3:40 p.m., Feb. 25, 2022

Dear Beechwood Families,

 

We are pleased to announce that on Friday, February 18, 2022, Beechwood is moving forward with opening up to visitors in our personal care homes.

 

All visits must be scheduled in advance so that we manage the number of visitors inside the home at any given time, and no more than 2 visitors at a time will be permitted for each participant.

 

To schedule a visit with your loved one, please contact your assigned

Care Coordinator:

• Jennifer Marazzo, Director of Care Coordination (215) 750-4302
• Nick Chiaravolloti (215) 750-4290
• Leandra Lynch (215) 750-4289
• Beth Falbo (215) 750-4267

 

Please read and adhere to the following before your first visit.

 

General Visitation Information:

• Please enter through the main entrance to the home of your loved one where you will check-in and be screened.
• Visits will be limited to 2 hours to allow for all families to have an opportunity to visit with their loved ones.
• A maximum of two visitors are allowed per participant.
• Visitation will not be permitted during programming hours or mealtimes-no food is to be eaten during the visit.
• Visitors will be required to wear a face covering over the mouth and nose for the duration of the visit.
• Your visit will occur in the bedroom of your loved one away from others within the home.

 

Visitors are expected to social distance. However, your loved one can choose to have close contact (including touch) as long as they are properly wearing a mask.

 

 If you need to speak with someone outside of business hours regarding your visit, please call (215) 750-4000 and ask the operator to connect you with the Beechwood Charge.

 

If there is a positive COVID-19 case in a home (staff or person served) all visits in that home will be halted. Visitation will resume when the home meets the criteria to discontinue outbreak testing (two weeks of negative testing).

 

Before the visit:

• Visitors are asked to monitor themselves for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 for at least 3 days prior to your visit. This monitoring should include taking your temperature daily for these 3 days. 

 

Upon Arrival:

• Please enter the home of your loved one through the main entrance to the home for check-in and screening.
• Visitors will be asked the following questions and be required to sign a document attesting to the following:
• Have you been tested for COVID-19 in the past 2 weeks? If so, what was the result? Individuals with a positive result within the past 14 days or with results pending will be required to reschedule their visit.
• Have you had a temperature above 100 in the past 24 hours? Individuals who respond yes will be asked to postpone their visit.
• Have you had a fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, muscle pain, sore throat, or new loss of taste or smell within the past 14 days? Individuals who respond yes will be required to reschedule their visit.
• Have you or someone you live with (i.e. family member or friend) or someone you share a workspace with tested POSITIVE for COVID-19 in the past 2 weeks (14 days)? Individuals who respond yes will be required to reschedule their visit.
• Are you fully vaccinated against COVID-19? Your answer to this question will not affect your visit in any way.
• Visitors will have their temperature taken and document on the same form. If the highest of three temperature readings is above 99.9 degrees, visitors will be required to reschedule their visit.
• All visitors will be required to wear a facial mask over their mouth and nose through the entirety of the visit. Visitors without a mask or observed removing their mask will be asked to end their visit.
• Visitors will be asked to sanitize their hands immediately prior to meeting with their loved one. We will provide this at the check-in area.
• Following the visit, we ask both the visitors and their loved ones to use hand sanitizer.

 

After the visit:

• Visitors should monitor their temperatures and symptoms for three (3) days after visiting, and are asked to contact their loved one’s Care Coordinator if symptoms develop.
• Should someone living or working in the home of your loved one test positive for COVID-19 within three (3) days of the visit, all visitors who may have been exposed will be notified.

 

Beechwood reserves the right to terminate or deny visitation privileges to anyone who does not comply with these steps.

 

Should you have any questions regarding our visitation process, please contact Brandi Lindner at 215-750-4299.

 

We look forward to seeing you soon!

 

The Beechwood NeuroRehab Leadership Team

8:18 p.m., Nov. 2, 2020

 

Dear Families,

 

We have been enjoying a spectacular Fall filled with beautiful weather and lots of time outdoors doing fun activities! Our schools are now open with in-person teaching and our adult day programs are operating on an adjusted schedule to keep everyone happy and as safe as possible. However, as the days become colder and activities move inside, positive COVID cases have increased in almost every state, including Pennsylvania. In light of this, we wanted to reach out to share our thoughts around family visitations at Woods and home visits.

