COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Updates – Archive

No Visitors Poster

Click for January 27, 2022 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We are hopeful the Omicron variant is reaching its peak in the U.S. Unfortunately, county transmission rates for our locations have been at a “high/red” level for several weeks. Cases of COVID-19 due to the Omicron variant are occurring in our unvaccinated, vaccinated and boosted employees and residents.  Fortunately, those who are vaccinated/boosted are experiencing milder symptoms with this variant.

We are now allowing resident visitation at all times. If one of our homes is in active outbreak status, we will post a sign on the front entry door indicating this. You may still visit during an active outbreak status or during high county transmission but we are obligated to inform you that your risk of exposure increases if you visit during these periods.  A facility is deemed to be in “active outbreak” status when one of its residents or employees tests positive.  The location remains in active outbreak status until it achieves 14 consecutive days with no new positive cases occurring based on our outbreak testing procedures.

The Supreme Court recently approved the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.   Our employees, students, trainees, licensed practitioners, contractors and volunteers are subject to this mandate unless exempted based on religious or medical reasons.  The federal government requires anyone subject to the mandate receive the first vaccine by today, January 27, 2021, and the second vaccine, if it is the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, by February 28, 2022. Even though Indiana and Montana are subject to slightly different timelines, we are prepared to meet the earlier deadlines for all.

We have strongly encouraged our unvaccinated staff to obtain the vaccination by the dates outlined above.  The company has, however, established a process where staff may request an exemption from the vaccine because of religious or medical reasons.  To date, all our exemptions have been reviewed and processed.  An exempted employee will be required to follow new guidelines regarding testing and enhanced personal protective equipment use while on duty.

Presently, the percentage of employees vaccinated is 80%, with some locations below or above this average. Our resident vaccination rate is currently 93%, and we are encouraging all to obtain their booster vaccine if they are eligible at this time.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, as many of you have during the pandemic. I am more than happy to answer your questions or provide you with assistance. I can be reached at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.

Click for November 12, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

Most of you are aware by now the federal government is mandating the COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare workers. Our employees, students, trainees, licensed practitioners, contractors and volunteers are subject to this mandate. The federal government requires anyone subject to the mandate receive the first vaccine by December 5, 2021, and the second vaccine, if it is the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, by January 4, 2022.

The company executive team met this week to discuss the mandate and the changes to our COVID-19 vaccination policy triggered by the mandate. We strongly encourage our unvaccinated staff to obtain the vaccination by the dates outlined above.  The company is, however, establishing a process where staff may request an exemption from the vaccine requirement based on religious or medical reasons.  To ensure a fair and consistent review of the exemption requests and to ensure compliance with the federal mandate, Human Resources will oversee this process.  An exempted employee will be required to follow new guidelines regarding testing and enhanced personal protective equipment use while on duty.

Presently, the percentage of employees vaccinated averages between 60-70%, with some locations below or above this average.  In an effort to increase our staff vaccination rates, any location that achieves an 85% vaccination rate with its employees commencing November 18th through December 21st, will hold a $1,000 draw for its eligible employees on the pay days during this time.  Any location that achieves 93% fully vaccinated rate with its employees by December 21st, will hold a one-time draw of $10,000 for its fully vaccinated employees on this day.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, as many of you have during the pandemic. I am more than happy to answer your questions or provide you with assistance. I can be reached at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.

Click for August 12, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

As you have been watching the news, the COVID-19 Delta variant is spreading rapidly in southern states and moving into northern states. Florida was recently named the new epi-center of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though we have enjoyed a small reprieve these last few months, it appears the number of positive cases are on the rise in our communities. When community spread is high, outbreaks begin to occur in nursing homes despite our heroic efforts.

Today our company held a virtual meeting to discuss the surge of COVID-19 Delta variant-related cases in our states. Since both vaccinated and unvaccinated employees and residents can become infected with this variant, we are in full-preparation mode. We want to take this opportunity to let you know our plans to deal with this new surge and what you can expect over the next few months.

First, we continue to encourage anyone who is not vaccinated to please get the vaccine. While vaccinated people can still get and carry the Delta variant, their symptoms typically range from no symptoms to a mild/moderate illness. Infected unvaccinated people have been more symptomatic and are more likely to end up with serious illness, hospitalizations and death. The FDA plans on approving a booster shot for immunocompromised people for both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. We will be assisting appropriate residents and staff to obtain the booster once approved.

Second, in an attempt to diagnose asymptomatic carriers of the Delta variant as soon as possible, we are ramping up our staff COVID testing efforts beyond what the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires.  This will allow us to implement immediate interventions.

Third, we are restricting large gatherings and community-invited events in counties with moderate to high transmission and homes with less than 70% of employees and residents vaccinated. Current indoor and outdoor visitations are still in place per our current policies, i.e. limited to 2 visitors at an indoor visit and 4 visitors at an outdoor visit.

Finally, facility emergency preparedness teams are meeting to discuss internal preparation for the possibility of another round of outbreaks. We are ensuring our infection “zones” are identified and prepared, our personal protective equipment inventory is ample to meet demand, new staff training has been completed and every department is ready with an emergency staffing plan.

We are hopeful we will dodge this new surge in community COVID cases. Like we have done all along, we will continue to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, as many of you have during the pandemic. I am more than happy to answer your questions or provide you with assistance. I can be reached at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for June 14, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

As of today’s date, 89.5% of our residents and 62.6% of our employees are vaccinated. We are continuing to educate, encourage and assist our unvaccinated residents and employees in obtaining vaccinations from local community resources and providers.

In the counties where we are located, eight are now green! Only one remains yellow – Lawrence County, Indiana. Visitation is occurring at all locations. Although not required, if you have received the COVID vaccination series, please bring your card to show staff when you check-in for a visit.  This will help our staff determine the level of personal protective equipment you will be required to wear during your visit.

If you are fully vaccinated (i.e. two weeks past your second dose if Moderna or Pfizer, or two weeks past your only dose of Janssen), you are still required to wear a mask until you get to your designated visit area or loved one’s room at the facility. If your loved one is fully vaccinated, you may remove your mask during your visit with them. If your loved one is not vaccinated, you will need to socially distance and the mask will need to remain in place throughout the visit.

If either you and/or your loved one are not fully vaccinated, you will be required to mask and socially distance. The mask will need to remain in place throughout your entire visit.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, as many of you have during the pandemic. I am more than happy to answer your questions or provide you with assistance. I can be reached at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for March 24, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

Happy Spring to you all! As of today’s date, 88% of our residents and 59% of our employees are vaccinated. We are continuing to educate, encourage and assist our unvaccinated residents and employees in obtaining vaccinations from local community resources and providers.

In the counties where we are located, eight are now green! Only one is yellow this week – Pierce County, Wisconsin. Visitation is occurring at all locations. Although not required, if you have received the COVID vaccination series, please bring your card to show staff when you check-in for a visit.  This will help our staff determine the level of personal protective equipment you will be required to wear during your visit.

We want you to be reconnected with your loved ones, but we also want to remain mindful of risk and diligently adhere to the core principles of COVID prevention. Currently, there are COVID cases surging in 15 states due to new variants of the virus. Now is not the time to let our guard down.

We have not had a single positive COVID case in a resident or employee for the entire months of February and March. We are hopeful the situation will remain promising in the months ahead. Our tenants and residents are participating in socially distanced activities and our dining rooms are in operation according to the directions of the federal government.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, as many of you have during the pandemic. I am more than happy to answer your questions or provide you with any information or assistance. I can be reached at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for February 26, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

The theme of this week’s COVID update is HOPE!

We expect that within the next few weeks all our skilled nursing and assisted living locations will have completed their final COVID vaccination clinics.  We are proud of our vaccination rates and hope they will continue to improve as people become more comfortable with the idea of being vaccinated.  Currently, 89% of our residents and 60% of our employees are vaccinated. According to the CDC, national vaccination rates in long-term care facilities during the first month of the rollout have averaged 77.8% for residents and 37.5% for employees. (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7005e2.htm?s_cid=mm7005e2_w). We are continuing to educate, encourage and assist our unvaccinated residents and employees in obtaining vaccinations from local community resources and providers.

More good news…in the counties where we are located, seven are now green! Only two remain yellow this week – Polk County, Wisconsin and Silver-Bow County, Montana. Because of this improvement, visitation has opened up at all locations.  If you have received the COVID vaccination series, please bring your card to show staff when you check-in for a visit.  This will help our staff determine the level of personal protective equipment you will be required to wear during your visit.

And finally, we have not had a single positive COVID case in a resident or employee for the entire month of February! We are so very hopeful the situation will stay this promising in the months ahead. Our tenants and residents are participating in socially distanced activities and our dining rooms are in operation once again within the rules/framework the federal government has directed.

With daylight savings time, St. Patrick’s Day and the first day of spring on the horizon, along with the positive trends the COVID vaccinations have caused, it is much easier to have hope for the first time in a long time!

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for February 3, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

By the end of this week, all our skilled nursing and assisted living locations will have conducted their first on-site vaccination clinics for the COVID-19 vaccine. Second clinics have been held for two locations with all others scheduled during the months of February and March.

We hope we will eventually achieve a 100% vaccination rate amongst our residents, tenants and employees.  We will continue to educate everyone on the benefits of receiving the vaccine series. If you are a resident, tenant, resident representative or employee and you have any concerns about receiving the vaccine, please contact your primary physician, ask to speak to the director of nursing or administrator at the nursing home, or send an email to me at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com. I would be more than happy to help answer your questions.

As discussed in our last update, many family members are inquiring about visiting their loved ones. Here is where we are today:

  • If the facility is in outbreak status, visitation may resume if the facility reaches 14 days without a new case in a resident or employee. Two of our locations, Flatrock River Lodge in Rushville, Indiana and Clairidge House in Kenosha, Wisconsin are currently considered in outbreak status, both having just one employee who has tested positive from community exposure.
  • If the facility is in a “red” county, only compassionate care or end-of-life visits are allowed. Fortunately, many of our counties are returning to “yellow” status, and only two of our Indiana locations remain “red” this week – White River Lodge in Bedford and Flatrock River Lodge in Rushville.
  • If the facility is not in outbreak status, and the county is “yellow” or “green” for a 14-day period, we are proceeding with setting up indoor visitation appointments. Indoor visitation is now allowed at the following locations:
    • Oakbrook Health & Rehab, Thorp, Wisconsin
    • Pine View Care Center and Pine View Terrace, Black River Falls, Wisconsin
    • Plum City Care Center and The Seasons, Plum City, Wisconsin
    • Willow Ridge Healthcare and Riverbend Assisted Living, Amery, Wisconsin
    • Crest Nursing Home, Butte, Montana
  • Regardless of outbreak status and county positivity rate, we are committed to working with residents and their families to conduct needed compassionate care or end-of-life visits. If you would like to inquire about setting up this type of visit, please contact the nursing home administrator.

After the third round of vaccination clinics are conducted during the end of February and into March, all our locations will be able to share information on their vaccination percentages for residents/tenants and employees.

Please stay safe during Super Bowl Sunday and have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for January 21, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

As of today, all of our skilled nursing facilities have conducted their first on-site vaccination clinics for the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccination clinics for our assisted living facilities will be completed on the following dates:

  • Riverbend Assisted Living, Amery, WI on January 27th
  • Pine View Terrace, Black River Falls, WI on February 4th
  • The Seasons, Plum City, WI (yet to be determined)

We are hopeful we will eventually achieve a 100% vaccination rate amongst our residents, tenants and employees.  We will continue to educate everyone on the benefits of receiving the vaccine series. If you are a resident, tenant, resident representative or employee and you have any concerns about receiving the vaccine, please contact your primary physician, ask to speak to the director of nursing or administrator at the nursing home, or send an email to me at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com. I would be more than happy to help answer your questions.

Many family members are inquiring about visiting a resident that has received the initial vaccination. Until enough people are vaccinated, we will continue to abide by the following:

  • If the facility is in outbreak status, visitation may resume if they reach 14 days without a new case in a resident or employee.
  • If the facility is in a “red” county, only compassionate care or end-of-life visits are allowed.
  • If the facility is not in outbreak status, and the county is “yellow” or “green”, we are proceeding with setting up indoor visitation appointments.
  • Regardless of outbreak status and county positivity rate, we are committed to working with residents and their families to conduct needed compassionate care or end-of-life visits. If you would like to inquire about setting up this type of visit, please contact the nursing home administrator.

