August 18, 2020
To our Residents and Family Members:
Seneca View Residents Remain COVID-FREE
Shortly after sending out our restricted visitation resumption announcement this past Friday, we learned that a staff person had tested positive for COVID-19 and we had to again postpone the plan. As you likely know, all families were called Friday evening and given a status update. The employee had tested negative the prior week and we are grateful once again that our ongoing weekly testing of staff quickly catches any infected individual so we can isolate and eliminate further risk from our building.
Friday evening we performed tests on the residents from the affected nursing unit and as of this morning all tests have come back negative. The residents remain COVID-19 Free. This staff person only worked on one nursing unit, and all residents and staff tested there have come back negative. This is great news and we continue to test all staff on a weekly basis.
Our staff on the affected unit will be maintaining the highest levels of precaution with full personal protective equipment (PPE) being worn in the presence of the residents for fourteen days following the date of last potential exposure to the infected individual. Once that period of time has elapsed, with no additional cases developing, we will discontinue the use of full PPE. Upon achieving twenty-eight days post exposure with no new cases among staff or residents, the restricted visitation program can again be scheduled.
Navigating this health emergency has been a challenge for all with many ups and downs along the way. At Seneca View one thing has remained consistent – we continue to focus on maintaining the highest level of prevention to keep everyone safe while continuing to provide excellent care and great compassion.
Postponing the visitation program a second time has been a huge disappointment for all of us but necessary to ensure everyone’s safety. We appreciate your support and patience as we work our way through these issues. We will continue to provide you with updates as we move forward.
Please continue to monitor our SCHUYLERHOSPITAL.ORG website, and the Seneca View page, for updates. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our nursing units, our Director of Nursing, or me, at 607-535-8611. If at any time you need, you can reach our State Ombudsman, Trish Chevallard, at 607-274-5492.
My Best Regards,
Patrick Ryan
Administrator