 

For the first time in a while, we have had several individuals, both clients and staff, who have tested positive so we know the virus is active around us. In fact, the number of daily cases of COVID-19 in Bucks County is currently exceeding the April and May levels. There has been a 46% increase in cases this past week. In other states, where many of our families live, positive cases and hospitalizations are increasing rapidly. This causes us great concern related to family visitation. Each week, we have over 180 families from different states visiting Woods.

 

With the cold weather approaching, moving these visits inside where these families will co-mingle, share social spaces, interact in hallways and shared meeting space, is not recommended by the CDC or our Pennsylvania regulators. We can reduce the risk of exposure to others by limiting visitors to Woods. With this in mind, we have decided for the safety of your loved one, other residents and our staff, to postpone family visitations on campus for the foreseeable future.

 

We continue to stress COVID precautions with our staff and residents and are now requiring many of our staff to wear face shields in addition to their masks for added protection from spreading or contracting the virus. All non-essential employees continue to be required to work from home. Our direct care staff are essential employees. Their coming to work is required for the safety of our residents. We encourage them to exercise the same precautions outside of Woods as we require when they are here.

 

At this time, Woods is not supporting home visits including for the holidays. Contact tracing of recent positive cases in the United States shows that the uptick is primarily from small family and friend gatherings. Our top priority is to ensure the health and wellness of the individuals we serve and the staff who provide their care, so it is in everyone’s best interest for us to limit exposure and risk. We realize a select few parents may choose to take their loved one off-campus for a home visit against general recommendations.

 

For that reason, we have established a protocol for Thanksgiving or other Leaves of Absence (LOA) for families that take a loved one home against our advice.

 

GUIDELINES FOR VISITS HOME

1. Visits must be pre-arranged through your Care Coordinator.
2. Woods will not transport residents home, nor will they be able to provide support in your home should a problem arise during the visit.
3. You must arrange a specified time for your family member’s staff to meet you at one of Woods’ entrances where you will pick him or her up to take them home.
4. You must be wearing a mask when you arrive at Woods and throughout the duration of the pick-up.
5. To ensure the safety of our residents and staff, we ask that while your loved one is home with you, you refrain from spending time in the community and/or in gatherings where social distancing is not maintained.
6. Please make arrangements to meet staff at one of the entrances when you are returning your loved one to Woods.
7. Residents will receive a series of periodic COVID tests upon return to Woods and will be quarantined within their residence for up to 14 days upon their return. The resident will be asked to wear a mask if they are able.
8. During the quarantine period, the resident will not be permitted to attend day program or recreation activities.

 

Some of our residents either tested positive or had the antibodies back in the spring, and while it may seem that they are now immune, scientific studies indicate that there is no evidence for how long immunity lasts. For that reason, there will be no exceptions to these post-visit restrictions until further notice and guidance from the CDC.

 

We reserve the right to make changes to these procedures especially if on-campus cases increase. If this happens while you have a family member away from Woods, he or she may not be allowed to return until we can be sure it is safe for them to do so. Similarly, it is possible that Pennsylvania will again return to a “lockdown” of programs like Woods, and that may interfere with your ability to return your loved one.

 

Please know that we are putting these measures in place to protect 650 residents and students who either live here or attend school here, and our 1,800 staff as best we can. Other providers we’ve contacted are not holding visitations nor are they permitting home visits. We ask for your understanding and cooperation and ask you to please remain in touch with your Care Coordinator who will answer any questions that you have.

 

Knowing that this will be a hard time for our families and your loved ones, we are planning an extra special holiday season with lots of activities and fun. While we cannot hold our annual Winter Wonderland, our Recreation staff has planned a virtual tree lighting, visits from Santa, a mini Winter Wonderland for each residence to enjoy, and much more.