Finally, we have received some comments from community members about our decision to not post details about a facility outbreak on our website or on Facebook posts. We are required to make timely and appropriate notifications to our residents, tenants, employees and the legal resident representatives, as well as to the required government agencies.  

It’s been a very long and difficult ten months for everyone. I want to personally thank the many family members for sending emails and letters acknowledging our amazing employees. I have personally read a few messages to named employees and have heard them break into tears. You have no idea the effect you have had on their spirit! Thank you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for January 15, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

As of today, seven of our skilled nursing facilities have conducted their first on-site vaccination clinics for the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccination clinics for our other facilities will be completed next week on the following dates:

  • White River Lodge, Bedford, IN on January 18th
  • Crest Nursing Home, Butte, MT on January 21st

Pine View Terrace in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, is our first assisted living community to be scheduled for a vaccination clinic, which will occur on February 4th. We are waiting for the providing pharmacy to schedule the clinics at Riverbend Assisted Living in Amery, Wisconsin and at The Seasons, in Plum City, Wisconsin.

We are hopeful we will eventually achieve a 100% vaccination rate amongst our residents, tenants and employees. We are not reaching that goal on our first round of vaccines. We understand some resident representatives and employees have concerns regarding the safety of the vaccine.  I would like to take a minute to address the top few concerns with information taken directly from the CDC website (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/index.html): 

Why is it important that both long-term care personnel and residents receive COVID-19 vaccine?

Receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is an important step to reduce a person’s chance of becoming sick with COVID-19 disease. Long-term care personnel were placed first in line to receive COVID-19 vaccine because of their essential role in fighting this deadly pandemic and their increased risk of getting COVID-19 and spreading it to their residents. Their decision to get vaccinated can protect more than just their health. It can also help protect their colleagues, patients, families, and communities. Ensuring long-term care facility residents receive COVID-19 vaccination as soon as vaccine is available will help save the lives of those at highest risk for infection and severe illness from COVID-19. Because long-term care facility residents live in group settings and are often older adults with underlying chronic medical conditions, they are most at risk of severe disease from diseases like COVID-19.

How do we really know if COVID-19 vaccines are safe?

COVID-19 vaccines were tested in large clinical trials to make sure they meet safety standards. Many people were recruited to participate in these trials to see how the vaccines offers protection to people of different ages, races, and ethnicities, as well as those with different medical conditions.

Is the vaccine that helpful? I heard getting COVID-19 gives you better and longer immunity than the protection a vaccine can give. Can it actually make my illness worse if I do end up getting COVID-19?

Both this disease and the vaccine are new. We don’t know how long protection lasts for those who get infected or those who are vaccinated. What we do know is that COVID-19 has caused very serious illness and death for a lot of people. If you get COVID-19, you also risk giving it to loved ones who may get very sick. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a safer choice.

How much will the shot hurt? Can it cause you to get very sick?

Most people do not have serious problems after being vaccinated. However, your arm may be sore, red, or warm to the touch. These symptoms usually go away on their own within a week. Some people report getting a headache or fever when getting a vaccine. These side effects are a sign that your immune system is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. It is working and building up protection to disease

So far most of our residents and employees have experienced little or no side effects from the vaccination. The most common side effect is tenderness at the site of the injection that lasts up to three days. A few employees experienced mild headache later in the day or the next day after receiving the vaccination, which they treated with Tylenol or Ibuprofen. We have had no serious reactions in any residents or employees.

If you are a resident, tenant, resident representative or employee and you have any reservation regarding receiving the vaccine, please contact your primary physician, read the website link listed above, ask to speak to the director of nursing or administrator at the nursing home, or send an email to me at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com. I would be more than happy to help answer your questions.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for January 6, 2021 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

As of today, all our on-site vaccination clinics for the COVID-19 vaccine have been scheduled. Each location is paired with Walgreen’s or CVS Pharmacies for administration of the vaccine.  We do not have a say in when our vaccine clinics are scheduled. We accepted the first possible date given to us at each location.

Two facilities, Flatrock River Lodge in Rushville, Indiana and Willow Ridge Healthcare in Amery, Wisconsin, had their first vaccination clinics on December 28th. Pine View Care Center in Black River Falls, is holding its clinic today, January 6th. Our other locations are scheduled as follows:

  • Oakbrook Health & Rehabilitation, Thorp WI on January 11th
  • Lodge of the Wabash, Vincennes, IN on January 13th
  • Plum City Care Center, Plum City, WI on January 14th
  • Clairidge House, Kenosha, WI on January 14th
  • White River Lodge, Bedford, IN on January 18th
  • Crest Nursing Home, Butte, MT on January 21st

We have not yet heard when our assisted living communities will be scheduled to receive the vaccine, but will notify you as soon as we are notified. These communities are Riverbend in Amery, WI, The Seasons in Plum City, WI and Pine View Terrace in Black River Falls, WI.

All locations have or will be discussing the vaccine with residents and their legal representatives to obtain consent to receive the vaccine and to discuss the Emergency Use Authorization form for the vaccine.  It appears all but one of our locations will be receiving the Moderna vaccine. I have attached the link to the Moderna Emergency Use Authorization form here: https://www.fda.gov/media/144638/download. Crest Nursing Home in Butte, Montana will receiving the Pfizer vaccine. A link to the Pfizer Emergency Use Authorization form is here: https://www.fda.gov/media/144414/download.

We know you are eager to visit your loved one.  We have received several phone calls about the ability to visit once the vaccine is administered. There are still several factors that determine our ability to host visitors indoors, including county positivity rates and whether the facility is in or out of outbreak status. We are awaiting further guidance from  the CDC and CMS on loosening restrictions in the safest way possible.  We will keep you informed.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for December 21, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We are starting to receive dates and times for our on-site vaccination clinics for the COVID-19 vaccine. All our locations have been paired with Walgreen’s or CVS Pharmacies for administration of the vaccine. Once we know the definitive date and time for the first round, we will contact the residents and their legal representatives to obtain consent to receive the vaccine and to discuss the Emergency Use Authorization form for the vaccine. I have attached the link to the form here: https://www.fda.gov/media/144638/download.

As of now, it appears we will be receiving the Moderna vaccine that was approved by the FDA last week. In a couple of our Indiana locations, a few staff members were able to register online and go to their local hospital as an essential health care worker to receive the Pfizer COVID vaccine. Our first staff member was vaccinated on Thursday, December 17th! We are excited to see the light at the end of this very long and dark tunnel!

All counties in the states where we have a nursing home or assisted living facility continue to be designated “red” for COVID positivity rates. With this week’s update, the highest county positivity rate is Lawrence County, Indiana at 23.9%. Our Wisconsin counties range between 11.3% to 16.9%, Silver Bow County, Montana is at 13.4% and our Indiana counties fall between 17.6% and 23.9%.

Similar to Thanksgiving, Christmas is unfortunately coinciding with ongoing community spread of COVID. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) has reported that an important component of recent case increases is due to small family gatherings. It recommends that individuals at increased risk of severe illness from COVID should avoid in-person gatherings with individuals with whom they do not live.

Because most individuals living in our nursing homes or assisted living facilities fall into the category of increased risk, it is strongly recommended that families do not take persons who reside in long-term care or assisted living facilities to their homes or to gatherings for holiday events. However, this recommendation does not apply to residents who have been diagnosed and recovered from COVID in the past 90 days.

Instead of holiday gatherings in your home, we recommend visiting with loved ones through Skype or FaceTime calls or window visits. Outdoor visitation is still permitted in red counties, but this becomes a less desirable option as the outdoor temperatures drop and there is snow to contend with. Indoor visits are limited to only compassionate care or end-of-life visits at this time at all locations.

If you are still planning on taking your loved one home for the holidays, there are things you can do to lower the risk of COVID transmission:

  • Decrease your own exposures by avoiding indoor settings with people you don’t live with where you cannot socially distance and wear a mask for at least 2 weeks before Christmas (e.g. indoor social events, bars, restaurants, carpooling).
  • Wear a mask at all times when you are in indoor locations outside of your house or events where you cannot socially distance from others. Always keep a mask on when any high-risk individuals are in your presence – whether in a car or inside your home.
  • Wash your hands and use alcohol-based hand sanitizer and ask those coming into your house to do the same.
  • Physically distance as much as possible, at least 6 feet from others outside your household.
  • Screen anyone entering your house for symptoms and do not allow any symptomatic guests into your home.
  • Clean high-touch surfaces (e.g. tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, sinks, etc.) in your home with an approved COVID cleaning solution.
  • Make environmental changes to decrease the possibility of indoor spread of COVID including cracking windows or use of room HEPA filters.

Upon your loved one’s return to the facility, please know that residents who leave the facility for these types of visits will be placed in quarantine for 14 days when returning. If they live in a private apartment or room this means they would be separated from others in the facility for 14 days upon return. If they have a roommate, they might not be able to return to their own room for 14 days upon return. Rather, they would be moved to an observation/isolation room, if one is available, for 14 days to ensure they do not develop symptoms of COVID.

If an observation/isolation room is not available, your loved one may not be able to return to the facility until a room is available. Prior to taking your loved one out of the facility for Christmas, please contact the facility administrator to make sure that an observation/isolation room would be available on their return. If one is not available, you may be required to keep and care for your loved one until a room is available.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com. We would like to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a happier New Year!

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for December 8, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

By now you have probably learned that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be approved and ready for distribution to the healthcare workers and residents in long term care. We have long awaited this exciting news.

We understand there is some concern about the safety of these new vaccines, as they have been developed and tested far more quickly than those in the past. We want to assure you the speed with which these vaccines were developed is not due to skipping important safety steps, but rather the result of focused, collaborative work performed by experts across the globe. Vaccines approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have undergone the same level of rigorous testing for safety and efficacy as other vaccines, and have been tested in tens of thousands of people, including older adults. Two independent advisory committees of experts from academic institutions also monitor vaccines to ensure their safety.

Most of the COVID-19 vaccines require two separate doses given about three or four weeks apart, depending on the vaccine. Participants of clinical trials have reported experiencing short-term side effects after being vaccinated, with more pronounced discomfort after the second dose. These possible side effects include headache, muscle pains, fatigue, chills, fever and pain at the injection site. Sometimes there is misunderstanding about the cause of these reactions, as you may have heard someone say a vaccine has “made them sick” or given them the disease that the vaccine was intended to prevent. We want to be clear this is not the case. The COVID-19 vaccine cannot give you a COVID-19 infection. The vaccine works by helping the body create antibodies to fight off the virus. Feeling discomfort after getting the vaccine means that the vaccine is doing its job and your body is making antibodies.

We, along with thousands of other long term care facilities, are participating in a program with the Centers for Disease Control to assist us in efficiently distributing these vaccines to our residents free of charge.  We will keep you informed of this process as we move forward. Our staff will also have the opportunity to get vaccinated through this program, if they have not been vaccinated previously.

I encourage you to reach out to us if you have any questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, including possible side effects of the vaccine and what to expect after you or a loved one receives it.  As we have been saying over the course of this difficult year, we are all in this together. Please know that the safety and wellbeing of our staff and residents have been and remain our top priority. We are confident that the worldwide, unprecedented scientific achievement of these COVID-19 vaccines will eventually enable us to enjoy life with our loved ones again. We look forward to doing our part in this effort by getting the COVID-19 vaccine.  We hope you will join us.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for December 1, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

All counties in all states where we have a nursing home or assisted living facility continue to be designated “red” for COVID positivity rates, with Silver Bow County in Montana with the highest positivity rate of 29.6%. Our Wisconsin counties range between 15.0% to 22.6% positivity rates, followed by Indiana counties falling between 12.1% and 19.1% positivity rates.  For this reason, we are only able to accommodate compassionate care and end-of-life visits at this time.

