Senior woman at Lakewood

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COVID-19 Update: Visitation Process Details

Lakewood’s leadership team’s goal continues to be the provision of a safe and healthy environment for residents, staff and visitors. The team has worked tirelessly to continue to meet and exceed expectations for care and services for residents. The past several months the Lakewood team has been striving to do this while also working closely with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and following the guidelines and regulations they have each set forth for long-term care facilities in the midst of this global pandemic. 

Starting Friday, July 10, visitors to include family members, loved ones and friends will be able to enjoy 30-minute, one-on-one, visits with a resident in a climate-controlled outdoor tent area in close proximity to the health services and rose buildings. There will be one tent in the loading zone near the porte-cochere at the health services building. This tent will be utilized by the residents in the health services building for all their visits. The second tent will be in the rose building courtyard—formerly the memory care enclosed garden—and will be accessible through the fence area between the clubhouse and the rose building. 

As higher levels of care remain under strict guidelines for safety, the leadership team spent countless hours reviewing processes and setting up safety protocols for these visits. Every visitor who takes part in these visits must have unwavering adherence to these rules. Failure to do so may not only jeopardize that visitor’s ability to return to campus for another visit but may also jeopardize this visitation program for all residents.

Visit Protocols and Expectations:

  • An application called Calendly will be utilized for scheduling visitation appointments. Visitors will be provided with a link—listed below—to an application that is monitored by the Program Coordinators, Christy Kyrus and Logan Harden, for each level of care. Please follow the link for the building the resident lives. Visitors will schedule appointments utilizing these links and/or the application through their smartphone or device. Lakewood will maintain jurisdiction and control over the scheduling of visits for residents based upon adherence to the guidelines provided to visitors and how the visitor answers the required screening questions. The expectations and guidelines for visits will be set forth through Calendly for review.
  • If you are unable to keep your scheduled visit, kindly provide Lakewood with 48-hour advance notice of cancelation through Calendly so that the time slot can be opened to others.
  • Each resident will be afforded the opportunity to have at least one visit with a family member if they so wish prior to other residents having additional visits. Based upon the number of residents in the higher levels of care, residents will be able to have a visit every week and a half or so. 
  • Visits will occur at 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Days and hours may be adjusted to meet the needs of working visitors. These adjustments will be made after careful consideration of the schedule and to best meet the resident’s needs.
  • All visitors will be screened at the guardhouse following screening protocols for admittance onto campus. That screening includes a body temperature being taken. Name, destination and resident being visited will be recorded, and all screening questions will be asked and must be truthfully answered with a “no” in order to be granted admission onto campus. Visitors who are visiting residents in higher levels of care will be given screening passes specific to this need for ease in identification.
  • Visitors must proceed to either the health services or rose building parking spots following directional signage designated for this visitation. Once parked in one of the designated parking spots, visitors must follow the instructions on the signs at the parking spots to contact the staff member on duty for further instruction. Please stay in your car as you follow the directions on the sign in the designated parking spot. Do not exit your car until you are given directions to do so. Please do not approach or enter a visitation tent without being directed to do so. 
  • The sign directions will ask for you to call a number listed on the sign. You will be connected with one of our tent monitors at the time of your visit. The tent monitor will direct you on the next steps. 
  • Please plan to arrive 10 minutes in advance of your visit time to allow for guardhouse screening and parking. 
  • Each visit will last for 30 minutes and will be a one on one ratio to assure each party is able to adhere to social distancing and other safety guidelines.
  • No one under the age of 18 will be permitted to visit at this time.
  • No pets will be allowed to visit.
  • No food, laundry, personal items or packages may be brought to the residents during these visits. If items are brought onto campus for a resident, the items must be left at the guardhouse for delivery to the resident by security later.
  • Facemasks will be worn by both parties the entire time of the visit. Visitors must provide their own facemask. Visitors must put a facemask on before approaching the guardhouse and the mask should be in place when exiting the car. Lakewood will provide a facemask for the residents. No one may remove their facemask at any time during their visit. 
  • Visitors and residents will each enter and exit the visitation area in separate and distinct areas that are clearly defined. The entry and exit paths of each party will not cross.
  • Our tent visitation areas will include a physical barrier which will be a plexiglass barrier between the resident and the visitor. There will be no physical contact between the resident and the visitor.
  • Using alcohol-based hand sanitizer, residents and visitors will sanitize their hands before and after each visit. Hand sanitizing stations will be provided for residents and their visitors at each entry/exit point at the tent. 
  • A communication device will be available to both residents and their visitors to assist with enhancing audio during the visit. This is like a device utilized in the drive-up area of a bank. The visitor will have the capability to turn the device off/on and change the volume.
  • Monitor the time and conclude the visit after 30 minutes. At the conclusion of the visit, 30 minutes must be allotted to allow staff to conduct proper cleaning and sanitizing of the visitation area, prior to the next scheduled visit utilizing an EPA approved product. As soon as the visit has concluded, please immediately return to your car and exit campus. 
  • Visitors will be required to notify Lakewood immediately if they become suspicious of having COVID-19 and have visited Lakewood in the 14 days prior to becoming into contact or suspected contact with COVID-19. Please contact Christy Kyrus at (804) 521-9265 or Logan Harden at (804) 521-9291 if this applies to your situation. Calendly provides tracking of visitation for us as in the event tracing is needed to be conducted by VDH. Lakewood will provide a listing of visitors including those who had any ailments. 
  • Visitors in violation or who do not follow the expectations for visitation will be asked to leave the property immediately. The availability of future visits by those individuals who have violated protocols will be determined by the administration.

URL for health services building families: https://calendly.com/hsbvisit

URL for rose building families: https://calendly.com/rosevisit

As these tent visitations are time-consuming and cumbersome for staff, the volume of virtual visits/FaceTime visits that have been offered since March will be reduced. As staff handles tent visits, it is not possible to continue to offer virtual visits to multiple family members of the same resident. iPads on mobile stands may be offered for independent resident use. 

Staff will walk family members and residents through any questions or concerns regarding this process. Contact Christy Kyrus at (804) 521-9265 or Logan Harden at (804) 521-9291 with questions.