Here at Chehalis West, we believe the health and safety of our residents should guide every decision we make, especially when it comes to infection control. Because of this belief, we are going above and beyond state requirements for COVID safety precautions.
Of course, there is the standards that we all know. Our staff is trained to practice social distancing to the extent possible in this line of work. We also all wear our masks at all times in the facility, and require our residents to mask up every time they leave their room.
All staff, residents, care personnel, and visitors get checked in at the front door by washing their hands, getting their temperature checked, and answering our COVID questionnaire. By using this system, we keep any high-risk individuals out. Residents also have their vital signs recorded every morning so that we can monitor any changes, and act on any symptoms immediately.
Regular hand washing has always been a priority for us, and with the new concerns, we have increased the frequency of washings, as well as added new sanitizer stations throughout the facility. We have also provided each staff member with a clip-on sanitizer container, so that even in the community, they can continue safe practices!
Our housekeepers start every weekday at 6:00am by thoroughly disinfecting all frequently touched surfaces in our communal areas. Throughout the day, housekeeping aides, laundry aides, nurse aides, and kitchen aides continue to regularly disinfect all communal spaces. We have a specific disinfection shift on the weekend, so that we can be sure there is a thorough and focused disinfection of all frequently touched public surfaces seven days a week.
We have arranged our dining room so that residents can enjoy their meals in a community environment, while still maintaining at least 6 feet of space. We also offer in-room dining at the residents request. Likewise, our activities room has been arranged so that we can conduct regular activities while maintaining social distance, and we have scheduled time in the dining room for activities, so that as many people as possible can participate. We have also implemented in-room activities, so that each resident can participate according to their own comfort level.
Our staff has been trained to consider their activities outside of work. We require that they follow all state mandated regulations for COVID control, and we ask that they do not attend functions that might increase their risk for contamination.
At the time of writing this, we have had 4 positive COVID cases in our facility, 3 of them being with employees, and 1 of them being a resident. Because of our safe practices and policies, we were able to contain the positive cases and stop the spread of the virus. We recognize that nobody is immune to the virus, so it is up to us to ensure vigilant actions so that no matter what, we keep our residents safe!
We are always happy to answer questions and concerns by family members and community. Feel free to call us here at (360) 748-9911!