Dear Family and Friends,

We recently learned that the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the federal Medicare agency (CMS) are advising against residents leaving their care center for holiday visits. As we continue to fight against COVID-19, we ask that you not take your loved ones out this Thanksgiving.

By not taking your loved one out for a holiday visit, you will help us in protecting the health of everyone who lives and works here. One of the best things that you can do for your family this holiday season is to not gather in groups and keep everyone safe by wearing a facemask when you do.

We know just how special the holiday season can be and spending time with family is what adds meaning to our celebrations.  However, we need your help to protect our residents, our staff, and yourself during this pandemic’s risky time by limiting our contact with the broader community.  As Governor Walz told us the other night, the COVID-19 surge is at a dangerous level in Minnesota.

This past year has been a challenge like no other and we deeply appreciate the sacrifices that you and your family have already made during these past months. The hope of a COVID-19 vaccine is promising, but until that time we all need to use extra caution to slow the spread of this highly contagious disease.

If a resident does choose to go to a holiday gathering outside of our care center, the resident will need to quarantine in his or her room for 14-days after returning as a necessary precaution. Even when being very careful and following all of the guidelines, the risk of being infected when being out in the general public is high.

Our staff is committed to keeping you connected during the holiday seasons. We have a variety of activities planned that will engage our residents and are doing all we can to facilitate alternative means of communication between you and your loved one. If you have any gifts or cards you would like to give to your loved one or wish to schedule a virtual visit, please contact Elisa Klemetsen at 218-378-3482.

We know that this news may cause concern or that you may have questions about what we are doing to keep everyone safe and healthy. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at 218-278-3481. 

Sincerely,

Stephanie Fairchild

We conducted entire site testing on 11/18/2020 and all tests were returned NEGATIVE! We continue to work with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and are following COVID-19 recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Our county positivity rate has risen above 10% putting our care center in the “red zone.” According to CMS calculations, all Minnesota counties, but four, are now in the “red zone.” Being in the “red zone” requires our care center to routinely test our staff twice weekly. We are also required to suspend all indoor visits at this time. We encourage you to use alternate ways to connect with your loved ones such as Zoom, Facebook Portal, Phone, and Facetiming. To schedule your visit or for more information on our visitation policy, please contact Elisa Klemetsen @ 218-278-3482.

With hospital beds nearing capacity and healthcare staffing shortages, Governor Walz issued even more COVID restrictions this week. Restaurants, breweries, bowling alleys, movie theaters, and bars will be take-out only. Gyms will close and organized indoor sports will be suspended. We need your help to control the spread of the virus in our community. We encourage you to use masks, social distance and abide by the Governor’s Orders.

Looking for ways to help? We have a variety of positions available with flexible scheduling and on the job training. For more information or to apply, visit www.jobswithus.org.

Please follow our Facebook page (@Littlefork Care Center and Jack Pine Chateau) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Stephanie Fairchild, Associate Administrator, at 218-278-3481 if you have any questions or concerns.

We conducted entire site testing on 11/04/2020. Residents, staff and volunteers were negative. We will be testing again on November 11th, 2020. We continue to work with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and are following COVID-19 recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Due to the recent exposure, we have discontinued all in person visits at this time. We are committed to ensuring that physical distancing does not mean isolation. We are working to have a variety of small group activities that engage our residents such as Bingo, exercise, and trivia.

Our top priority is to support and protect our residents and dedicated caregivers. We have equipped our staff team with the training and supplies needed, such as surgical masks, gloves and gowns, to provide safe, quality care, services and support to our residents. We have worked with everyone in our community on hand hygiene and safe physical distancing.

Looking for ways to help? We have a variety of positions available with flexible scheduling and on the job training. For more information or to apply, visit www.jobswithus.org.

Please follow our Facebook page (@Littlefork Care Center and Jack Pine Chateau) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Stephanie Fairchild, Associate Administrator, at 218-278-3481 if you have any questions or concerns.