 

In summary, we are stronger together and have collectively worked very hard to keep your family member safe. We recognize how hard it has been and continues to be to cope during this worldwide pandemic. We are closely following the vaccine trials and believe that we will soon have a vaccination. We are working hard to advocate at the federal level to make sure your loved one and our staff are prioritized. Together, we can get through this and to the other side of this dreadful pandemic.

 

Yours,

Dr. Steve Kolesk, Chief Medical Officer
Dawn Diamond, EVP of Operations
Tine Hansen-Turton, President and CEO

 

October 29, 2020

Click here to read the updated Beechwood NeuroRehab Reopening Implementation Plan.

August 31, 2020

Click here to read the updated Beechwood NeuroRehab Reopening Implementation Plan.

July 29, 2020

 

As of July 2020, all personal care homes at Beechwood have developed a universal testing plan that complies with the Order of the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Directing Testing at Long-Term Care Facilities, issued June 26, 2020. The implementation of this plan began on July 1, 2020. Beechwood’s reopening implementation plan was sent to the PA Department of Human Services for approval to begin implementation. Approval was granted on July 29, 2020.

 

Beechwood Centers 1 through 10 plan to enter Stage 1 of reopening on August 3, 2020. According to the timeframes established by the State, we anticipate welcoming visitors on or about August 17, 2020. Click here to read the full Beechwood NeuroRehab Reopening Implementation Plan.

 

May 19, 2020

 

We are so proud of how our staff at Woods have collectively handled the pandemic. However, there has been inaccurate reporting on the pandemic’s impact. We wish to share that the numbers posted on the State’s website for our Beechwood Center 5 (located in Bucks County) are incorrect. We are working with the State to have the numbers corrected.

 

Specifically, Beechwood Center 5 has a total of six residents but was listed as having 103 positive cases. Eight staff work in that home, but the number of staff listed as testing positive was 34. Finally, the report stated that Beechwood had between one and five deaths. In fact, it had zero deaths.

 

Given the sensitivity surrounding coronavirus cases in long-term care facilities, it is imperative that this information be accurate. Therefore, we hope that you can understand how concerned we are that these numbers be promptly corrected and how disconcerting it is that the numbers, as currently posted, are so inaccurate.

 

March 13, 2020

As the prevalence of the coronavirus grows, we become more concerned for the health and wellbeing of the people we serve. We believe we must take measures, to the best of our ability, to deal with this crisis. We will keep you informed as we have new information to share concerning our planning.

 

Prevention

 

1. We have instituted 14-day self-quarantines for staff who are currently traveling or recently returned from international travel (including cruises). Similarly, those in the foreseeable future who choose to travel outside of the United States or to a state in the U.S where a state of emergency has been declared (with the exception of local travel to and from New Jersey), are also required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
2. We ask our staff to stay away from large group activities and events where it is difficult to maintain a 3-foot distance between themselves and others.
3. We have canceled off-campus residential and vocational activities that are held in enclosed public venues, but for those for whom it is appropriate, we will continue van trips, visits to the park, etc.
4. We are suspending all resident home visits and non-critical out-of-state medical or other appointments.
5. We are canceling work travel and all group meetings when it is possible to replace them with call-in meetings.
6.  We have established a Helpline phone number for our staff and families to call that will be staffed from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm.
7. We are holding group therapies to help residents understand why people may be wearing masks, to allay their fears and concerns, and reinforce good hygiene habits.
8. We request that visitors exhibiting any signs of respiratory illness, those who have traveled as indicated above, or those who may have been exposed to someone with coronavirus, please do not visit. We are working on a plan so that you, our families, and others can communicate virtually with our residents and will keep you informed as we proceed.

 

Ongoing Planning

 

We are continually monitoring the CDC recommendations, as well as those of our local health department. Please know that information is changing rapidly, therefore our plans are updating frequently. Our Coronavirus Task Force continues to meet daily and are preparing in the event someone at Beechwood contracts the virus.

We handle these emergency situations extremely well so I have faith that we will do all we can to get through this calmly and safely. We appreciate your support as we continue planning.

 

Tine Hansen-Turton
President & CEO, Woods Services