Due to this ongoing surge in community COVID spread, we have taken heightened measures to protect the health and safety of our residents and staff members. Instead of wearing surgical masks, we have switched to the full-time use of KN95’s and N95’s. To the extent we are able, we are having prior positive COVID staff provide care for residents who have never tested positive. By doing so, these residents will not be exposed to the virus by a staff member who is an asymptomatic carrier of the virus. All of our employees are also completing additional COVID training provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) specifically for nursing homes.

We are awaiting word from our state and federal agencies on the plan for a Coronavirus vaccination for our residents and staff. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are meeting today to determine the order in which people receive the vaccine. We are hoping to be selected for “Phase 1A” of vaccine administration. We should know much more about this by next week’s update.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com. We hope you all had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for November 20, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

All counties in all states where we have a nursing home or assisted living facility continue to be designated “red” for COVID positivity rates. With this week’s update, the highest county positivity rate is once again, Silver Bow County in Montana at 25.7%. Our Wisconsin counties range between 15.6% to 19.0%, followed by Indiana counties falling between 10.7% and 17.9%.

The following paragraphs are a reiteration of last week’s COVID update for those who may have missed it:

Thanksgiving, unfortunately, is coinciding with significant increases in community spread of COVID. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) has recently reported that an important component of recent case increases is due to small family gatherings. It recommends that individuals at increased risk of severe illness from COVID should avoid in-person gatherings with individuals with whom they do not live.

Because most individuals living in our nursing homes or assisted living facilities fall into the category of increased risk, it is strongly recommended that families do not take persons who reside in long-term care or assisted living facilities to their homes or to gatherings for holiday events. However, this recommendation does not apply to residents who have been diagnosed and recovered from COVID in the past 90 days.

Instead of holiday gatherings in your home, we recommend visiting with loved ones through Skype or FaceTime calls or window visits. Outdoor visitation is still permitted in red counties, but this becomes a less desirable option as the outdoor temperatures drop and there is snow to contend with. Indoor visits are limited to only compassionate care or end-of-life visits at this time at all locations.

If you are still planning on taking your loved one home for the holidays, there are things you can do to lower the risk of COVID transmission:

  • Decrease your own exposures by avoiding indoor settings with people you don’t live with where you cannot socially distance and wear a mask for at least 2 weeks before Thanksgiving (e.g. indoor social events, bars, restaurants, carpooling).
  • Wear a mask at all times when you are in indoor locations outside of your house or events where you cannot socially distance from others. Always keep a mask on when any high-risk individuals are in your presence – whether in a car or inside your home.
  • Wash your hands and use alcohol-based hand sanitizer and ask those coming into your house to do the same.
  • Physically distance as much as possible, at least 6 feet from others outside your household.
  • Screen anyone entering your house for symptoms and do not allow any symptomatic guests into your home.
  • Clean high-touch surfaces (e.g. tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, sinks, etc.) in your home with an approved COVID cleaning solution.
  • Make environmental changes to decrease the possibility of indoor spread of COVID including cracking windows or use of room HEPA filters.

Upon your loved one’s return to the facility, please know that all individuals who leave the facility for these types of visits will be placed in quarantine for 14 days when returning. If they live in a private apartment or room this means they would be separated from others in the facility for 14 days upon return. If they have a roommate, they might not be able to return to their own room for 14 days upon return. Rather, they would be moved to an observation/isolation room, if one is available, for 14 days to ensure they do not develop symptoms of COVID.

If an observation/isolation room is not available, your loved one may not be able to return to the facility until a room is available. Prior to taking your loved one out of the facility for Thanksgiving, please contact the facility administrator to make sure that an observation/isolation room would be available on their return. If one is not available, you may be required to keep and care for your loved one until a room is available.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com. We would like to wish all of you a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for November 13, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

All counties in all states where we have a nursing home or assisted living facility are now designated “red” for COVID positivity rates. With this week’s update, the highest county positivity rate is Silver Bow County in Montana at 22.7%. Our Wisconsin counties range between 12.6% to 17.8%, followed by Indiana counties falling between 12.1% and 13.6%. Governors in all three states are enacting new emergency orders or re-implementing restrictions such as putting limits on group gatherings and limiting customer capacity at certain businesses.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services distributed a press release Wednesday night after designating 65 counties as “critically high”. Here is an excerpt:

“Far too many of our communities are in a dire situation,” said DHS Deputy Secretary Julie Willems Van Dijk. “To put these new data in perspective, Wisconsin is now seeing more average cases per day than New York City did at the peak of its surge last spring. Because of these critically high levels of disease, public health can no longer adequately contact trace, hospital beds are filled with patients with COVID-19, and too many Wisconsin families are losing loved ones to this virus. By helping people see the critically high level of disease in their counties and regions, we hope these data enhancements will help people make important decisions to stay home in order to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Because of this high positivity rate designation, all our nursing home locations are required to test all staff twice weekly per federal requirements. We are also testing residents once per week for those facilities in “outbreak” status until we reach a 14-day timeframe with no new positive cases. Reaching this goal seems insurmountable at this time due to the surge in community COVID cases.

Thanksgiving, unfortunately, is coinciding with significant increases in community spread of COVID. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) has recently reported that an important component of recent case increases is due to small family gatherings. It recommends that individuals at increased risk of severe illness from COVID should avoid in-person gatherings with individuals with whom they do not live.

Because most individuals living in our nursing homes or assisted living facilities fall into the category of increased risk, it is strongly recommended that families do not take persons who reside in long-term care or assisted living facilities to their homes or to gatherings for holiday events. However, this recommendation does not applyto residents who have been diagnosed and recovered from COVID in the past 90 days.

Instead of holiday gatherings in your home, we recommend visiting with loved ones through Skype or FaceTime calls or window visits. Outdoor visitation is still permitted in red counties, but this becomes a less desirable option as the outdoor temperatures drop and there is snow to contend with. Indoor visits are limited to only compassionate care or end-of-life visits at this time at all locations.

If you are still planning on taking your loved one home for the holidays, there are things you can do to lower the risk of COVID transmission:

  • Decrease your own exposures by avoiding indoor settings with people you don’t live with where you cannot socially distance and wear a mask for at least 2 weeks before Thanksgiving (e.g. indoor social events, bars, restaurants, carpooling).
  • Wear a mask at all times when you are in indoor locations outside of your house or events where you cannot socially distance from others. Always keep a mask on when any high-risk individuals are in your presence – whether in a car or inside your home.
  • Wash your hands and use alcohol-based hand sanitizer and ask those coming into your house to do the same.
  • Physically distance as much as possible, at least 6 feet from others outside your household.
  • Screen anyone entering your house for symptoms and do not allow any symptomatic guests into your home.
  • Clean high-touch surfaces (e.g. tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, sinks, etc.) in your home with an approved COVID cleaning solution.
  • Make environmental changes to decrease the possibility of indoor spread of COVID including cracking windows or use of room HEPA filters.

Upon your loved one’s return to the facility, please know that all individuals who leave the facility for these types of visits will be placed in quarantine for 14 days when returning. If they live in a private apartment or room this means they would be separated from others in the facility for 14 days upon return. If they have a roommate, they might not be able to return to their own room for 14 days upon return. Rather, they would be moved to an observation/isolation room, if one is available, for 14 days to ensure they do not develop symptoms of COVID.

If an observation/isolation room is not available, your loved one may not be able to return to the facility until a room is available. Prior to taking your loved one out of the facility for Thanksgiving, please contact the facility administrator to make sure that an observation/isolation room would be available on their return. If one is not available, you may be required to keep and care for your loved one until a room is available.

We are still awaiting news of a Coronavirus vaccine delivery and administration schedule. We will keep you informed of the timeline and process once we receive more information from the state and federal agencies involved.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for November 6, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We want to provide you with an update on the COVID outbreak at Plum City Care Center. There are currently 19 active resident cases and 13 active staff cases. All active residents are on our COVID-isolation unit. Staff members are completing their required quarantine timeframes and returning to work when able. We are saddened to report the death of one resident who has tested positive, although cause of death was determined to be from a different diagnosis.

Two of our residents have completed their quarantine requirement and have now moved off the COVID-isolation unit, with several more residents scheduled to move off the unit over the next few days.   

We will continue testing residents and staff every 3-7 days until we reach a 14-day time frame with no new positive cases. We tested staff and residents on November 1st and 2nd. From that round of testing, we had 4 positive residents and 3 positive staff members. Testing was conducted again yesterday, November 5th, and we are awaiting those results.

The facility has dedicated staff members who are working on the COVID isolation unit. All staff members on the COVID isolation unit and on our observation isolation unit are wearing N95 masks and full face shields. Our facility currently has adequate gowns, gloves and hand sanitizer for staff use. HEPA air filtration units are in operation in the resident rooms and air disinfection purifiers in the hallways throughout the facility.

There are no shared staff members at this time between Plum City Care Center and The Seasons Assisted Living facility. All staff and residents of The Seasons Assisted Living have been tested and are negative. To date there have been no positive resident or staff cases at The Seasons.

The residents who have tested positive for COVID are being monitored every 2-4 hours by a licensed nurse for evaluation of changes in any vital signs, oxygen saturation levels and symptoms. Nurses are communicating frequently with the residents’ medical providers to keep them updated on their clinical condition. We continue to work closely with the county public health department, the facility’s medical director and the Wisconsin State Department of Health on outbreak management and appropriate clinical treatment for our COVID positive residents.

We know this is a difficult time for everyone involved and we appreciate your patience and understanding. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator, Carla Hutter, at chutter@rphfcorp.com, by phone at (715) 647-2401, or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for October 30, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

Since our last update, five residents and one employee at Plum City Care Center tested positive for COVID-19 during the weekly routine testing. The residents were immediately moved into our COVID-isolation unit. The employee is in quarantine per public health directives.

One of our residents has completed their quarantine requirement and has now moved off the COVID isolation unit. One of our employees has completed their quarantine and has returned to work. As of today, there are five residents and one employee with active cases.  

We will continue testing residents and staff every 3-7 days until we reach a 14-day time frame with no new positive cases. We are still waiting for some test results for a resident and employee that were tested on October 26th and 27th.

The facility has dedicated staff members who are working on the COVID isolation unit. All staff members on the COVID isolation unit and on our observation isolation unit are wearing N95 masks and full face shields. Our facility currently has adequate gowns, gloves and hand sanitizer for staff use. HEPA air filtration units are in operation in the resident rooms.

There are no shared staff members at this time between Plum City Care Center and The Seasons Assisted Living facility.

The residents who have tested positive for COVID are being monitored every 2-4 hours by a licensed nurse for evaluation of changes in any vital signs, oxygen saturation levels and symptoms. Nurses are communicating frequently with the residents’ medical providers to keep them updated on their clinical condition. We continue to work closely with the county public health department, the facility’s medical director and the Wisconsin State Department of Health on outbreak management and appropriate clinical treatment for our COVID positive resident.

We know this is a difficult time for everyone. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator, Carla Hutter, at chutter@rphfcorp.com, by phone at (715) 647-2401, or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for October 16, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

As of this week’s update, Pierce County, where Plum City Care Center and The Seasons are located, is considered a “green” county. However, during the staff testing this week at Plum City Care Center, one asymptomatic staff member tested COVID-positive. She was exposed outside the facility and is in quarantine per public health directives.

Due to the positive staff case, the facility will remain in “outbreak” status. A reminder that if one employee tests positive for COVID, even if the employee was exposed to the virus while out in the community, it is considered an “outbreak” for this purpose. We will continue testing residents and staff weekly until we reach a 14-day timeframe with no new positive cases.

Since the facility remains in “outbreak” status, all visitation remains suspended until the outbreak is cleared per guidance that was released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Virtual visits may still occur (e.g. Skype, FaceTime, etc.) as well as very limited end-of-life compassionate care visits.

We know this is difficult for everyone. With community transmission on the rise in many areas, our staff remain dedicated to executing our infection prevention and control plan. One of the main predictors of COVID-19 affecting a long-term care facility is community prevalence. We continue to ask Wisconsinites to mask, maintain social distancing and perform thorough and frequent hand-washing or use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. We are reliant on our community members to assist us in getting through this pandemic.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator, Carla Hutter, at chutter@rphfcorp.com, by phone at (715) 647-2401, or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for October 2, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

Every two weeks we review the positivity rates for the counties where our facilities are located.  The positivity rate is a measure the federal government uses to identify the current level of COVID transmission in a certain area.  A county with a positivity rate less than 5% is designated a “green” county.  A county with a positivity rate between 5-10% is designated a “yellow’” county and a county with a positivity rate over 10% is described as a “red” county.