Today we were informed that we had a staff member test positive for COVID-19. This was not unexpected, and we have put aggressive procedures in place to both care for those stricken by the virus and minimize transmission to others. This includes canceling all scheduled visits until further notice. We will be testing all residents and staff again on 11/04/2020.

The staff member who has tested positive is quarantined at home and will not be allowed to return to work until they have recovered from the virus and pass our return-to-work protocols. Any residents who test positive for COVID-19 will be isolated from the rest of our community will be cared for as they recover by a designated staff team.

We continue to work with the Minnesota Department of Health and are following COVID-19 recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Our top priority is to support and protect our residents and dedicated caregivers. We have equipped our staff team with the training and supplies needed, such as surgical masks, gloves and gowns, to provide safe, quality care, services and support to our residents. We have worked with everyone in our community on hand hygiene and safe physical distancing.

We know that this news may cause you concern or that you may have questions about what we are doing to keep everyone safe and healthy. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Stephanie at 218-278-3481 or by email at sfairchild@khs.sfhs.org.

Dear Family and Friends,

We conducted entire-site testing for our residents and staff on October 28th. We had NO positive cases resulting from this testing. We follow all recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Our care center has plans to start indoor visitation on November 2nd pending COVID testing results. As a reminder, we will follow state and federal guidance for visitation, which includes following the core infection control protocols, including screening of all visitors for signs & symptoms of COVID, proper hand hygiene, face coverings, and social distancing. Please recognize that this virus is still spreading throughout our state and that we may need to restrict visitation if we experience positive cases of COVID-19 in our setting, identify a broader risk of exposure both in our setting and/or the broader community, or encounter other factors that affect the safety of visitation.

Due to high demand and the safety of our residents, all visits must be scheduled 24 hours in advance. As a reminder only two people may visit at one time. To schedule your visit or for more information on our visitation policy, please contact Elisa Klemetsen at 218-278-3482 or eklemetsen@khs.sfhs.org.

Looking for ways to help? We have a variety of positions available with flexible scheduling and on the job training. For more information or to apply, visit www.jobswithus.org.

Please follow our Facebook page (@Littlefork Care Center and Jack Pine Chateau) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Stephanie Fairchild, Associate Administrator, at 218-278-3481 if you have any questions or concerns.

Dear Family and Friends,

On 10/16/2020, we were notified that we have a COVID-19 exposure in our building.  Our top priority is to keep everyone safe and healthy. We are collaborating with our Medical Director and the Minnesota Department of Health and are following all recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to ensure we are taking all appropriate steps at this time.

With the potential exposure of COVID-19 in our care center, we will conduct entire site testing for both residents and staff on October 21^st. Unfortunately, we will not be able to open our care center for indoor visitation or host outdoor visitation until further notice.

In the event we have any residents test positive, we would activate our COVID unit. The unit is segregated from the rest of our community. The designated staff that care for residents in this unit remain within the area and do not have physical contact with other non-segregated residents. Any staff who test positive will be self-quarantined at home and will not be allowed to return to work until they recover from the virus; 10 days following positive test and 72 hours from last fever without using medication. Our staff are equipped with specific training and PPE to continue to provide safe, quality care, services and support to the residents of our community.

Please follow our Facebook page (@Littlefork Care Center and Jack Pine Chateau) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Stephanie Fairchild, Associate Administrator, at 218-278-3481 if you have any questions or concerns.

10/09/2020

As of 10/7/2020, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our care center. We continue to routinely test staff weekly. We follow all recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

MDH is developing guidelines based on the recently issued CMS guidance on how we our can safety re-open our setting to visitors and continue to protect the health of our residents and staff.  We plan to revise our current visitation policies to accommodate the MDH and CMS changes as soon as possible and distribute to residents and families.   

We appreciate your patience as we take time to evaluate and implement the guidance so that we can safely resume indoor visitation. These requirements not only apply to our ability to resume indoor visitation but also identify triggers for when we may need to restrict visitation. Restricting visitation may happen if we experience a positive case of COVID-19 among our residents and staff or if our broader community falls into a higher risk category.

