WOODSTOCK – Since the first COVID-19 cases were reported earlier this year in the U.S., Valley Hi Nursing Home in McHenry County has not had a single resident test positive for coronavirus.
The “resident centered” county-run long-term facility in Woodstock made news because Valley Hi stands out from other similar nursing homes across the country that have not been free of COVID cases. National statistics show 42 percent of COVID deaths have occurred in nursing homes and other long term care facilities.
Valley Hi Nursing Home Administrator Thomas Annarella says that while no residents have tested positive for COVID-19, “we have had a few staff members who tested positive.”
Annarella stresses that the staff members were exposed in the community. “We can attribute the success of not having those staff members bringing it into the building for the same reason we have been able to keep the residents safe,” Annarella said.
Part of the reason Valley Hi has not had an outbreak of COVID-19 is in the way long term care is handled there. Annarella explains that resident-centered or person-centered care is an approach in long term care in which we shift from a medical model to a more homelike model…which is Valley Hi’s approach every day.
“When the outbreak began, we looked at the guidelines and worked within them to create a safe environment with the least amount of impact to the residents. We changed the way we approached dining and activities but we did not stop doing them,” he said.
Other nursing homes note what Valley Hi’s staff is doing such as their solid response plan.
“Part of that plan addresses how we handle employees who have been exposed,” according to Annarella. “When an employee has been exposed either directly or indirectly, there is a protocol that we follow starting with placing them off work,” Annarella said.
The protocol he has Valley Hi follow aims to reduce the potential for an employee to bring the virus into the building.
Annarella said of the main reasons Valley Hi has been successful early, “All our staff and medical partners who work multiple jobs would have to dedicate themselves to us or their other job for the duration of the outbreak.”
The key to lowering the potential for transmission between other health care settings would then be the fact Valley Hi agreed to give them the hours they would be missing at their other employer if they dedicated to Valley Hi.
You may have heard stories or experienced this yourself of how nursing homes and assisted living facilities have kept visitors out, a form of lockdown.
People have had to see their loved ones from the outside looking in, such as they’ve been doing at Valley Hi since July based on CDC guidelines. But Valley Hi has developed tentative plans for a change in approach knowing that if local infection rates were to surge, the plan would likely have to be dropped.
“We are working as hard as we can to make it possible for face-to-face visits once we get into the cold weather months, but the health and safety of our Valley Hi family is our top priority,” Annarella warned.
Nursing homes in the past have had residents with a number of risk factors. The risk factors have included residents with underlying health conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes and the fact most nursing homes have a high percentage of elderly congregating in one building. Nursing home and assisted living administrators are very concerned with taking every precaution they can. Since Valley Hi Nursing Home has followed the lockdown and enhanced infection control procedures, it is beginning to allow for a limited reopening for family visits.
“We are planning on following the same approach as outdoor visitations. This will include having the visits scheduled and the screening of family members. Staff will also continue monitoring the visits to ensure proper safety,” Annarella said.
Valley Hi staff will dedicate space in the building that is not part of the nursing units and they’ll close the fire doors to the nursing units on visitation days as an added layer of protection.
“Families will not be able to go outside of the visitation area, including the resident’s room and the dining rooms. This limited space will allow us to focus cleaning in between visits as well as to limit any exposure to the resident care areas,” Annarella said.
It remains essential that McHenry County residents continue doing their part by wearing masks, practicing physical distancing guidelines and other protections to prevent spreading coronavirus. For their part, staff and medical partners at Valley Hi are tested weekly for COVID-19 in-house.