Plum City Care Center and The Seasons are located in Pierce County, which has now moved from a “green” county to a “yellow” county this week due to an increase in positive COVID cases.

Three weeks ago, we notified you we had one employee positive for COVID.  Based on this single positive test, we were required to test all staff and residents weekly until we had 14 days with no new positive results.  Another employee tested positive during our last round of routine testing, just after we reached our 14-day timeframe. This, unfortunately, resets a new 14-day period.

Once we reach the 14-day timeframe with no new cases, and the county remains “yellow” or “green”, we will start outdoor visitation at Plum City Care Center and The Seasons. We will keep you informed of the testing progress and give you ample time to schedule your outdoor visitation appointments when the time comes. We are hopeful Pierce County will return to a low positivity level soon.

Plum City and The Seasons will be starting to administer the influenza vaccine next week. If they haven’t already, our staff members will be in contact with you to review the vaccine information statement for the Influenza vaccine. Here is the link to the CDC Vaccine Information Statements (we use Influenza-Inactivated): https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/vis/current-vis.html.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator, Carla Hutter at (715) 647-2401 or chutter@rphfcorp.com or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for September 18, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

On our company COVID call this week, we reviewed the positivity rates for the counties where our facilities are located.  The positivity rate is a measure the federal government uses to identify the current level of COVID transmission in a certain area.  A county with a positivity rate less than 5% is designated a “green” county.  A county with a positivity rate between 5-10% is designated a “yellow’” county and a county with a positivity rate over 10% is described as a “red” county.

Plum City Care Center and The Seasons are located in Pierce County, which is currently designated as a “green” county.

The federal government has provided Plum City with its COVID antigen point-of-care testing device and supplies.  Since Pierce County is a “green” county, we are required to COVID test our staff on a monthly basis. If the county turns “yellow”, we are required to test the staff weekly. If the county turns “red”, the staff must be tested twice a week.

At the beginning of this week, we notified you we had one staff member test positive for COVID.  Based on this single positive test, we are required to test all staff and residents weekly until we have 14 days with no new positive results. This testing requirement supersedes the testing requirement discussed above for a “green” county. We have been conducting staff and resident testing this week and expect to have the test results back within a few days.

Once we reach our 14-day timeframe with no new cases, and the county remains “green”, we will start outdoor visitation at Plum City Care Center and The Seasons. We will keep you informed of the testing progress and give you ample time to schedule your outdoor visitation appointments when the time comes.

We are grateful Pierce County has earned a low positivity level. We thank the residents of Pierce County for this accomplishment. Please keep masking and practicing good hand hygiene and social distancing. Our residents and staff appreciate it!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,
Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for September 4, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

In our update letter two weeks ago, we discussed the COVID outbreak at our Vincennes, Indiana facility, Lodge of the Wabash. Regretfully, we lost a second resident to the virus on August 27th. However, we are happy to report 20 of our Lodge of the Wabash residents have returned to their rooms after spending time in the facility’s COVID isolation unit. There are now 11 residents in the isolation unit, one of whom was recently admitted from the hospital at the request of local health authorities. Five of the residents in the isolation unit are without symptoms and are scheduled to return to their own rooms tomorrow. Two Lodge of the Wabash residents remain hospitalized.

The remaining 24 Lodge of the Wabash residents were retested on September 1st. The test results were all negative. We are awaiting the test results on our remaining staff. Currently, we have five staff in quarantine.

Outdoor visitation at the Lodge of the Wabash is remains suspended and will remain suspended until the facility has no additional symptomatic or COVID-positive residents and staff for 14 days.

Lodge of the Wabash continues to work closely with the county public health physician, the facility’s medical director and the Indiana State Department of Health on outbreak management and appropriate clinical treatment for our COVID positive residents. The Indiana State Department of Health conducted a third Focused Infection Control Survey at Lodge of the Wabash on Monday, September 1st and they received no citations for deficient practices.

Residents and staff members at Oakbrook Health & Rehab in Thorp, Wisconsin have been tested due to a staff member recently testing positive. All of the resident’s test results were negative. We are awaiting the staff testing results.

Our Clairidge House facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin and our Flatrock River Lodge facility in Rushville, Indiana are the first two locations to receive their point-of-care COVID testing unit and test supplies from the federal government. We are working diligently to prepare policies and conduct staff training to get these units up and running. Our remaining facilities are waiting to receive the point-of-care COVID testing units. The residents at these facilities are presently COVID-free.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,
Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for August 21, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

I would like to start out this week’s update by sharing an article with you to read.

As the article states, COVID cases in the nursing homes are on the rise due to an increase in the overall number of cases in communities throughout the United States. We are saddened to report that one of our homes, Lodge of the Wabash in Vincennes, Indiana, is experiencing a COVID outbreak.

Lodge of the Wabash learned of its first COVID positive resident on Tuesday, August 11th. This resident was hospitalized for an unrelated medical condition and tested positive for COVID while in the hospital. Unfortunately, the resident passed on Friday, August 14th. The Indiana State Department of Health provided testing supplies to the facility last Monday, August 17 and all residents were tested. As of this date, we have 29 residents that are COVID positive. Of those 29 residents, 22 are asymptomatic and feeling well. All COVID positive residents were moved onto our COVID isolation unit with dedicated staff.

The staff at Lodge of the Wabash are being tested at the state drive-through test centers. As of this date, seven employees tested positive and are in quarantine, as required by public health regulations.

Outdoor visitation at the Lodge of the Wabash has been suspended at this time and will remain suspended until the facility has a 14-day time frame of no additional symptomatic or COVID-positive residents and staff.

Lodge of the Wabash is working closely with the county public health physician, the facility’s medical director and the Indiana State Department of Health on outbreak management and appropriate clinical treatment for our COVID positive residents.

One employee at our Oakbrook Health & Rehabilitation in Thorp, Wisconsin has tested positive for the virus and is in quarantine. We believe the employee was exposed to the virus outside of the facility.

As always, if you do have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038


Click for August 7, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

Two weeks have passed since our last update letter and not much has changed. We continue to be grateful to report that as of today’s date, we are not aware of any COVID cases among our residents. We have one COVID positive staff member from one of our Indiana facilities currently in quarantine.  When we have an employee that tests positive for COVID, we notify the residents, the resident representatives and staff members of the facility where the employee works.

The second round of focused infection control surveys have begun in Indiana. Our facility in Rushville, Indiana, Flatrock River Lodge, received no citations. We are proud of our team for this accomplishment.

In the past weeks, I have heard from some family members regarding visitation.  They also asked what we are doing to help our residents deal with depression and loneliness resulting from the isolation requirements triggered by this pandemic.   I would like to take this opportunity to lay out several of our strategies we use to deal with these situations:

  • Skype, FaceTime and window visits continue at all of our communities. You can call the facility to arrange a date/time for these visits.
  • The Indiana facilities have been doing outdoor visitation for a full month now. Our Montana and Wisconsin facilities are hoping to begin outdoor visitation on August 17th, if they receive the green light from their local public health department. Our outdoor visitation areas are set-up and we are very excited to be able to start this process.
  • Throughout this pandemic, we have followed regulations regarding allowing “compassionate care” and “end-of-life” visitation opportunities for families. Each of these visits are defined, per policy, as follows:
    • End-of life visits: For a resident considered, based on the clinical impression, to be at imminent risk of dying (i.e. life expectancy 24-72 hours), an immediate family member(s), resident representative and/or clergy will have the opportunity to have a quality interaction with the resident.
    • Compassionate care visits: Compassionate care situations may extend past end-of-life situations. For example, for a resident who was living with family before recently being admitted to a nursing home, the change in their environment and sudden lack of family can be a traumatic experience. Allowing a visit from a family member in this situation would be consistent with the intent of the term “compassionate care situations.” Again, the goal is to allow immediate family member(s), resident representative and/or clergy the opportunity to have a quality interaction with the resident.
  • resident wearing all pink and holding an inflatable flamingoAll of our homes have developed individualized care plans for residents to ensure they have one-on-one visits, hobby materials, communication with families and friends (to the extent they are able) and participation in facility activity programming and special events.
  • Our facility staff members have been excellent at carrying out activities that have created moments of joy for our residents. I’ve included one of my favorite resident photos during this pandemic below. In fact, our resident’s son wrote a beautiful article about our facility, Plum City Care Center in Plum City, Wisconsin. The link is shared here if you would like to read it.

As always, if you do have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

We appreciate hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

COVID-10 Risk Assessment Chart

Click for July 24, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We are pleased to report, as of today’s date, we are not aware of any COVID cases among our residents. We have one positive staff member currently in quarantine from one of our Indiana facilities. When we have an employee that tests positive for COVID, we notify the residents, the resident representatives and staff members of the facility where the employee works.

Outdoor visitation continues to be offered at our Indiana facilities. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation during the visits, including the screening process upon arrival and following the safety rules during the visit.  We are not proceeding yet with the plan for indoor visitation, as the COVID activities in our counties have been increasing.  We will follow the recommendations of the local public health departments as to when it is safe to commence indoor visitation.

There have been a few questions regarding communal dining and activities. We do have our dining rooms “open” at this time, however, it is at limited capacity. Residents must continue to social distance by keeping at least six feet apart from fellow residents.  Also, residents must mask when outside their rooms. Each facility is managing the dining area for assisted meals and certain activities to ensure appropriate cleaning and disinfection takes place.

Our Wisconsin facility administrators and nursing directors continue to attend webinars given by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to assist in preparing for outdoor visitation. We will continue to work with the local public health departments and the state to decide when it is safe to begin. As of today’s date, many communities in Wisconsin are considered high-risk and visitation is still not advised.

Crest Nursing Home in Butte, Montana reopened its onsite beauty salon this week. The residents there are ecstatic.  We cannot wait to reopen our other locations when we are permitted.

Hickory Pointe Care & Rehabilitation of Oskaloosa, Kansas completed its federal COVID-19 Focused Infection Control Survey and COVID-19 Focused Emergency Preparedness Survey a couple weeks ago, and they were issued no citations. The surveyors commended the facility on its excellent preparation and implementation of the facility’s COVID prevention, identification and response plans.

Our company has placed additional orders for more personal protective equipment (PPE) this week as it became available. With these new shipments, we are optimistic we will have enough masks, face shields, gowns and N95’s to last us through the balance of the year.  Gloves remain scarce, but we are doing our best to ensure an adequate ongoing supply.

We are also very pleased to announce the federal government has decided to issue each nursing home a rapid-test COVID unit and supplies. Once received, we will have the ability to test our own symptomatic residents immediately and find out the result within an hour. This is a great tool to have at our disposal! Other efforts are also underway to assist nursing homes. For those of you interested in additional information, please see https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/trump-administration-announces-new-resources-protect-nursing-home-residents-against-covid-19.

As always, if you do have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

We appreciate hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for July 10, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We are pleased to report, as of today’s date, we are not aware of any COVID cases among our residents and staff.

As mandated by the Indiana State Department of Health, our Indiana facilities started outdoor visitation on July 4th. Since then, several family members have scheduled appointments and spent time with their loved ones. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation during the visits, including the screening process upon arrival and following the safety rules during the visit. Unfortunately, the weather has been too hot and humid for some of our residents and we have had to reschedule some visits.

We like to remind our Indiana family members to refrain from engaging in high risk activities prior to your visits. I am including in this letter a chart prepared by the Texas Medical Association that identifies what activities are considered low, moderate or high risk. We hope this will provide some guidance for you.

Our Wisconsin facility administrators and nursing directors continue to attend webinars given by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to assist in preparing for outdoor visitation. We will continue to work with the local public health departments and the state to decide when it is safe to begin.

At the request of several of our residents, we have developed a plan to allow a beautician to provide beauty services to our residents at the facilities. Policies and procedures have been developed to ensure this is done safely, including COVID-testing of the beautician and extensive training on appropriate disinfection practices. Crest Nursing Home in Butte, Montana will be the first facility to reopen its onsite beauty salon next week.

