November 17, 2020

Dear Wesley Enhanced Living Doylestown Residents, Families and Staff,

Additional Positive Cases of COVID 19

I am writing to share that as of this morning, we have identified 3 more employees who tested positive for COVID 19.  One was identified during our routine surveillance testing in Skilled Nursing and the other two were symptomatic and were tested off site.  Because one employee has worked in both Skilled Nursing and Personal Care in the last 24 hours, as per DOH guidance, we are considering this an outbreak in both locations.  We have quarantined the residents and begun testing in these areas. 

The rapid testing in skilled nursing was completed at approximately 3:15pm and to our dismay, we have identified one resident who is positive. Thankfully this resident is not symptomatic, doing well and their family has been notified.   We have also sent out a specimen for PCR lab testing.  No other residents have tested positive in Skilled Nursing at this time.  Residents residing in Personal Care, along with the staff will be tested tomorrow.

We will continue to repeat testing for staff and residents in Skilled Nursing and Personal Care once per week until the testing identifies no new cases of COVID0-19 among residents or staff through at least 14 days.  Day Zero is the day of test collection, which would be today November 17, 2020.   This means that we will be restricting in person visits in Personal Care and Skilled Nursing through at least December 1, 2020.  Of course, we will continue with window visits and face time visits.   

14 day Quarantine for Persons with Close Contact

Through contact tracing, we have identified residents in Independent Living who had close contact with one of our employees who has tested positive for COVID-19. Close contact is defined as “within 6 feet for a period of 15 minutes or more from the period 48 hours before symptom onset or the positive test.”  These residents have already been contacted by our staff and asked to self-quarantine and monitor symptoms for 14 days.  For any resident in quarantine, our staff will provide daily support for deliveries, trash pick-up etc. to help ease the challenge of quarantine.

IL Visitation and Dining

Although in-person PC and Skilled visitation is restricted at this time, IL visitation will remain open as will the Bistro.  For those who prefer not to eat in the Bistro, take out or delivery is available. The plan, once staffing has resumed to normal levels, is to reopen Heritage House Dining Room.

The Bucks County positivity rate is currently at 9.5%. We monitor the rate weekly and new data is typically available on Saturday mornings.  Please know that if the rate reaches 10% or greater, or we have continued increases in positive staff cases on the campus, or we have residents in Independent Living who test positive, WEL Doylestown will close to all visitors.  IL residents will still have the option to leave campus to shop, go to appointments etc, but will have to sign in and out of the building and screen, as has been the routine for some time.

Family and friends should not visit Doylestown if they do not feel well, have COVID symptoms or exposure and if they do not have a flu vaccine.

Holidays

Residents residing in Independent Living are strongly urged to celebrate the holidays here at WEL Doylestown.  We know everyone longs to be with family, but gatherings in homes and around the dining table are high risk at this time.  We are asking that if you choose to take this risk for yourself to gather with family/friends, that you reduce the risk for others in the WEL DT community by self-quarantining for 14 days after attending a holiday gathering. This would apply immediately thru January 3, 2021.

Please know that our goal for ALL of our residents and staff, is to have life at WEL Doylestown be as normal and social and interactive as possible and we strive to achieve this every day.  This current situation is one that we can and will overcome.  I know that everyone is concerned that we will experience an indefinite “lock down”; this is not our plan nor our intent.  Our goal is to quickly address and handle each situation and then move forward.  We have learned much in the last months, and although we are continuing to learn, we are putting our experience and knowledge into practice. 

We are thinking of all of those impacted by COVID-19 and wishing them a speedy recovery.  Please continue to care for yourselves and others.  Please do not let rumors or concerns fester.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

Thank you for your ongoing support and understanding during this challenging time.

Best Regards,

Maureen

Maureen Casey

Executive Director

WEL Doylestown

mcasey@wel.org