Ascent Living Blog

May 28, 2020 at 5:30 p.m.

Dear Pine Grove Crossing Community,

We wanted to get a note out to all of you to touch base and provide some updates.  First and foremost, we are pleased to report that we have not had any additional symptomatic residents or associates.  The one associate who tested positive continues to recover at home and we look forward to welcoming this person back to the community once we obtain two negative test results.  

We are establishing a testing protocol that will involve regular testing of all associates and will share that plan with all of you once it is established.

Based on the time that has elapsed without any new instances of symptomatic or positive residents or associates, we feel comfortable in beginning to relax our guidelines and allow residents to once again travel out of their apartments to common areas of the community as long as they wear a mask and maintain social distancing.  We are also working on several other initiatives that we hope to roll out in the next few weeks that will allow for some interactions between our residents and their family members.

Please be advised that if we do encounter another positive resident or associate, we would likely reinstitute the travel out of apartment restrictions to prevent the spread of infection.  Additionally, allowing residents to travel through the community would require us to cast a wider net if contact tracing needed to be done again.

We are also excited to announce that we have established a Pine Grove Crossing Hotline for future updates.  This line will regularly have recorded messages to keep all of you informed and updated.  The phone number for this hotline is (720) 874-9097.  These messages will start on June 1^st and we will be discontinuing our written updates in lieu of the recorded messages.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Pine Grove Crossing’s Executive Director, Rita Waxon. 

Sincerely,

Tom Finley and Susie Finley

May 22, 2020 at 6:30 pm

Dear Village at Belmar Community,

We wanted to provide all of you with an update on the testing that we have been conducting over the last two days.  Yesterday we received 20 results back from the contact tracing done from our positive resident as well as some additional associates who voluntarily asked to be tested.  The results showed 19 negative results and 1 positive result.  The positive was an asymptomatic associate who has been sent home and is resting comfortably.  We then performed contact tracing on that associate and conducted 23 more tests on residents who may have come into contact with that individual.  

Additionally, we had remaining associates from the positive resident’s contact tracing whose samples were processed today as well as several associates who requested to voluntarily be tested.  This testing occurred yesterday and the results were received at 4:00 pm this afternoon.  Of those results, there were 42 negatives and 1 positive.  The positive was an asymptomatic associate who has also been sent home and is resting comfortably.

Based on the results from today, we have made the decision to test the remaining associates and residents in the Assisted Living and Memory Care areas of the community.  This testing will be conducted over the next few days and results will be received between Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, since the lab does not test on the weekend nor on this Monday (which is a holiday).  Once we complete this final round of full testing, we will continue doing weekly testing on all associates each week for at least the next two months.

As far as the one positive resident, that person continues to be asymptomatic and is being cared for by our Staffing Bubble which consists of two associates who have moved into apartments at the community and are each working 12 hour shifts for the next 28 days.  The Staffing Bubble was activated at 6:00 am on May 21^st, and will continue forward while we work through this situation.  They will only be caring for COVID-19 positive resident(s) and not interacting with any other residents or associates.   During their 28 day assignment these two associates will not leave the community. 

We continue to be in close communication with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Jefferson County Health Department and are following their direction and protocols, as well as those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Governor’s office and our Medical Consultant, Dr. Gagandeep Singh. 

We appreciate this may be a difficult and uncertain time for you. We will be updating you on this situation as additional pertinent information comes available, and we will continue to work diligently to keep the rest of our community safe and healthy.  

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Village at Belmar’s Executive Director, Michael Ruback. 

Sincerely,

Susie Finley and Tom Finley

Dear Village at Belmar Community,

We have received feedback from some of the loved ones of residents regarding the new Assisted Living resident that tested positive for COVID-19 that we told you about in our letter yesterday.  First and foremost, we understand and acknowledge the feelings of fear and serious concern that you may have now that we have our first individual with a positive result in Assisted Living at Village at Belmar. The feedback includes questions regarding the fact that a new resident was allowed to move into the community.  While we are happy to have individual conversations to address this, we felt it was important to distribute an additional communication to you this morning clarifying our practices for new move-ins to the community.   

We believe that it is important to reiterate our processes and procedures that have been put into place since early March when this pandemic first surfaced.  Since this all began, we have been closely tracking, reacting and installing protocols following guidance from federal and state governing bodies.  This includes Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees federal healthcare facilities, which would be nursing homes, one of the most highly regulated industries in our country.  Assisted Living, as many of you know, is not a nursing home. Throughout this pandemic, we have chosen to not only follow but to exceed recommendations provided by CMS to the nursing home industry for our Assisted Living environments.  This included our decision to shut down communal dining, activities and visitation before it was mandated.  We also chose to pause new move-ins for a few weeks while we established the proper protocols and a partnership with a testing laboratory where we could receive test results quickly.  

The move-in protocol that Ascent created, in conjunction with our Medical Consultant, Dr. Singh, is among the strictest in the industry, including at a nursing home level.  We established an extensive questionnaire that not only examines every aspect of the resident and their recent history, it also examines the recent health history of anyone that lives with them or provides care to them if they are coming from a home environment.  In addition, any new resident who is approved to move-in after this rigorous assessment is then tested immediately prior to move-in. Once a negative test result is obtained, the resident is then placed on a 14-day isolation and treated the same as any COVID-19 positive resident; we utilize full PPE in their care and any interactions.  The resident is then tested a second time as they close in on their 14-day window to ensure that they continue to test negative prior to being released from this isolation period.  

