergencies and unexpected events—like Coronavirus and other infectious diseases—and we have plans in place. Our Communities follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and protocols to maintain a safe and healthy environment. Our associates are trained in infection control practices and follow the established protocols based on that training.
The current COVID-19 outbreak situation means that it is critical that we take every precaution possible to prevent this virus from entering our Community. While we do not have any cases of coronavirus in our communities at this time, we are asking visitors to refrain from visiting. There is a risk that people who appear healthy will enter nursing homes and infect residents. Studies of past viral epidemics where recommending prevention was delayed were not effective. So we are asking people now to limit their visits to our Communities and encouraging family members to stay in touch via phone or other means. Also to reduce exposure, we will not be scheduling activities out into the community or holding large group activities within our community. Please know that any visiting or activity restrictions are made to safeguard the health and wellness of our residents.
In addition to these precautions, we are also closely monitoring all our residents for respiratory symptoms and/or fever. We have also enhanced our cleaning and disinfecting and are actively sharing information with our residents, their families and associates.
We are also asking all – residents, visitors and associates – to take extra care and use the following “best practice” infection prevention strategies every day:
- Wash your hands frequently (20 seconds of really washing well with soap and water (Sing “Happy Birthday” twice). Using alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol is also acceptable.
- Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze with a tissue or into your sleeve, and then throw the tissue in the trash.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
- Stay home and get medical attention if you are feeling sick. Particularly, if you are ill or have recently traveled from an area where coronavirus has been found, please refrain from visiting at any senior living community at this time. When out in public, maintain a “social distance” – stay a minimum of 6 feet from anyone who displays respiratory symptoms.
Benedictine has an internal interdisciplinary team with a certified infection control specialist that is closely monitoring the latest information from the local State Departments of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the World Health Organization (WHO). They are working with state and local public health and emergency preparedness officials to strengthen our preparations.
As always, our goal is to provide a safe and healthy environment our residents to live fully and live well and for our associates to work.
For ongoing updates visit the Centers for Disease Control’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) website.