Dear Village at Belmar Community,
We are pleased to let you know that preparations have begun as we gear up to begin allowing indoor visitation at our community. In our last update letter, we advised all of you on the draft guidance that was sent out regarding indoor visits. The final guidance has now been issued and they have given more flexibility to the testing time period between test result and when the visit in conducted.
This guidance came out from Governor Polis, through the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment and stipulates the criteria that must be met in order to begin these visits. It is based on county statistics. The guidance states that the community is permitted to begin doing indoor visitation if five criteria are met; 1) two rounds of baseline testing of all residents and associates, 2) the community must conduct weekly associate surveillance testing, 3) the community cannot be in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak, 4) the community must have an adequate supply of PPE, and 5) the visitor/family member must be tested and receive results and have their visit within a 48-hour time period.
We plan to begin all resident baseline testing this week and will conduct all associate baseline testing next week. Once this is complete, we will need to do a second round after 10 days. Indoor visitation may commence once the two rounds are complete. We are meeting as a home office team this coming Friday with our Medical Consultant, Dr. Gagandeep Singh, to establish our policies & procedures and protocols for this and will be sending out additional communication. We are fortunate to still be experiencing good weather which will allow for comfortable outdoor visitation to continue as we work through the requirements to allow for indoor visitation.
Please note that if a resident or associate has a positive result during surveillance testing or as a result of our weekly testing, indoor visitation would not be able to begin or would have to be discontinued for a period of time.
Plans are continuing for the re-opening of the Independent Living and Assisted Living Dining Rooms. Communication will be coming out in the next week from the Culinary team outlining this plan as well as when it will go into effect. The dining room will be open for all three meals with required social distancing, two assigned seatings with heightened sanitization between seatings, and proper personal protection equipment. Small group activities with social distancing will also commence in the coming week. We are very much looking forward to getting our residents out of their suites and have the opportunity for increased socialization!
We continue to not have any other COVID-19 symptomatic residents or associates as of the time of this letter. As a reminder, it is imperative that any family members/loved ones who may be experiencing symptoms refrain from visiting. We ask that if you experience any symptoms and have recently participated in an outdoor visit, or if you are made aware of a known exposure, that you notify the community immediately. Additionally, residents are only permitted to be taken out of the community for physician appointments. If a resident is taken out for any other reason or if another trip is combined with a physician visit, the resident will be required to isolate in their apartment for 14 days. We appreciate your cooperation with this.
If you have any further questions, please reach out to Village at Belmar’s Interim Executive Director, Jeanne Barnard, the Vice President of Operations for Ascent Living Communities.
Sincerely,
Tom & Susie Finley – Founder and Principal