We have decided to provide our website and letter distribution updates every two weeks instead of weekly. We believe you have a very good understanding of the safety measures we have in place, our PPE supply and the required notifications we provide if we do have a positive COVID case. If you do have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact the facility administrator or myself at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

We appreciate hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for July 1, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

As you have heard on the news, COVID cases are on the rise across the country. Many governors are shutting down previously reopened beaches, bars and restaurants and mandating face mask use in public.  Silver Bow County in Montana, where our facility, Crest Nursing Home, is located, had not seen a positive COVID case in the county since March 30th. However, in the past week, three new COVID cases have been reported.  Once more, we discontinued visitation at Crest and the staff has resumed wearing full face shields and goggles.

We continue to closely watch each county’s COVID activity where our homes are located, as well as COVID activity in adjacent counties. As of June 30, 2020, the following is a list of our facilities and their county’s COVID statistics, listed in increasing order of cases:

  1. Crest Nursing Home: Silver Bow County, Montana -14 positive cases, 0 deaths, date of last positive case June 29
  2. Hickory Pointe Care & Rehab: Jefferson County, Kansas – 24 positive cases, 0 deaths, date of last positive case June 23
  3. Pine View Care Center and Pine View Terrace: Jackson County, Wisconsin – 27 positive cases, 1 death, date of last positive case June 29th.
  4. Willow Ridge Healthcare: Polk County, Wisconsin – 49 positive cases, 1 death, date of last positive case June 28th.
  5. Flatrock River Lodge: Rush County, Indiana – 53 positive cases, 3 deaths, date of last positive case June 25th.
  6. Lodge of the Wabash: Knox County, Indiana – 59 positive cases, 0 deaths, date of last positive case June 28th.
  7. Plum City Care Center and The Seasons: Pierce County, Wisconsin – 68 positive cases, 0 deaths, date of last positive case June 29th.
  8. Oakbrook Health & Rehab: Clark County, Wisconsin – 71 positive cases, 6 deaths, date of last positive case June 29th.
  9. White River Lodge: Lawrence County, Indiana – 218 positive cases, 24 deaths, date of last positive case June 28th.
  10. Clairidge House: Kenosha County, Wisconsin – 1492 positive cases, 43 deaths, date of last positive case June 29th.

Despite the uptick in positive COVID cases, the Indiana State Department of Health is requiring Indiana nursing homes to commence outdoor visitation this Saturday, July 4th. This means family members may begin calling Flatrock River Lodge, Lodge of the Wabash or White River Lodge to schedule a 30-minute appointment time with their loved one. Please see our outdoor visitation guide for specifics. We are happy you will be able to visit your family member, but apprehensive about the ill-timing of this mandate.

What does this mean for our nursing homes in other states? The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), our federal regulatory agency, encourages any decisions to relax requirements or conduct creative alternatives within nursing homes be made in coordination with state and local officials after a careful review of facility-level, community, and state factors/orders. Additionally, state and local officials consider all the following as a part of a comprehensive reopening plan:

  • Case status in surrounding community
  • Case status in the nursing home(s)
  • Staffing levels
  • Access to adequate testing for residents and staff
  • Personal protective equipment supplies
  • Local hospital capacity

These factors help guide decisions regarding reopening and creative ways to facilitate visitation. Consequently, Wisconsin, Montana and Kansas are not yet requiring homes to begin outdoor visitation. We will keep you apprised of any further progress or developments in this area.

Indiana used slightly different data to guide its decisions, including: (1) the number of hospitalized COVID patients statewide over the last 14 days, (2) critical care bed and ventilator capacity, (3) testing capacity for COVID symptomatic and at-risk Hoosiers; and (4) contact tracing.

Effective July 1st, we have made some changes to our quarantine requirements for residents. Residents that go directly to a clinic or hospital appointment, where the environment is controlled and all precautions are in place, will not be quarantined for 14 days upon their return. This is also true for our dialysis residents. Residents who leave their facilities to attend social gathering events such as weddings, funerals or parties will continue to be quarantined for 14 days upon their return.   These social gathering events are often called “super spreader” events if face mask use is not universally enforced for those in attendance and social distancing is not adhered to.  Please consider this as you weigh the risks and benefits of having your loved one attend such functions.

Once again, we appreciate your continued patience and understanding.  The safety of our residents and staff members are our top priorities.  If you have any additional questions or comments, you may e-mail me directly at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for June 25, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

Oakbrook Health and Rehabilitation of Thorp, Wisconsin completed its state COVID-19 Focused Infection Control Survey and COVID-19 Focused Emergency Preparedness Survey this week, and they were issued no citations. The surveyors commended the facility on its excellent preparation and implementation of the facility’s COVID prevention, identification and response plans.

Our three Indiana locations have completed surveillance COVID testing of their staff. A part-time employee at our Flatrock River Lodge facility in Rushville, Indiana, tested positive. Because the employee exhibited no symptoms of the virus, we requested the employee be tested again. The purpose of the second test was to determine if the employee was, in fact, asymptomatic positive or, if the test was a false positive test. We received the employee’s second test results and they were negative. The employee has been tested for the third time to confirm the negative status, and those results returned today negative. Our Flatrock administrator, Twyla Shaw, notified all residents, resident representatives and employees on Saturday, June 20th of the employee’s initial positive test results, as required by regulations.

Our Wisconsin facilities have started the second round of staff testing. This round of testing will be done in smaller groups of employees on an every-other week basis. The state of Kansas is not conducting any mass surveillance testing of staff or residents at this time. We will continue testing all our Kansas employees and residents exhibiting symptoms of the virus. As noted in an earlier update, Montana completed staff and resident surveillance testing and all test results were negative. We will continue to test all our Montana employees and residents who exhibit symptoms of the virus.

When we do receive a positive test result for an employee, they are removed from the work schedule and immediately quarantined. We notify all residents, staff members and resident representatives as soon as we are made aware of the test results. Any residents who may have been in contact with the employee are monitored closely for any change in the resident’s vital signs or any possible symptoms of COVID. All staff members are in procedure masks and full face shields or goggles during their shifts to reduce the risk of an asymptomatic employee transmitting the virus. We are pleased to report we have no positive COVID cases amongst our residents at any location.

We reported last week that Crest Nursing Home in Butte, Montana was fortunate enough to begin family outdoor visitation, since the county where Crest is located has not had a positive COVID case since March 30th. We are closely watching each county’s COVID activity where our homes are located. As of June 23, 2020, the following is a list of our facilities and their county’s COVID statistics, listed in increasing order of cases:

  1. Crest Nursing Home: Silver Bow County, Montana – 11 positive cases, 0 deaths, date of last positive case March 30th.
  2. Hickory Pointe Care & Rehabilitation: Jefferson County, Kansas – 22 positive cases, 0 deaths, date of last positive case June 9th.
  3. Pine View Care Center and Pine View Terrace: Jackson County, Wisconsin – 25 positive cases, 1 death, date of last positive case June 18th.
  4. Willow Ridge Healthcare and Riverbend: Polk County, Wisconsin – 41 positive cases, 1 death, date of last positive case June 22nd.
  5. Lodge of the Wabash: Knox County, Indiana – 47 positive cases, 0 deaths, date of last positive case June 22nd.
  6. Flatrock River Lodge: Rush County, Indiana – 52 positive cases, 3 deaths, date of last positive case June 22nd.
  7. Plum City Care Center and The Seasons: Pierce County, Wisconsin – 57 positive cases, 0 deaths, date of last positive case June 22nd.
  8. Oakbrook Health & Rehabilitation: Clark County, Wisconsin – 60 positive cases, 6 deaths, date of last positive case June 22nd.
  9. White River Lodge: Lawrence County, Indiana – 200 positive cases, 24 deaths, date of last positive case June 23rd.
  10. Clairidge House: Kenosha County, Wisconsin – 1435 positive cases, 41 deaths, date of last positive case June 23rd.

We monitor the above data weekly. A nursing home or assisted living community cannot have any new positive cases for 28 days, needs to be located in a county with no new cases for at least 14 days, and the counties surrounding our home are on a downward trend, then we will allow the outdoor visitation, according to our protocol, at that particular location. However, if a location is allowed to participate in outdoor visitation and there are new positive COVID cases identified in the county, then the outdoor visitation will cease until the criteria is met. As you can see from the list, Crest Nursing Home is the only home meeting criteria at the present time. Hickory Pointe in Oskaloosa, Kansas is getting close, but unfortunately there has been a spike in positive COVID cases in adjacent counties this week. We are hopeful more of our locations will meet the criteria as soon as possible.

For those who can only partake in window visits, we want to remind everyone to please call the facility to schedule a time. This allows staff to prepare for the visit by assisting the resident in getting them safely to the window or designated location.

Once again, we appreciate your continued patience and understanding. The safety of our residents and staff members are our top priorities. If you have any additional questions or comments, you may e-mail me directly at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for June 19, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

This past week has been another busy one. Two of our three Indiana facilities have conducted COVID staff testing (Lodge of the Wabash in Vincennes and Flatrock River Lodge in Rushville), with the third location (White River Lodge in Bedford) scheduled to test this upcoming weekend. Crest Nursing Home in Butte, Montana was fortunate enough to begin family outdoor visitation on June 16th, since the county where Crest is located has not had a positive COVID case since March 30th. Our Wisconsin locations are gearing up for another round of COVID staff testing to begin next week, and will continue on an every-other-week schedule.

Three locations, Clairidge House in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Plum City Care Center in Plum City, Wisconsin and Flatrock River Lodge in Rushville, Indiana all had their state COVID-19 Focused Infection Control Survey and COVID-19 Focused Emergency Preparedness Survey conducted this week, and they were issued NO citations. The surveyors commended the facilities on excellent preparation and implementation of their COVID prevention, identification and response plans. Oakbrook Health and Rehabilitation in Thorp, Wisconsin had their survey started off-site, and are waiting for the surveyors to complete the onsite portion of the surveys.

Last Monday, June 15th, Carla Knight joined the staff as the new administrator at our Pine View Terrace facility in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. We are confident in Carla’s abilities to lead the Terrace team during these unprecedented times.

Our personal protective equipment (PPE) orders continue to be shipped to facilities this week including reusable and disposable gowns, masks, shoe covers, goggles and gloves. With these final shipments, our locations are adequately prepared for “normal” use of the PPE and also have enough PPE in stock to be able to handle suspect or positive COVID cases, should the need arise.

We know how eager everyone is to commence outdoor visits with their loved ones. We will inform you when your loved one’s facility is ready to begin the outdoor visits. As mentioned above, Crest Nursing Home started outdoor family visits last Tuesday.

Recently, a few family members have broken some rules, i.e. removing a window screen and kissing a resident through the window, stop at the facility when they see their loved ones outside and speak with them at a close distance and hug – without masking or respecting social distancing requirements, etc. We ask that everyone remain patient and wait for local public health officials to determine that it is SAFE to begin our outdoor visits. When rules aren’t followed, the resident has to be placed in quarantine for a 14-day period to ensure they were not exposed, and to ensure they do not pass on the virus to anyone else at the facility. We implore you to please abide by the rules for the safety of all.

We appreciate your continued patience and understanding. The safety of our residents is imperative. If you have any additional questions, you may e-mail me at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for June 12, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We are pleased to report we continue to have no positive COVID cases amongst our residents and staff members.

In last week’s update, I discussed how the Indiana State Department of Health had released guidance that allows families to start outdoor visitation with residents in that state. Using that guidance, our company has developed protocol that our facilities will follow once we receive the “green light” to begin. One item we will require is approval from the local public health department, that they are in support of outdoor visitation given the local level of COVID activity. We continue to work with the state and local health departments to ensure safe outdoor visitation when we are allowed to begin.  We will keep you informed as plans in each county are finalized.

We have continued to receive shipments of more procedure masks and both disposable and reusable gowns from ongoing orders we have placed. We have received our FEMA shipments of personal protective equipment, but as you are reading or hearing in the news, it is disappointing to say the least. Much of what we received cannot even be safely used, so we are happy that we have been able to order and obtain our own supplies.