We deeply appreciate the sacrifices you made to limit the impact of COVID-19 on our community and your patience as we prepare our setting to host safe indoor visitation. Our entire team looks forward to seeing you again. Families, friends and volunteers are a core fabric of what makes our community so special. In the meantime, we remind you to take advantage of outdoor visits, window visits, and the ability to connect residents and their loved ones through alternative communication, such as FaceTime, Zoom and Skype.

Looking for ways to help? We have a variety of positions available with flexible scheduling and on the job training. For more information or to apply, visit www.jobswithus.org.

Thank you again for being partners with us in fighting the COVID-19 virus. Your messages of support, prayers, and caring is important to those working to keep our residents healthy and safe. Without a doubt, there will be more challenges ahead, and we continue to ask for your patience as we make adjustments and implement this next phase in our visitation. Please follow our Facebook page (@Littlefork Care Center and Jack Pine Chateau) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Stephanie Fairchild, Associate Administrator, at 218-278-3481 if you have any questions or concerns.

Elisa’s number for visits is 278-3482

Posted by Littlefork Care Center and Jack Pine Chateau on Sunday, October 4, 2020

September 25, 2020

As of today, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our care center. 

We continue to routinely test facility staff according to CMS guidelines.  “Facility Staff” is broadly defined to include employees, consultants, contractors, volunteers, and caregivers who provide care and services to residents on behalf of the facility, and students in the facility’s nurse aide training programs or from affiliated academic institutions.  Our care center is currently in a low county positivity rate. The requirements outline routine testing depending on our county positivity rate:

• Low: Monthly testing in counties with less than 5% positivity
• Medium: Weekly testing in counties with 5-10% positivity
• High: Bi-weekly testing in counties with greater than 10% positivity

We continue to follow the recommended guidance from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and take all appropriate measures possible to protect the health and wellness of all who live and work here. We test symptomatic residents and staff as symptoms arise and perform entire-site testing during an outbreak (1 or more positive cases of either a resident or staff in our care center). Should a confirmed case come from any of these tests, we would promptly notify our residents, their families and staff.

On September 17, 2020, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) released Memorandum QSO-20-39-NH Nursing Home Visitation – COVID 19 which provides updated visitation guidelines for skilled nursing facilities; https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-20-39-nh.pdf. We are currently waiting for the MN Department of Health direction on this Memo before we begin working on a policy & implementation plan.

Please follow our Facebook page (@Littlefork Care Center and Jackpine Chateau) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to Stephanie Fairchild, Associate Administrator, at 218-278-3481 if you have any questions or concerns.

Dear Family and Friends,

On 09/16/2020, we were notified that we have a potential exposure in our building to COVID-19.  Our top priority is to keep everyone safe and healthy. We are collaborating with our Medical Director and the Minnesota Department of Health and are following all recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to ensure we are taking all appropriate steps at this time.

With the potential exposure of COVID-19 in our care center, we will move forward with entire site testing for both residents and staff on 9/17/2020. We understand that this decision may result in increased confirmed cases, but the results will allow us to accurately isolate the virus and prevent the spread in our community. We believe this is the best way to protect residents, staff and our community and track the path of the virus.

In the event we have any residents test positive, we would activate our COVID unit. The unit is segregated from the rest of our community. The designated staff that care for residents in this unit remain within the area and do not have physical contact with other non-segregated residents. Any staff who test positive will be self-quarantined at home and will not be allowed to return to work until they recover from the virus; 10 days following positive test and 72 hours from last fever without using medication. Our staff are equipped with specific training and PPE to continue to provide safe, quality care, services and support to the residents of our community.

As we’ve shared several times, in early March, we initiated proactive infection control practices, screening procedures and visitor restrictions that will help us manage this situation as effectively as possible and protect the safety and health of all who live and work here.

We will continue to update you on any news, emerging issues, or additional changes in our operations via Bright Arrow, email, website, and our Facebook page.