The Cliffs at Eagle Rock Customized/Amended Outbreak Plan to include Covid-19 Testing, Lesson Learned from Response to and Experience with Covid-19 and Strategy for Effective Communication with Staff, Patients/Residents, their Families, or Guardians about any Infectious Disease Outbreaks.
The Cliffs at Eagle Rock will implement the following protocols and strictly adhere to prevent and combat the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) and/or any infections disease outbreak:
To secure complete and sufficient stocks of PPE’s ie. Gowns, surgical masks, gloves, hair and shoe protectors, face shields, and N95.
To secure EPA Registered disinfectants effective against Coronavirus (Covid-19) in stocks with more than enough to use for the next 6 months and re-order to always maintain supply,
To in-service all on the staff the proper wearing of PPE’s and handwashing.
To sanitize the whole building twice a day every day and give more emphasis to common areas and residents’ rooms.
To thoroughly screen all staff and essential outside workers who will be coming in and out of our facility including body temperature.
To isolate the residents in their rooms if needed if there is a confirmed exposure of Covid-19 among the residents or staff or outbreak of Covid-19 in the geographical area.
To close the facility to visitors and non-essential workers.
To secure testing kits and collaborate with laboratories for faster and accurate results.
To Provide testing to all the staff and our residents, outside agency staff including essential workers coming in and out of our facility on a regular basis, i.e. hospice nurses and aides and fox rehabilitation workers.
To follow the testing procedures outlined by the Department of Health under Executive Directive no. 20-013
To identify the staff and other essential outside workers who may be exposed to Covid-19, to stop cross-contamination of the staffs who are identified working with another facility with Covid-19 cases by discontinuing to work at The Cliffs until their workplace is Covid-19 free. The following measures should be followed before resuming work at The Cliffs and until the Covid-19 restrictions are discontinued: a. Weekly Covid-19 test. b. Rigid daily screening before entering our campus. c. Avoid change of care assignments if possible, for the identified staff. d. Identified staffs should report to the Administrator or Director of Nursing if there are new cases of Covid-19 in their other workplace.
To utilize outside staffing agencies which agree to send us staffing supplement only workers work exclusively for our residents. This is to avoid short staffing in the event that our regular staff will be quarantined and tested positive for the virus.
To prepare cohort areas between Covid-19 and non-Covid-19. Our second floor is exclusive for Non-Covid-19 and the 1st floor including our Dementia Wing is exclusive for Covid-19 cases and adjusts the relative capacities as needed.
To identify Covid-19 staff workers and Non-Covid-19 staff workers to avoid cross-contamination of care. No staff who tested positive can return to work until the staff gets retested negative and cleared by a physician.
To identify and to send out Covid-19 positive residents to hospitals or rehabilitation who require immediate medical attention that could not be provided by our facility.
To educate staff or travel advisory and to comply with protocols before returning to work in compliance with CDC and DOH guidelines
To execute and strictly observe a 14-day isolation /quarantine period for admission and readmission of residents with caregiver/PDA (private duty aide) as needed within a 14-day period. However, when there is an actual outbreak in the facility, a 1:1 exclusive caregiver/PDA can only work for a confirmed covid19 positive resident or quarantined resident.
To require admission and readmission of residents to undergo the Covid-19 test.
To strictly comply with outdoor visitation guidelines as outlined by the Department of Health.
To update/ educate the staff, residents, their families or guardians no less than once a week regarding any infectious disease outbreaks.
To establish better, clear, and effective communication with the residents’ families, guardians, and the public by updating our facility’s website at least once a week regarding any infectious disease outbreaks. The facility will prominently display on our website and/ or social media platforms a phone number or method of communication for urgent calls or complaints to be directed to senior staff.
To establish methods to communicate information on mitigating actions implemented by the facility in order to prevent or reduce the risk of transmission, which shall include information regarding any changes to normal operations and furthermore to scrupulously avoid personally identifiable information.
To establish methods to provide cumulative updates for residents, their representatives, and families of those residing in the facilities at least once weekly, in particular during a curtailed visitation period.
To continue to implement all our effective interventions and all our actual experiences to control and combat any infectious disease outbreaks.