Covid-19 News #17
Newsletter #17 – Monday, 13th July 2020
We remain at Implementation Level Two for both Homes and HomeCare with no Symptomatic Residents, Clients or Staff.
Garden Visits and Post-Summer Visiting
The Garden Visits have proved popular in both Homes, and will continue until either normal visiting resumes, or there is a change of circumstances that changes the Risk Profile of Garden Visits. However, we are aware that Garden Visits have a shelf life dictated by the British weather. Whilst we very much hope that Normal Visits resume before this becomes an issue, we have our reservations. We are therefore investigating establishing Temporary Visitors Rooms connected to the Homes so that Visits can continue regardless of the weather. We recognise that this would mean that Visitors would have a longer walk from their cars to the back gardens, where these would probably be located, but would mean that Residents would remain ‘In Doors’ whilst continuing to protect the Homes. We will keep you updated as our thinking develops and, in the normal way, ask for your feedback and suggestions at the appropriate time.
Testing, and Test & Trace
Both Homes have been sent a holding email in regard to Weekly Testing for Staff, and 28 Day Testing for Residents, but we expect these to start shortly.
In regard to Test & Trace, we think the least said the better!
Apologies for the brevity of Nettlestead and HomeCare contributions, but both Holly and Lauren are off today, leaving Kim’s hand’s rather full.
Nettlestead
- We have now started doing Garden Visits which are working out really well, and Staff and Residents’ morale is still high.
Priors Mead
- Garden Visits have been going well, with most slots going quickly. Please continue to email or phone Kirsty if you would like to schedule a time slot.
- Michelle and the Residents are hoping the lovely weather continues, so they can continue to enjoy some more time in the garden planting herbs and finishing our Priors Mead
- Preparations are underway to make Priors Mead life in Lockdown Memory Books so that once life returns to ‘normal’, you can see the things we have been up to, although we are trying to share everything via Facebook, WhatsApp or Email.
- We are looking forward to an evening of music with Matthew Wakefield, Elvis and George Michael impersonator via live link.
HomeCare
- Lauren is still on holiday, but is back on Thursday.
- We have recruited two new members of staff and would like to welcome them to the team.
Resilience
- Nothing new to report here, save we continue to be Risk Averse, and try to plan ahead with a view to minimise the Risk to our Clients and Residents, but also to minimise the impact any mitigations have on their relationships with their Loved Ones.
- As an aside, one of our earlier responses to the Pandemic was to place Ionising Filters throughout both Homes and recommended this to our HomeCare Clients based on various Academic Articles that suggested this may be effective at reducing the Viral Load of viruses and bacteria; apparently, they cling to Particulates in the air with the Negative Ions produced by the filter making them fall to the ground where they are harmless. We wondered if this might become a Government Recommendation, which has not been the case to date, making us wonder if we had misinterpreted the research. However, we feel more confident now that Ionising Filters are standard equipment on high-end cars for eliminating Particulates, in this case diesel. For the foreseeable future, we plan to continue using the Ionising Filters as we believe they can do no harm and potentially are doing a lot of good, but wonder why, if both Academic Research and the Car Industry see the benefit, the Care Industry as a whole has not.
Suggestions
Suggestions continue to be welcome. Please share them with us by emailing covid-19@nightingales.co.uk.
Thank you all for your continued support and understanding.
Nick & Sarah Bruce
sarah.bruce@nightingales.co.uk