Assisted Living Resident Safeguards Strengthened For Coronavirus

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — Assisted living communities across the country are rushing to make preparations to protect their residents from the coronavirus, or COVID-19, given the devastating impact it could have on facilities where residents may have compromised immune systems or respiratory issues. Officials at Poet’s Walk Fredericksburg, a memory care assisted living facility, have dedicated much of their time in recent days and weeks to learning about the coronavirus and implementing measures to protect their residents.

Poet’s Walk Fredericksburg officials are attending webinars held by the National Association of Assisting Living and meeting with officials from Poet's Walk communities across the country to get the most up-to-date information on controlling the spread of the coronavirus at their facility. Poet's Walk, managed by Spring Hills Senior Communities, has eight facilities across the country, including facilities in Fredericksburg, Warrenton and Leesburg.

"During the last 48 hours, that’s all we’ve done," Diana Marks, executive director of Poet’s Walk Fredericksburg, told Patch in an interview Wednesday, referring to webinars and company-wide briefings.

Even before the coronavirus began to spread, the Poet's Walk Fredericksburg community was already experiencing a bad flu season. But only nine out of the 70 residents were affected by the flu due to the measures taken to contain the spread. Among its practices, Poet's Walk Fredericksburg keeps residents who are showing any symptons quarantined in their rooms and cleans door knobs and handrails several times a day.

"We’re just putting those efforts to prevent the spread of the flu on steroids for the coronavirus," Marks said.

An outbreak of coronavirus at a nursing home near Seattle is prompting calls for precautionary measures at assisted living facilities. The emergence of the coronavirus at the Life Care Center of Kirkland, Washington, has left four residents dead and others hospitalized.

Poet's Walk Fredericksburg, at 3020 Gordon Shleton Blvd., is communicating with family members to ease their fears about their loved ones in the facility and making sure people — family members, vendors and staff members — do not visit the facility if they are feeling sick or have flu-like symptons, Marks said.

The new coronavirus, COVID-19, is a respiratory illness first identified in an outbreak in the city of Wuhan in China's Hubei province. Caused by a novel coronavirus, the respiratory illness can be spread from person to person. According to the Centers for Disease Control, it is thought to be spread between people in close contact with another through droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

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On Wednesday, Gov. Ralph Northam and Virginia officials detailed how the state is executing preparations for the coronavirus. Currently, there are no reported cases of COVID-19 in Virginia, although three potential cases of coronavirus are pending testing with the Virginia Department of Health.

COVID-19 can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth, including when someone coughs or sneezes. These droplets may land on objects and surfaces. Other people may contract the virus by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.

With a large popular population of retired people, health officials in Florida are paying particular attention to the state's nursing homes and assisted living communities.

"If you look at how this virus has unfolded, folks who are middle aged, younger, healthy, tend to weather it fine," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday. "It tends to have a most deleterious effect on people that have either underlying health conditions, or that are elderly. We believe that that's a priority, and they are going to be working with those facilities to ensure that their residents are protected."

Residents at the Poet's Walk Fredericksburg facility remain in the community except when they may leave for a special family occasion or a doctor's appointment. "Any exposure is going to come from visitors, vendors or staff," Marks explained "That’s the biggest thing that we need to educate people on. Having a loved one in a facility, people feel like they need to come in and check on them. If they are experiencing any symptoms, we would better off if they don’t do that because that’s how it gets spread among residents."

As the coronavirus has emerged in the United States, Poet's Walk Fredericksburg has started screening visitors. "We’re asking them whether they have been traveling or experiencing any respiratory symptons. And if they have, we are asking them not to visit for up to a two-week period," Marks said.

Poet's Walk Fredericksburg is intending to reach out to the City of Fredericksburg to see if they have any further recommendations for preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

The facility also is working closely with the Virginia Department of Health. If a resident shows any symptons at all, the facility immediately calls the Department of Health and starts an infection control log so that it can monitor staff and residents that have any complaints or symptons.