We appreciate your continued patience and understanding for the safety of our residents. If you have any additional questions, you may e-mail me at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for June 5, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We are pleased to report that based on the results of some of the recently conducted COVID testing at several of our facilities, we have no positive cases of COVID amongst our residents and staff. We are still waiting for a few pending test results for some of our staff and residents. Indiana public health officials announced plans to test staff during the last two weeks of June. Kansas has yet to finalize plans for testing.

We have some good news for our three Indiana locations. The Indiana State Department of Health released guidance that allows families to start outdoor visitation with residents. We are using the guidance to develop protocol that will need to be followed to accomplish these visits in a safe manner. The Wisconsin and Montana task forces for visitation are meeting to finalize their guidance. Kansas has given authority to individual counties to develop plans based on federal
guidance.

The facility will contact you when we can start to schedule outdoor visitation appointments. The following are outdoor visitation guidelines we will have in place at all of our locations:

  1. Visitors will need to call the facility to set up a 30-minute appointment. Residents may have only two visitors at a time, no children under 12 will be allowed at this time. The schedule and frequency of visits will be at the discretion of the facility in an effort to accommodate everyone.
  2. Visitors must be healthy and free of any symptoms/fever. Visitors will be screened at the front door by a trained staff member. This involves answering a series of questions, providing your contact information, having your temperature checked and sanitizing your hands with alcohol-based hand rub.
  3. Visitors are required to bring and wear a clean face covering or mask in good condition during the entire visit. If you arrive without one, the facility may provide a mask and charge you a nominal fee. We also encourage you to bring hand sanitizer if able.
  4. A staff member will escort you to the designated outdoor area at a shaded table/area, where you will be placed at least 6’ away from your loved one to abide by social distancing requirements.
  5. Unscheduled visits will not be allowed, and any visits scheduled on days with inclement weather or temperature over 95 degrees will need to be rescheduled for the safety of all.
  6. Please use the rest room before you arrive at the facility for your scheduled visit. Visitors will not be allowed inside the facility for any reason at this time.
  7. If you bring any food/snacks for your loved one, these will be collected at the time of screening, labeled and dated, and taken to the kitchen for the resident to enjoy at a later time after the visit has ended. Face coverings/masks cannot be removed by visitor or resident during the visit.
  8. As difficult as it is, there can be no hugs or physical touch during the visit for the safety of the resident.
  9. A trained staff member is required to remain outside for the duration of the visit to ensure a safe encounter occurs. They will remain at a distance to afford you privacy, but please know they are required to supervise.
  10. These rules will be strictly enforced. Please help make these visits as enjoyable and as safe as possible for you, your loved ones and our staff.

We want to extend our sincere gratitude to our employees for their hard work and dedication during this pandemic. Wearing all the extra personal protective equipment is uncomfortable but imperative for the safety of both residents and employees.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding as we deal with this pandemic. I would also like to thank the residents and family members who have sent me letters with questions, comments and suggestions. You may also e-mail me at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,
Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for May 29, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We are pleased to once again report there are no positive cases of COVID amongst our residents. We have received the COVID surveillance testing results for four of our locations. Plum City Care Center and The Seasons in Plum City, Wisconsin tested residents and staff members on Monday, May 18th and all results returned negative. Both Clairidge House in Kenosha, Wisconsin and Oakbrook Health & Rehab in Thorp, Wisconsin, tested all residents on Tuesday, May 19th and all results also returned negative. This week, we completed testing of the residents at Willow Ridge Healthcare in Amery, Wisconsin, Pine View Care Center and The Terrace in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and Crest Nursing Home in Butte, Montana. Both Clairidge House and Oakbrook conducted staff testing this week also. Riverbend Assisted Living in Amery, Wisconsin will be testing residents next week. Indiana and Kansas public health officials have not finalized plans for testing in those states.

As a reminder, in the event we receive any positive COVID test results, we will notify staff, residents and the residents’ authorized representative by 5pm the next calendar day. We will post a letter to the facility’s website and a link on the facility’s Facebook page. The letter will be distributed to all residents and on-duty staff members. Off-duty staff members are asked to check the website or Facebook page. Please note, we will call one authorized person for each resident. We ask the authorized person to share the information with other family members.

Any resident that tests positive will be immediately moved into our COVID isolation unit and will be placed on contact and airborne precautions. This is a dedicated isolation unit behind an antechamber wall that separates it from the remainder of the facility. Staff members on that unit will be wearing N95 masks, full face shields, gowns and gloves. Residents will reside on the unit until they are free of symptoms, if any, and there is clinical certainty that they have recovered and are no longer infectious.

We continue to use every resource at our disposal to provide our staff and residents with the personal protective equipment (PPE) required for their safety. We have ordered more disposable and reusable gowns, face masks, KN95 masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. We have also started receiving our distributions of PPE from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Families are inquiring about taking their loved ones home for a weekend visit while the government mandated ban on visitors remains in place. Such action may place your loved ones in a high risk environment by possibly exposing them to an asymptomatic COVID carrier in your family. This is a situation no one wants. If you proceed with this plan, our staff is required to instruct you on face coverings, social distancing, hand hygiene, etc. and document the conversation in the resident’s medical record. We also have to screen the family member picking up the resident for fever or symptoms, and screen the resident upon their return. The resident will then be placed in isolation for 14 days upon their return to the facility for the safety of all others. These are government mandated requirements in place to ensure the safety of your loved ones, other residents and our staff. Please consider the risk before making this decision.

We know how difficult it is to not be able to hug your mother, father, grandmother, and grandfather. When the visitation ban is finally lifted, we will be by your side, with tears of joy, when the first visits and hugs are allowed. We know window visits are not ideal but we are researching ways to improve this, such as Bluetooth headsets that can amplify sound. One of the biggest complaints regarding window visits is residents cannot hear their family members on a regular cellphone. We are hopeful that we can find and purchase items to remedy this problem.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding as we deal with this pandemic. I would also like to thank the residents and family members who have sent me letters with questions, comments and suggestions. You may also e-mail me at ssonnentag@rphfcorp.com.

Sincerely,Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for May 22, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

We are pleased to once again report there are no positive cases of COVID amongst our residents. Clairidge House, our facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has an employee who tested positive, who remains in quarantine. This employee has been absent from the facility for nearly three weeks. There have been no other staff members or residents at Clairidge House develop symptoms of the virus.

This past week, we started COVID surveillance testing at four Wisconsin locations. Plum City Care Center and The Seasons in Plum City, Wisconsin tested residents and staff members on Monday. Both Clairidge House and Oakbrook Health & Rehab in Thorp, Wisconsin, tested all residents on Tuesday and will complete staff testing next week, pending the results of the resident testing. Starting next week, we plan on testing residents at Willow Ridge Healthcare and Riverbend in Amery, Wisconsin, Pine View Care Center and The Terrace in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and Crest Nursing Home in Butte, Montana. Indiana and Kansas public health officials continue to work on plans for testing in those states.

In the event we receive any positive COVID test results, we will notify staff, residents and the residents’ authorized representative by 5pm the next calendar day. We will post a letter to the facility’s website and a link on the facility’s Facebook page. The letter will be distributed to all residents and on-duty staff members. Off-duty staff members are asked to check the website or Facebook page. Please note, we will call one authorized person for each resident. We ask the authorized person to share the information with other family members.

Any resident that tests positive will be immediately moved into our COVID isolation unit and will be placed on contact and airborne precautions. This is a dedicated isolation unit behind an antechamber wall that separates it from the remainder of the facility. Staff members on that unit will be wearing N95 masks, full face shields, gowns and gloves. Residents will reside on the unit until they are free of symptoms, if any, and there is clinical certainty that they have recovered and are no longer infectious.

Many states are working on plans to reopen the economy in phases. Unfortunately, for the nursing home and assisted living sector, we are not presently included in these phased reopenings. Family visitation is still restricted to just window visits for the safety of the residents. We are required to abide by federal regulations on this issue, but please know that there has been a task force set-up at the national level to devise a plan to allow safe visitation in a later phase of reopening.

You may still use FaceTime or Skype to see your loved ones, as well as call or email the facility. Many families have shared short videos they recorded of life events to share with their loved one. From births of new great grandchildren to college graduations to private wedding ceremonies – the residents are so happy and appreciative to be a part of your lives in this way. If you have anything you would like us to share with your family member, please contact the administrator for arrangements!

Thank you for taking the time to read our updates. Please let our staff know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for May 15, 2020 Letter

As we approach the end of week nine of dealing with this pandemic, we are pleased to report there are no positive cases of COVID amongst our residents. The two employees at our Lodge of the Wabash facility in Vincennes, Indiana, who tested positive for COVID, have recovered and returned to work. On May 8th, we received notice of a positive COVID test for an employee (with an exposure outside of our employment) at our Clairidge House facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The employee has not worked at the facility since May 2nd, and, while working at the facility, wore full PPE.

President Trump recently recommended all nursing home staff and residents be tested for the virus. Our Wisconsin and Montana facilities received testing supplies this week. We will commence testing next week at these facilities and expect to complete the testing by May 31st. We have not received confirmation from Indiana and Kansas about testing supplies for our facilities in these states.

In the event we receive any positive COVID test results, we will notify staff, residents and the residents’ authorized representative by 5pm the next calendar day. We will post a letter to the facility’s website and a link on the facility’s Facebook page. The letter will be distributed to all residents and on-duty staff members. Off-duty staff members are asked to check the website or Facebook page. Please note, we will only call one authorized person for each resident. We ask the authorized person to share the information with other family members.

Please know we are attempting to do everything we can to reduce transmission of the virus and protect our residents and staff. The following are some of the precautionary measures in place:

  • We continue to conduct extensive screening of all our employees at the beginning of their shifts. If any symptom or fever is present, the employee is not allowed to work per the CDC guidelines.
  • We continue to assess and monitor our residents twice daily for any symptoms of COVID. If a resident has any issues upon assessment, they are placed in isolation with contact and droplet precautions. This means our staff members wear full PPE while caring for them. We are keeping residents in isolation for 14 days from the onset of symptoms. They must be symptom-free for 72 hours before they are released from isolation.
  • If a resident tests positive for COVID, they will be moved to our dedicated COVID isolation unit, where HEPA air filtration units are set-up, and dedicated staff members will have N95 masks in addition to full PPE.
  • Any resident requiring medical attention at a level not available at the facility, will be sent to the hospital.
  • Our staff members continue to wear surgical masks and full face shields or goggles and practice extensive hand washing/sanitizing. This reduces the likelihood that an asymptomatic carrier of the virus can inadvertently pass it on to other staff and residents.

Unfortunately, there is no change to our family visitation policy at our facilities. Though several states have relaxed the “safer at home” orders, federal regulations still prohibit visitors. Rest assured, we will advise you of any change to these restrictions. We understand this is a tremendous hardship for family, friends and residents.

We hope this information provides some peace of mind during these trying times. Please let our staff know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for May 8, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

As we conclude the eighth week of dealing with this pandemic, we are pleased to report we have no positive cases of COVID amongst our residents. The two employees at our Lodge of the Wabash facility in Vincennes, Indiana, who tested COVID – positive, have recovered. One employee returned to work on May 4th and we anticipate the second employee will return to work on May 11th. As of today’s date, we are not aware of any other employee with symptoms of the virus.

Last week, we saw an increase in the availability of COVID testing supplies. We are now able to internally test residents and staff members at most of our locations. We also expanded the symptom screening for our residents, staff and essential visitors as a result of the CDC expanding the list of possible COVID symptoms. We now monitor 14 vital sign measurements and symptoms. Anyone with a potential COVID symptom will be tested immediately and, of course, be quarantined or remain off work until test results are returned and symptoms resolved.

This week, the Centers of for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mandated that we report all positive COVID or suspected COVID cases to the CDC – National Health Safety Network website. We are prepared to comply with this new regulation.

We are reviewing our COVID policies, including the policy on how to handle compassionate end-of- life care visitation during this pandemic. We understand it is imperative for immediate family members to visit their loved one to say goodbye. To accommodate our families in this situation, two family members at a time will be able to visit during a scheduled time. If you would like more information about this policy, please contact the administrator.

