Now that we are done with our mass testing, we will begin doing weekly random testing next week that will include all staff and all residents in our licensed areas. As always, we will be sure to let you know if we have any positive cases that come from this ongoing testing.
We have some long awaited news to share with you today. Now that our mass testing is done and we are set up to do random weekly testing, we can move into the first phase of the states reopening plan. This will include starting outdoor visits beginning this weekend. While we will still have to honor the 6’ physical distancing and wear a mask during the visits, it will be great to visit in person. These in-person visits will be in the East/Covell Avenue parking lot at 1121 N Covell Avenue with three different areas set up to be used. Shaded areas will be provided as much as possible. These visits will be from 10:15 to 5:30 Saturdays and Sundays and 1:15 to 5:30 on Wednesdays. We will have scheduled times set up during these hours for 30-minute visits. You can sign up by going to: https://www.dowrummel.com/scheduling/ or calling our front desk at 336-1490 between 9 AM and 5:30 PM to reserve a spot. Please be sure to reference the residents name in the booking when scheduling the appointment. We anticipate there will be a lot of family members and residents who want to do this in the beginning, so for the first few weeks we are asking that you only sign up for 1 visit per resident/family per week so that we can make sure each resident has an opportunity to take advantage of the in person visits. The 3 days and 3 visitor spots will allow us to do 78 visits a week. If we need to add more days, we will certainly try to do that. We will let you know once things slow down so that you can schedule more visits per week if you would like. Visits will be limited to no more than 5 outside family members. Per the guidelines from the Department of Health, these visits will be for family members 12 years of age and older and must stay in their designated visiting area. All visitors will be required to use hand sanitizer upon arrival, pass a health screening, and MUST wear a mask during the visit. We encourage you to bring a mask if you have one but we will have masks available as well. A staff member will be there to do the health screening and assist in getting you set up for your visit.
We are also starting church services again this Sunday in our chapel for the independent living residents and Village South assisted living residents. We will be doing two services on Sundays at 10:30 and 1:30 so that we can have smaller groups gathering with no more than 30 residents at each service. Everyone attending MUST wear a mask and should sign up to be guaranteed a spot to attend one of the services. The sign-up sheets can be found outside the chapel. We are working on other services for Village East and the Health Care Center that will be held in the Worthington Meditation Chapel or in their building.
Some additional great news is that a couple of the beauticians are back at Dow Rummel and providing hair care services for everyone. It will take them a couple weeks to get everyone taken care of but I am sure it will provide a pick me up for all the residents who have needed to have their hair done.
If you are a family member who typically would go with your loved one to doctor appointments, you can do so if you want to meet them at the medical facility. Our transportation will need to continue to provide transportation services for the residents. But you can meet them at the appointment by going through the health screening that is required before going in to the medical facility.
We will keep you informed as we work towards other changes we can make based on the states reopening plan. However, because we are in Minnehaha County our reopening plan will be slower than facilities in other counties with fewer COVID cases. While we have been doing good with the number of new cases per day here in our county, we have a ways to go to get to under 50 current active cases before we can go to the next phase of reopening.
Stay SAFE! Stay WELL!