We still have a lot to learn today and tomorrow. Through contact tracing we will be conducting more than 50 tests.  To be clear, this resident had a negative COVID-19 test prior to moving into the community.  We are fighting an invisible enemy and determining the precise source of infection of COVID-19 for any infected person will be very difficult to ascertain.  We cannot rule out the possibility that this new resident was infected by an asymptomatic staff member after their arrival at Village at Belmar.  As and additional safeguard, associates who now care for this resident will not care for any other resident.

There are seniors in the greater Lakewood community, just like you or your loved ones, who are in need of care and services.  Those who have been isolated and lonely, with limited support available due to shelter-in-place mandates, have seen significant declines in physical and mental health during this pandemic.  There continues to be a great need for the care and services we provide at Village at Belmar, and we need to continue to evolve and accommodate those needs.  At its essence, this is the mission of our company.  If we are to get back to any sense of normalcy, including once again allowing outside visitors, we need to be able to safely and systematically resume our operating practices. 

As always, we as local owners and operators of Village at Belmar are absolutely focused on the health and safety of our residents, their loved ones and our staff.  This is a very difficult virus we are battling, and it has affected every single one of us in ways that were unimaginable ninety days ago.  We appreciate your words of support, and also your letters with questions and concerns.  We will continue to update you on a regular basis as more information is available.  

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Village at Belmar’s Executive Director, Michael Ruback.

Sincerely,

Tom and Susie Finley – Founder and Principal

Dear Village at Belmar Community,

We are writing to inform you that we received confirmation at approximately 2:00 pm this afternoon that one of our residents in Assisted Living at Village at Belmar has tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19).  At this time the resident is resting comfortably in their apartment, has no symptoms and you can feel confident knowing they are receiving the very best oversight and care. We are taking all appropriate steps and known best practices to protect the rest of our residents and associates. 

We know you’ll join us in keeping this new resident, the family and loved ones in our thoughts.

Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our residents, families and associates. While we understand this situation may be concerning, we have prepared for such an event and are taking every precaution to protect our community from the spread of the coronavirus. 

We have been in close communication with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Jefferson County Health Department and will follow their direction and protocols, as well as those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Governor’s office and our Medical Consultant, Dr. Gagandeep Singh. 

While a full investigation is underway, we can share the following details:

The resident recently moved into our community and per our new resident protocol, had a negative COVID-19 test prior to move-in, was put into a fourteen day isolation in their apartment where staff used full PPE during their care. The new resident had their second test yesterday per our protocol which would have been the end of their fourteen day isolation period.  The results came back today and were positive for COVID-19 although the resident has been and remains asymptomatic.

Ascent’s Home Office Director of Clinical Services immediately came to the community to work with our Executive Director and team to ensure all protocols were put into place. This resident’s family has been notified and they will continue to receive quality care, meals and necessary services in their apartment by staff wearing protective equipment, and they will remain isolated from the general population until the quarantine is lifted. 

We have begun a comprehensive contact tracing process to identify every associate who has come into contact with the positive coronavirus resident for the prior 10 days which is our contact tracing protocol. We utilized interviews with associates, care plan documentation and video surveillance from our security system to identify the population requiring a test. We have identified 15 individuals through contact tracing who will require testing. There are approximately 35 additional staff members who have requested testing, which we will accommodate. Those individuals will be tested today and tomorrow, and their samples will be sent to the laboratory where we should receive results by the end of the day Friday.  

We have issued a memo to all residents in Assisted Living this evening notifying them that effective today we will no longer allow residents to travel freely throughout the community while maintaining social distancing, as has been allowed since mid-March. Resident travel throughout the community will now only be allowed if the resident is escorted by a Village at Belmar associate and is wearing a mask.  Window Visits will continue under the previously established guidelines, but will now require associate escort and for the resident to wear a mask to and from the visit.

Though the coronavirus pandemic presents unprecedented challenges, our team is well-versed in containment procedures and best practices in these situations. Every year we are faced with outbreaks such as the norovirus and influenza and are skilled at managing those to ensure the health and well-being of our community members.

We appreciate this may be a difficult and uncertain time for you. We will be updating you on this situation as additional pertinent information comes available, and we will continue to work diligently to keep the rest of our community safe and healthy. 

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Village at Belmar’s Executive Director, Michael Ruback.

Sincerely,

Tom and Susie Finley – Founder and Principal

Dear Pine Grove Crossing Community,

We are deeply saddened to provide this update on the resident who tested positive for COVID-19 on May 11^th.  We were hoping to welcome that resident back to Pine Grove Crossing after a hospital stay, but we were informed this morning that this beloved resident passed away. This resident was admitted to the hospital on May 12^th after experiencing symptoms related to COVID-19 along with other pre-existing conditions. The hospital has not released to us the impact of the virus on the passing of this resident. Our community mourns the loss of the resident, and all of our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and loved ones.    

We also want to update you on the second round of contact tracing, and test results.  We are pleased to report that we received forty-nine COVID-19 test results yesterday and today for residents and associates, and all of these results were negative. Of the 102 test results we have received from our first and second rounds of contact tracing, there has only been the single positive from an associate that we reported to you in the May 13^th update letter.  

We are beginning to receive guidance from federal and state authorities about the new normal for senior living communities as we as a country and state begin to move from one phase of this pandemic to the next. As those guidelines are established, we will work within them to establish our own protocols to keep our residents, associates and families safe, which has been, and will continue to be, our primary goal and focus. For now, this would include having Assisted Living residents continue to isolate in their apartments and continue to have the staff escort them for walks, window visits and other requests.  

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Pine Grove Crossing’s Executive Director, Rita Waxon.

Sincerely,

Tom and Susie Finley – Founder and Principal