PEAK RESOURCES RESIDENTS/REPRESENTATIVES AND FAMILY MEMBERS
We know many of you are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 and how it may impact our Peak Resources’ facilities. Ensuring residents are cared for in a safe and healthy environment is our first priority. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with state and local health departments have recommended a variety of steps that we are implementing to help reduce the potential for the virus to enter our building and/or to prevent or reduce the risk of transmission.
- Visitation, communal dining and group activities may be restricted per CMS/CDC guidelines
- Screening all visitors who enter the facility (including staff) for COVID-19 status, close contact, and symptoms of COVID-19
- Exercising proper hand hygiene and cough/sneeze etiquette
- Hand hygiene products are available, such as alcohol-based hand sanitizer
- All who enter the facility are may be required to wear a well-fitting face mask over mouth and nose
- Residents may be required to wear a face covering if exiting their room for any reason, if able
- Residents may be required to cover their mouth and nose when staff enter the room
- Isolation units established for confirmed cases of COVID-19, if necessary
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) provided per guidelines
- Cleaning of facility, resident rooms, and equipment completed per CDC recommended guidelines
- Staff/resident training on infection control policies/procedures
- COVID vaccines are offered to residents and staff and highly encouraged for visitors
RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE AND FAMILY NOTIFICATION:
If your loved one is diagnosed with COVID-19, if required, you will be notified by telephone. The number of cases will be posted at the entrance to the facility, or you may call the facility at anytime to inquire about active cases.
If you are COVID-19 positive, have symptoms of COVID-19, or have had close contact with anyone with COVID-19, you should defer your visit to the facility for 10 days.
Our facilities encourage visits from families and friends. We have an open-door policy regarding visitation, which means you can have visitors whenever it is convenient for you. Visitors are required to sign in and out at the receptionist desk. If a resident is planning to leave the premises, they must let their nurse know and sign out and sign back in when they return. Doors are locked at night for security reasons. Residents may refuse to allow an individual to visit.
Our facilities may also restrict visits when ordered by the attending physician, for infection control or medical purposes, during disasters or other emergencies or when a certain visitor causes disruption to residents or staff. Visitors will be notified by facility staff for any change in normal visitation procedures.
Effective June 27, 2022, the NC General Assembly and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services outlined visitation protocols for nursing homes and adult care facilities, in accordance with Clifford’s Law. This law establishes requirements for visitation in NC Nursing Homes and Adult Care Facilities during a disaster or emergency that impacts a facility’s normal visitation.
Visitation under these protocols shall be subject to directives issued by Executive Order, Secretarial Order, or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services directives and to the guidelines, conditions, and limitations established by the facility as part of its normal visitation policy.
The requirements of this law are as follows:
Clifford’s Law Visitation Protocols: If there is a disaster declaration or emergency that has an impact on the facility’s normal visitation:
- Each resident shall have the right to designate one preapproved visitor and one preapproved alternate visitor.
- The preapproved visitor, or the preapproved alternate visitor, shall be allowed to visit the resident at least twice per month during any period during which the facility’s normal visitation policy is suspended.
- If the resident lacks the capacity to make a designation as determined by his/her attending physician then the authority to designate a preapproved visitor, or preapproved alternative visitor, shall default to his/her legal guardian, power of attorney, or responsible party of record.
The visitation plan and procedures for Clifford’s Law Visitation Protocols includes the following:
- Facilities will assure that the principles of infection prevention will be followed including requirements for masking and other personal protective equipment during visitation.
- If an identified visitor refuses to follow requirements of infection prevention, the visitor will be excluded from visitation. The facility must maintain documentation of the individual who does not comply with policies.
- If a visitor has signs or symptoms of a communicable condition that poses a risk to residents or staff or is unable or unwilling to adhere to the principles of infection prevention, in consultation with the local health department as necessary, the visitor will be excluded from visitation. Designation of an indoor and/or outdoor visitation area.
