Dear Residents, Families and Employees:

We are nearing the end of our second round of visits with health center and personal care residents.  From a strictly clinical perspective, these visits have gone very well, again.  Thank you for your help in making this happen.  I do want to say how sorry I am that these visits must continue to be so cold and sterile.  If there was a way to change that, we would.  It is heartbreaking that you have to visit in such a fashion. 

Our next visits will be scheduled for the weeks of November 2 and November 9.  We will then be scheduling visits for the weeks of December 14, December 21 and into the week of December 28. 

As you know, we will be requiring proof of flu vaccination for all visitors beginning October 1.  Regardless of your purpose for a visit, if you are coming for a compassionate visit or you are visiting during the scheduled visiting period, you will need a certificate of flu vaccination.  The flu certificate MUST contain the following information:

  • Lot #
  • Expiration Date
  • Physician’s letterhead or order pad with name and address, OR CVS, Walgreen’s, etc. certificate
  • Signature of person administering the vaccine

We are not mandating that you get a flu vaccine – we cannot mandate that.  We are stating that without the certificate you may not enter the community to visit.

CMS recommendations for COVID testing are based on the “positivity” rate for the county that we are located in; further they recommend that if the county is medium or high for positivity, COVID testing for visitors should be occurring.  The good news is, Philadelphia County is low and we will not be requiring the COVID test as long as the county remains low.  I check the positivity rates weekly, as this is also the basis for testing our staff routinely.  We must do monthly tests of health center staff if the positivity rate is low.  We just finished up that testing on September 30 with only a few pending tests.  All tests results reported are negative. 

The Fireside Dining Room scheduled re-opening date is set for Monday, October 19.  There will be two primary times for seating.  Half of the first seating will be escorted to the tables at 4:00 and the second half of the first seating will be escorted to the table at 4:15 p.m.  The second seating will be split in half and escorted to tables at 5:15 and 5:30 p.m.   Independent residents will be receiving a memo outlining the “rules” that must be followed for dining. 

For those independent residents who are uncomfortable with the thought of dining in the Fireside Dining Room, we will continue to offer room service and it will be delivered at 3:30 p.m.  We will continue room service at no charge for a period of 30 days.  Effective November 19, 2020, we will begin to charge the daily rate for room service for those who do not come to the Fireside Dining Room. 

Just a reminder to independent residents, the Wellness Nurse is here to check on you if you are sick, have an incident, do not come to dinner due to illness, and similar issues.  The Wellness Nurse is not here to call the pharmacy to refill prescriptions, or make physician appointments for you, or “clerical” type tasks.  They are here for your wellness.  You are responsible to call your doctor, they will not discuss yoru private medical information with the staff here. 

Flu shots for health center and personal care residents will begin the week of October 5.  Dr. Farooq will begin administering flu shots to her independent residents in the very near future, as well.  If you are an independent resident and you are not a patient of Dr. Farooq, you will need to make arrangements for your flu vaccine through your physician’s office or one of the public venues where flu shots are administered.  We will not be providing flu shots to independent residents. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us with your questions or concerns.  You can send me an email directly at the address herein.