As far as our personal protective equipment goes, orders have been placed for more reusable isolation gowns, and most locations have received their shipment of light weight full face shields. We are now receiving shipments of surgical masks and KN95 masks from orders we placed a few weeks ago.

A reminder to family members and resident representatives, please call the nursing home or assisted living ahead of time if you have a delivery or drop-off for your loved one. We appreciate the notice as it allows our staff to prepare for the delivery. Items need to be dropped off without any personal contact and must come in packaging we can wipe down or remove. Again, these efforts are for the safety of our residents and staff.

Window visit rules remain the same. You may visit your loved one through the glass, while talking on the phone. The window cannot be opened. The CDC, CMS and our state regulators are providing guidance as to how and when this may change for each location. Unfortunately, at this time, families are not allowed to sit outside with residents, even if you are masked and social distancing is maintained. We know how difficult it is to not be close and hug your mom, dad, grandmother or grandfather. We will let you know as soon as there is a change in these regulations. We appreciate your cooperation in complying with these difficult rules.

For our residents, we want to mention how much we appreciate your cooperation and understanding while dealing with this pandemic. Thank you for wearing your mask when you are around staff or when you come out of your room and for maintaining social distancing requirements. We realize you are experiencing “cabin fever”, made worse with the nicer weather. We also know how difficult this is for everyone, especially during holidays like Mother’s Day and Memorial Day. Our staff members will continue to do everything in their power to make these days special for you!

We hope our ongoing efforts give you comfort and peace during these trying times. Please continue to stay safe and let our staff know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for May 1, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Family Members, Legal Representatives and Health Care Providers:

Happy May Day! The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) released an article this week, providing families with questions to ask nursing home and assisted living providers during this pandemic. We thought we would take this opportunity to answer the six questions posed by AARP.

1. Has anyone in the nursing home/assisted living tested positive for COVID-19?

We have no positive cases of COVID-19 amongst our residents in any of our locations. Two staff members at one of our Indiana locations tested positive for COVID-19 the end of March/early April from community exposure. Because of these two employees diligent use of personal protective equipment (PPE), good handwashing and social distancing while at work, we believe they did not spread the virus at the facility. The employees are nearing the end of their quarantine and feel healthy. We expect they will be returning to work soon.

2. What is the nursing home/assisted living doing to prevent infections?

The short answer to this is “everything we possibly can”. We have conducted audits and analyzed every aspect of our operations to determine how to improve infection control. Each department has implemented the strictest level of infection control standards. Our homes are doing more than what the CDC and state departments require. Our employees are the true heroes in our fight against COVID. They take precaution to limit their own exposure to the virus while off duty for the protection of our residents.

3. Does the nursing home/assisted living staff have the personal protective equipment (PPE) – like masks, face shields, gowns, gloves – that they need to stay safe and keep their patients safe?

We have worked diligently to locate and purchase additional PPE. We keep an inventory of our PPE in an attempt to insure our locations have adequate supplies to care for our residents and protect staff. Weekly shipments of face masks and N95 masks are scheduled for delivery for the next six weeks. We have received reusable isolation gowns and full face shields. We also have additional orders placed for these items and are waiting for shipment confirmations. We have gloves and have obtained an adequate supply of alcohol-based hand rub from local distilleries. We continue to work with our local and state health departments for national stockpile allocations. FEMA is scheduled to deliver additional PPE to the nursing homes in early May and June.

4. What is the nursing home/assisted living doing to help residents stay connected with their families or other loved ones during this time?

It is important for our residents to stay connected to family members and friends. We have facility iPads and Laptops with webcams for resident use. We have family members send staff video messages to play to the residents. Family and friends are speaking with residents on phones while “window visiting.” Our employees have done a great job promoting fun and safe activities such as music and happy hours, hallway bingo, art classes, etc. to keep residents engaged and active. We encourage you to follow the facility’s Facebook page to see pictures of your loved ones enjoying the activities offered. The states recently started a grant program for nursing homes to request up to $3000 in communication equipment to assist in this endeavor. We are in the process of submitting applications to obtain the additional equipment.

5. What is the plan for the nursing home/assisted living to communicate important information to both residents and families on a regular basis?

We are committed to providing updated information on a regular basis to residents and families. Every week we post an update letter on each facility’s website and have links posted to the facility’s Facebook page. We will mail the update letter to anyone who requests it. If there is an urgent need to communicate with a resident, family or representative, a staff member will speak directly to the resident and call the family member or representative.

6. Is the nursing home/assisted living currently at full staffing levels for nurses, aides and other workers?

Our homes are staffed to meet the needs of our residents. We have crossed trained staff members to step-in and work other jobs if needed. To further prepare the staff for emergency situations, we are requiring our employees to complete the emergency nursing assistant training course developed by certain organizations such as the American Health Care Association. This will increase staff’s ability to provide additional assistance to residents in a time of need.

We hope our answers and ongoing efforts give you comfort and peace during these trying times. Please continue to stay safe and let our staff know if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for April 25, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Health Care Providers, Legal Representatives and Family Members:

As we enter week six of our COVID-19 challenge and what seems to be our “new normal”, we are pleased to report we have no positive COVID cases amongst our residents.

This week has been another hectic one.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now require nursing homes to report positive COVID cases for any resident or employee to the CDC and to every resident of the facility and their representatives. Per the directive, we must notify our residents and resident representatives within 12 hours of the occurrence of a single confirmed positive COVID-19 case. In addition, we must also notify our residents and their representatives if there are three or more residents or staff with any new onset of respiratory symptoms that occur within 72 hours. We must provide weekly updates, or each subsequent time a confirmed positive COVID-19 is identified and whenever three or more residents or staff with a new onset of respiratory symptoms occurs within 72 hours. These new directives are consistent with the policies we have in place and our goal to keep our residents and their representatives informed on a regular basis.

We created an Employee Safety Acknowledgment for our employees as part of our efforts to keep staff informed of the rules and procedures in place to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.  We are in constant communication with staff to deal with questions on fighting this virus and maintaining the safety of our residents and staff.

We have made an addition to the symptom screening process we perform each day on our residents. New research shows that COVID patients may have low blood oxygen levels as a symptom before developing symptoms of fever or shortness of breath. This low blood oxygen level, in the absence of other symptoms, is called “silent hypoxia” and can be an early warning sign of COVID infection. After reviewing this information, we have decided to monitor the oxygen saturation levels twice daily for all residents. This will be done at the same time we are checking our residents’ temperatures.

We have also made a few changes to our employee and visitor screening processes. We have expanded our questioning to determine if an employee or visitor has been in any other healthcare facility in the past 14 days, or if they have experienced one or more symptoms on an expanded list of symptoms.

We have received additional shipments of personal protective equipment, HEPA air filtration units, and oxygen concentrators this week.

We continue to have difficulty with COVID testing in some counties. However, this week Wisconsin launched an online COVID test kit request process for our nursing homes and assisted living facilities. We have policies and training materials in place to educate our nurses on the proper way to conduct the COVID-19 tests.  We are excited we will soon have the ability to test our own residents and staff at many of our locations. We are hopeful other states will follow Wisconsin’s lead on this.

The State Departments of Health continue to conduct infection control surveys by email and phone with our locations, and we have received positive feedback from all of our surveys conducted to date.

Thank you for taking the time to read our COVID-19 update. We appreciate your continued patience and support.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for April 17, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Health Care Providers, Legal Representatives and Family Members:

This past week has been especially difficult for nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  Despite heroic and diligent efforts on behalf of providers to protect the nation’s elderly, COVID-19 continues to ravage long-term care communities. Media coverage has not been kind, frequently blaming the operators and providers for the COVID-related death of their residents.

People are understandably upset about the extended “Safer at Home” orders.  It is not easy for anyone involved.  However, these rules are vital in helping to keep our staff and residents healthy and COVID-free.  We are now in week 5 of our visitor lock-down and employee/resident screening process and we continue to be grateful we have no positive cases of COVID amongst our residents.

We are consumed with COVID-19 directives from the regulatory agencies and implementing and evaluating our plans in conjunction with the ever changing directives. RPHF is committed to providing our healthcare providers, family members, legal representatives, residents and employees with up-to-date information regarding the facilities and how we are dealing with the challenges presented by COVID-19.  The following is a summary of highlights from the past week.

In the last few days, we placed orders for additional full face shields, surgical masks and N95 masks that are now available from our suppliers. These supplies are still limited, but we are working diligently to expand our inventory to meet the needs of our residents and protect our staff. We have finally received most of our shipments of reusable isolation gowns, our extra oxygen concentrators, nebulizers and our HEPA air filtration units.

Many of our locations have constructed their antechamber for the dedicated isolation units. We are preparing the rooms in the area with all the needed equipment and supplies. We have policies in place regarding the admission and discharge criteria for this area, as well as for the appropriate use and disinfection of the N95 respirators/masks. We have purchased UVC lights for each location as part of our N95 disinfection process.

Our biggest challenge is with the availability of testing.  We can easily order and obtain a COVID test in one county, and then in the next, we are faced with a battle to accomplish the same.  Contrary to national briefings, tests are NOT widely available and NOT in adequate supply. We have now turned our efforts to pursuing the purchase of our own testing units to conduct our own COVID tests.

As the weather starts to get warmer, please remember that window visits may continue, but windows are NOT to be opened at any time. A reminder to please call the facility to make arrangements if you want to schedule a window visit or if you have an items you want to drop off (prepackaged and able to be wiped down) for your loved one.

Your continued patience and understanding are critical in facing the challenges before us. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for April 11, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Health Care Providers, Legal Representatives and Family Members:

We continue to be grateful to report we have no suspected or active COVID-19 cases amongst our residents.

Our management team continues in its efforts to obtain personal protective equipment (PPE) and complete the construction of our partition walls/antechamber described in last week’s update. Our efforts are often at the mercy of delayed deliveries of materials and equipment but we are persevering.

We were fortunate to find a Minnesota-based company that manufactures splash-guard type lightweight face shields for the Mayo Clinic. The company agreed to provide us with face shields and we placed an order on Thursday. In the meantime, our staff continues to wear the heavy-duty “bionic” face shields. They are looking forward to the lighter-weight shields.

Next week we will be working on emergency staffing plans and staff cross-training in different departments in the event we have COVID cases. We have asked our nursing home and assisted living employees who are not nursing assistants to take the emergency nursing assistant training offered by the American Health Care Association or other state-approved programs. This will provide us with more flexibility in staffing.

For our legal representatives and family members, if you are available for work and are interested in taking the emergency nursing assistant training course, please contact the nursing home administrator directly. The course is 8 hours online and 8 hours of on-the-job training, with the ongoing training included as you are working daily shifts.

We continue to need fabric masks, preferably with ties instead of elastic loops as our employee’s ears are becoming irritated from the elastic. We also need more hand-sewn fabric isolation gowns. If you, or someone you know can sew, the administrator can get you mask and gown patterns. Thank you to those who continue to provide us with these needed supplies.

Our residents will be enjoying a delicious Easter dinner with a day of treats and festivities (as social distancing allows). We understand how difficult it is for you not to spend time with your loved ones during this holiday. Please be assured we will do everything we can to make it a special day for our residents. Their health and happiness are paramount to us. We hope you have an enjoyable day at home with those you can be with.

Thank you for your continued support and patience.

Sincerely,
Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for April 4, 2020 Letter

No Visitors PosterDear Residents, Employees, Health Care Providers, Legal Representatives and Family Members:

Another week has passed and we are grateful to report we have no suspected or active COVID-19 cases amongst our residents.

Earlier this week, prior to President Trump’s request, the management team started on plans to create a COVID-19 isolation unit for each of our skilled nursing locations.  An area at each home will be designated for this purpose. This area will be separated from the main living areas of the facility by an antechamber, which is a separated space created by two temporary walls. The antechamber creates the necessary barrier between the isolation unit and the rest of the home.  Staff will use the antechamber to sanitize their hands and apply and remove their personal protective equipment (PPE).  Staff treating residents in the isolation unit will be dedicated to that unit and will not access any other areas of the facility.  They will wear full PPE, including a fit-tested N-95 mask, a full face-shield, gown, gloves and hair protection. The isolation units will have Honeywell HEPA Air Filtration units.

