Health and Safety of Patients and Staff During COVID-19 Risk

Salude is being proactive to address the current COVID-19 risk to persons who reside, visit and work in a healthcare facility. Infection prevention and control is always a top priority, and as a result our nursing team already has infection prevention and control training. We fully understand the national healthcare concerns related to COVID-19, and we take it seriously.

We have a plan to coordinate with our county health department to address any concerns, and we adhere to the infection prevention and control guidelines and recommendations issued by the CDC and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Similar to the precautions that are being taken across the country in our industry, we have an internal task force and are actively educating and equipping our team to implement multiple available precautionary measures in an effort to help maintain the health and safety our patients and staff.

In accordance with state and national long-term care healthcare recommendations, we are currently restricting visitors to essential personnel. We have notified our families and will update them on any significant developments. Essential personnel are being screened using a detailed questionnaire and non-invasive assessments.

Our heartfelt thoughts go out to anyone affected at this time.

To learn more about our COVID-19 and infection prevention and control measures please see the materials below. Note: this is only a representative sample of our comprehensive and proactive approach to address the risk of infections. We are providing this information to inform the public and the communities we serve. Individual circumstances may vary and will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

At this time, Salude is taking several steps to support the health and safety of our patients and staff. Some of the actions we are taking include implementation of the following:

• CMS and CDC Guidelines and Instructions
• Monitoring all employees, including temperature recordings; employees are obligated to report signs/symptoms that develop as well as relevant exposure and travel history
• CMS guidelines for visitors: restricting all visitors with the exception of essential personnel; essential personnel undergo CDC and CMS recommended screening requirements.
• COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control Manual
  • Our manual includes Emergency Preparations Plan with a Pandemic Response Plan
  • Includes guidance for addressing suspected and confirmed COVID-19 infections
• CDC Signage for hygiene and hand-washing instructions, CDC recommendations for COVID-19 precautions, infection prevention and control, and advisories to visitors
• Screening competencies, check lists, resources
• Letters and notifications to employees and families
• Respiratory check list
• Telemedicine virtual screening
• CMS’s infection control critical element pathways
• New patient admissions and referral sources