News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
As the pandemic continues, some assisted living facilities statewide are struggling to keep COVID-19 out.
Overton County Health and Rehab Public Information Officer Scott Stevens said the facility has implemented extra safety precautions on top of CDC guidelines to prevent the virus entering.
“We don’t allow any visitors, we don’t allow deliveries in our building, the only that can come in is our staff,” Stevens said. “Starting about a month ago, we do mandatory staff COVID testing every Monday. We get the results back this week in a day. We have had no staff members test positive, so we do all the precautions that they’ve put out, plus we’ve added some of our own.”
Stevens said although adding extra precautionary steps to the workday has been challenging, it has paid off. He said he hopes as cases increase people will begin to build an immunity toward the virus.
Other safety precautions the assisted living facility has implemented include staff checking temperatures upon entry at a thermometer kiosk, fill a questionnaire asking where the staff member has been, mandatory face masks and face shields, and frequent hand washing. Stevens said all visitations are done virtually.
“A family just calls us and says ‘hey, I’d like to visit with my loved one’ and we’ll get them on the app and let them see each other,” Stevens said. “We set it up in a private area so that nobody’s around listening like a private visit. It’s been working very well and all the families, they like [to] check in on them and make sure [they know] ‘we’re not forgetting about you, we’re still here for you.'”
So far the biggest challenge Stevens said for the facility lately is keeping patients from getting bored. Socially distanced bingo and remote controlled car derbies are some of the creative games the activities board has come up with.