Our plan is to use the isolation units to care for our current residents in the event they become symptomatic, have suspected COVID-19 infection or test positive for COVID-19. The CDC has instructed us to assume that any resident our facilities now receive from a hospital or the community is infected with COVID-19, unless the resident has tested negative for COVID-19.  For this reason, any resident that returns to us from the hospital or is admitted from the community, untested, will spend at least 14 days of quarantine in the isolation unit for the protection of our other residents and staff.

In addition to our staff wearing masks at all times, we are now requiring any staff with resident contact to wear a full face shield.  This provides the staff with additional protection from coughs, sneezes and splashes.  Please don’t be alarmed if you look through your loved one’s window and see a staff member with a mask and a full face shield.  This is part of our new “normal” in an effort to keep everyone as safe as possible.

We want to thank the local K-12 schools, the technical colleges and the universities in our areas for donating unused supplies to some of our nursing homes.  So far, they have donated thermometer probe covers, Clorox bleach wipes, and gloves.   We also want to thank our volunteer sewing crews for the fabric masks and reusable/washable isolation gowns.  We are greatly indebted to you.

In appreciation for our employees’ dedication, the company has implemented a bonus program effective April 1st through May 31st.   The resilience, strength and commitment demonstrated by our staff has proven critical in getting us through this crisis.  Most importantly though, the staff’s efforts to put a smile on a resident’s face at every opportunity is inspiring.

Please do your part and abide by the “Safer at Home” orders.  If you must go out, please consider wearing a mask.  If we all do our part, the faster we will get through these challenging times.

We thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for March 30, 2020 Letter

Dear Residents, Employees, Health Care Providers, Legal Representatives and Family Members:

We hope this update finds you all well. Currently, we have no suspected or active COVID-19 cases in any of our nursing home or assisted living locations. We did have three residents with symptoms, but fortunately, each of their tests were negative.

We have been working diligently to obtain more personal protective equipment (PPE) for our staff and residents. The following list summarizes our successes:

  • The order we placed for our reusable full face shields have been delivered to each of our locations. The face shields will be worn with a mask when we have a resident on isolation precautions due to fever or symptoms.
  • We are expecting our new infrared thermometers to be delivered this week. The new thermometers will make it easier and faster to screen our employees and residents for fever.
  • We have contacted local distilleries that have turned to production of hand sanitizers. Many of our locations have received a bulk supply of this alcohol-based hand sanitizer that will allow us to refill our dispensers and bottles for resident and staff use.
  • We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of the sewers/quilters in our local communities. They have come to our aid by sewing fabric surgical masks for our staff to wear during their shifts. Our residents also wear these masks when they leave their facilities for medically-necessary appointments.
  • We continue to educate and reinforce with our staff about the national and local “Safer at Home” orders.
  • We are turning to technology for health care provider visits by working towards telehealth appointments instead of having physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants make in-person visits.
  • Some of our locations are now receiving a limited supply of the strategic national stockpile PPE.

We are still faced with some challenges, namely trying to get more disposable or reusable isolation gowns, N-95 masks and extra oxygen concentrators. We will continue our efforts to obtain these needed supplies in the event of a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. Many of our sewers/quilters have committed to continue to make fabric masks, and now, some reusable isolation gowns.

At this time, we ask that you please continue to follow our updates on each of our nursing home and assisted living websites, as well as each facility’s Facebook page. If a positive COVID-19 case does occur at one of our locations, the facility management team will notify all interested parties directly. Also, our residents get so excited to FaceTime/Skype family members and to receive your videos. Please keep them coming.

We thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Sincerely,
Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for March 20, 2020 Letter

March 20, 2020

Dear Health Care Provider, Legal Representative or Family Member:

As one would expect, we are busy at our RPHF facilities keeping current on COVID-19 directives from the regulatory agencies and implementing and evaluating our plans in conjunction with the ever changing directives. RPHF is committed to providing our healthcare providers, family members, legal representatives, residents and employees with up-to-date information regarding the facilities and how we are dealing with the challenges presented by COVID-19. The following is a summary of highlights from the past week.

In the last few days we placed orders for additional personal protective equipment (i.e., gowns, gloves, masks, shoe covers, face shields, goggles, hand sanitizer, etc.) that is now available from our suppliers. While these supplies are still limited, we are working diligently to expand our inventory to meet the needs of our residents and protect our staff. In addition, we also placed orders for supplies from the national stockpile, though we are told what will actually be delivered from this source is questionable.

We have placed orders for additional respiratory equipment such as oxygen concentrators and nebulizer machines, and additional thermometers. While our oxygen companies normally supply the respiratory equipment, we want to be prepared in case the need is greater than the supply they have available.

Our staff has been vigilant in monitoring all residents twice daily during the morning and evening shifts. We are screening our resident’s temperatures and assessing them for any respiratory symptoms. If a resident develops a symptom of concern, the resident is placed in a private room, if they are not already in one, with the appropriate precautions in place, including assessment and monitoring every two hours. We notify the resident’s attending physician, along with the local public health department when needed. To date our facilities have not had any COVID-19 diagnosis.

We now provide food and beverages to staff during their work shifts. This allows staff to remain in the facility for the entire shift, reducing the risk of exposure while in the public. We continue to educate our employees on the importance of abiding by the national directive to stay in quarantine at home outside of work hours in an effort to keep themselves, their families and our residents healthy.

There are a few things we are asking families, friends and legal representatives to do to assist us at this time.

  • If you intend to visit a resident by looking through your loved one’s window, we are asking that you please call the facility ahead of time to arrange this. Some families are unsure about which window belongs to their loved one and have been walking around the perimeter of the facility to locate it. Some of our residents have been startled. A heads up from you would be helpful.
  • We know many organizations and social media outlets are asking you to send messages to your loved ones. We encourage you send these messages in an electronic format such as text, email, FaceTime or Skype. We are concerned about COVID-19 surviving on paper or cardboard for any period of time and have to handle any item that comes inside our assisted living with care.
  • We are so thankful for your words of appreciation and support. It can be overwhelming at times for our staff. Your kind words mean more to them than you know.

Your continued patience and understanding are critical in facing the challenges before us. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for March 14, 2020 Letter

March 14, 2020

Dear Residents, Employees, Health Care Providers, Legal Representatives or Family Members:

On the evening of March 13th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued updated guidance regarding COVID-19 to all nursing home providers nationwide. At this time, the facilities have been instructed to cease communal dining and all group activities.

Our staff members have been informed of this directive and will be speaking with our residents today and assisting the residents in adjusting to these changes. Our teams have devised temporary care plans for every resident to meet their psychosocial needs during this timeframe.

Once again, we are appreciative of your understanding and patience.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

 

Click for March 11, 2020 Letter

March 11, 2020

Dear Health Care Provider, Legal Representative or Family Member:

The current COVID-19 outbreak situation means that it is critical we take every precaution possible. We must prevent this virus from entering our facility. Protecting our residents’ health and safety is our top priority.

The CDC has done a careful review of the death rate in the elderly, especially those with dementia or chronic diseases. Experts are recommending we take action to limit individuals from entering our building and to ensure sick employees stay home.

Early data shows that:

  • The mortality rate for people over 80 in the general population is 15% in China.
  • The World Health Organization report estimates the mortality rate at 21.9% for those over 80.
  • At the nursing home in Washington state, there have been 50 residents who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. As of March 9, 2020, 19 of those have died. This is a high death rate.

There is a risk that people who appear healthy will enter nursing homes and infect residents. Studies of past viral epidemics, where recommending prevention was delayed, were not effective. These studies show that the sooner we limit interactions with each other and wash your hands frequently, the virus spreads more slowly.

These facts have led many to recommend severe limitations on visitors. This describes why we have taken this action now.

This morning the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), a global pandemic. While the CDC still considers it to be a low threat to the general public, our facility has issued new safeguards aimed at limiting the exposure risk for the most susceptible populations – our residents. These residents are predominantly older and have many complex health conditions making them particularly vulnerable to this infection. To minimize the risk of exposure, effective today, March 11th, and until further notice, we are taking the following actions:

  • Our facility has adopted a NO VISITORS stance, meaning no outside visitors will be permitted to visit residents in the facility. The only exceptions will be in compassionate care cases when a resident is in his or her last stage of life or on hospice care. In those cases, visitors will be limited and specifically allowed in the resident’s room only.
  • Our staff will continue to be screened daily before working their scheduled shift.

While the COVID-19 risk to the average American remains low, these common sense measures will help protect our most vulnerable residents. We are making every effort to minimize the impact of these policies on our residents while continuing to put their safety first.

During this time, our staff will work with families and friends to maintain contact with their loved ones via phone, Skype or FaceTime.

We understand how difficult this will be and appreciate your understanding and patience.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

Click for March 10, 2020 Letter

March 10, 2020

Dear Health Care Provider, Legal Representative or Family Member:

Real Property Health Facilities Corp. (“RPHF”) manages and oversees the operations of several skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities located in Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas and Montana, including The Seasons Assisted Living in Plum City, WI. RPHF has no higher priority than the safety and health of its residents and employees and is working diligently to ensure our facilities receive the highest quality health care services. While there are currently no cases of Coronavirus (“COVID-19”) identified in any of our facilities, RPHF is taking necessary steps to mitigate the risk of the virus spreading within our facilities.

We have established a robust infection prevention and control program, which we routinely follow for seasonal viruses such as respiratory flu and norovirus. These viruses present significant health concerns to our facilities and serve as regular reminders of the importance of effective infection control. Utilizing our infection control protocols provide us with a strong foundation in dealing with this new virus.

What are the symptoms of COVID-19? According to the Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”), those affected generally exhibit cold-like symptoms including fever, cough, and shortness of breath. It spreads through contact with another infected person, such as being too close during a cough or sneeze. This general route for this virus spreading mimics that of the typical cold or flu.

Earlier this week, based on the recommendations of the CDC and other state and local health departments, we have been working with our directors of nursing and facility administrators to execute and elevate our standard protocol.

Such steps include:

  • On-site health care professionals who continually monitor the current guidance to ensure the steps taken follow information received from reputable sources and monitoring employees, contractors, residents and visitors for symptoms, and utilizing potential action plans if symptoms should present themselves. Our paid leave policy for employees who are symptomatic is being reviewed, to encourage ill staff to remain home to minimize risk of resident exposure;
  • Education and training on infection control provided regularly to all employees and residents, including re-educating our teams and our residents of our existing infection control protocols – and how they should be observing it;
  • Connection to national, state, and county and local health departments to remain informed;
  • Emergency management station status that provides primary response from federal and local emergency services, prioritized over other general public environments;
  • Culinary teams who adhere to rigid guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration for food sourcing and processing. We intentionally engage in safer storage techniques and stricter sanitation standards than most private homes. We are adjusting our culinary services, such that we will temporarily eliminate high risk touchpoints (for example: salad bar, shared lobby coffee services, pre-set utensils on tables within our dining rooms, etc.);
  • Housekeeping services on site with enhanced cleaning schedules of all surfaces, utilizing robust cleaning procedures with appropriate disinfectants to keep high resident traffic/touch areas sanitized;
  • Responsive measures to quickly intervene should anyone with symptoms need support. Signage is being displayed at community entrances, discouraging visitors with symptoms from entering.

You may be asking how you can help aid us, in minimizing the spread of any illness. Here are some requests we would make of you:

  • Wash your hands frequently and use good hygiene behaviors;
  • Maintain social distancing – 6 feet distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing;
  • Use a tissue or your bent elbow for a cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the tissue and wash your hands immediately;
  • If you have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, please isolate yourself from others and notify our team immediately or seek medical care;
  • If you have been exposed to someone with fever, cough and difficulty breathing, please isolate yourself from others and notify our team immediately;
  • Encourage your friends and loved ones to visit after the greater community risk has diminished. Visits by those potentially exposed – whether they are aware of exposure or not – raises our risk of spreading the virus.

We thank you for your assistance, support and understanding of the policies and procedures we are enforcing to keep your loved ones safe in this evolving situation.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shellie M. Sonnentag, DNP, AGPCNP-C, CD
Vice President of Clinical Services
Real Property Health Facilities Corp.
435 Village Walk Lane Suite B
Johnson Creek, WI 53038

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