PioneerCare

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testing

Dressing for Covid

Keeping It Light:

In a year when many people barely left the house, PioneerCare employees continued their work to serve medically vulnerable people and tested for COVID-19 almost every week since the spring of 2020. When conditions required it, testing frequency reached twice weekly. Employees came in for testing on their days off, too. Working or not, they tested.

Residents living within PioneerCare Center have required repeated testing as well. PioneerCare’s aggressive approach to testing helped catch cases, especially with asymptomatic people, before infection could spread further.

Kirstin Phillips, a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and trained medication assistant (TMA) at PioneerCare, found a way to make testing day even more involved for herself – and more fun for everyone.

“For work, I wear scrubs all the time and it gets kind of boring,” Kirstin said. “I was counting how many times I got tested and thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to dress up’ and that’s how it started.” By Kirstin’s count, she has been swabbed for the virus 34 times so far.

In her effort to lighten the mood on each testing day, Kirstin got an idea for a costume, found things around the house to put together a costume, and hunted down missing pieces on Amazon and in second-hand shops.

“I did the big, fancy ones on my days off,” Kirstin said, “especially the ones involving hair.” On her workdays, she changed into the simpler costumes once she arrived. In August, Kirstin went to COVID-19 testing day as the Parkers Prairie Fall Festival Queen, a role she was officially crowned for as a senior in high school. “I still put on the crown for my birthday – Queen for a day!”

Kirstin showed up in costume by herself for the most part. Some ideas required more than one person.  “I conned a few people into going along with me for some of them,” she said. Fall Festival Queen, Wonder Woman, The Incredibles, prom dates, Marty McFly from Back to the Future, Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians, Where’s Waldo, a butterfly, Rosie the Riveter – inspiration came from many directions.

“For Rosie the Riveter, I put my hair in foam curlers the night before and slept that way. That made it easier in the morning.”

Residents enjoyed seeing Kirstin’s costumes and she noted how it brightened their day. Staff repeatedly asked, “What are you going to do next?”

“What is next” has been a recurring question with the pandemic. Moving through the pandemic has been a series of overlapping phases as the virus spread in our communities, as knowledge of the virus grew, and as resources developed and became available. While details change, testing, visitor restrictions, and infection control have been a constant at PioneerCare.

“Our testing strategy is important to identify cases early enough to stop the potential spread within our buildings,” said Nathan Johnson, PioneerCare’s CEO. “Testing, along with vigilant attention to prevention measures, is helping us focus on our number one priority to protect residents and staff within PioneerCare Center, Pioneer Cottages Memory Care, and Pioneer Pointe.”

“Since the beginning, we have practiced comprehensive infection control measures to protect our residents and staff, based on recommended COVID-19 guidance from the Minnesota Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services,” Johnson said.

Now, following that guidance and with coronavirus vaccines available, PioneerCare residents and employees experienced their first vaccine dose on January 9. The second dose is expected in early February. PioneerCare has partnered with CVS Pharmacies to provide the vaccine developed by Moderna.

Residents and staff at Pioneer Cottages in Breckenridge expect to receive their first dose on Sunday, January 17. At Pioneer Cottages and Pioneer Pointe, vaccine distribution is set for Saturday, January 23.

Kirstin arrived for her first vaccine dose wearing fishnet stockings, a 1920s flapper dress, a string of pearls, and feathers in her hair. The day was busy with staff coming and going, and almost all residents received their vaccine as well. While Kirstin and other PioneerCare staff and residents completed the first round of vaccinations, testing and some form of visiting restrictions may continue for some time. Testing will continue at least into February, when participants receive the second vaccine dose.

PioneerCare will continue to follow available guidance from health agencies in decisions related to continued testing, infection control, visiting policies, and vaccine administration.

In June, it will be 16 years since Kirstin joined PioneerCare. In that time, she has cultivated close relationships with residents, their families, and her coworkers. Acknowledging her work is important, serious, and can be stressful at times, Kirstin addressed the role humor plays in her workday. “They say if you enjoy doing what you do, it’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle.”

And lightening the mood is part of Kirstin’s style. It has become even more important during this past year. “We can laugh. We can have a good time. If I can make you giggle, even for a second, isn’t that better?”

From Nathan Johnson: Facility Wide Tests Coming

A printed copy of this letter is being mailed to all PioneerCare staff, residents, tenants, and families…

 

To All PioneerCare Staff, Residents, Tenants and Families,

It has now been two months since President Trump declared a national emergency in response to the global coronavirus pandemic – two months that for many of you probably seem like a lifetime.

Despite Fergus Falls’ relative success in slowing the spread of COVID-19, we are beginning to see increasing infection in our area and around the state – especially with our more vulnerable populations.

I have an important message today about testing for all.  This week has been a flurry of rapidly evolving news. This past Sunday the White House announced its recommendation to test ALL long-term care staff and residents in the next two weeks and directed states to make a plan. On Wednesday, Governor Walz announced his plan to implement regional mobile testing teams for priority COVID-19 testing of ALL residents and ALL staff in long-term care. He directed the state epidemiologists and the National Guard to conduct the testing until more permanent Strike Teams for Testing are in place. Beginning yesterday COVID-19 testing will take place at 10 congregate care settings each day, and will increase up to 20 sites a day by next Thursday. The State’s goal is to conduct 10,000 tests each day starting next week. The tests will be prioritized for nursing homes and assisted living settings where COVID-19 is present. These are facilities like our Care Center and our Pioneer Cottages Memory Care. We are seeking clarification how Independent Living buildings, such as Pioneer Pointe, will be prioritized. Because we do not have a positive case in any of our settings, we are unsure what priority we will be given.

This approach to facility-wide testing on a single day is referred to as a “point prevalence survey,” or PPS, and provides information on the overall number of affected individuals in the facility. This strategy will help identify symptomatic and asymptomatic infected residents or staff. Residents who test positive will be cohorted on a dedicated unit or transferred to a COVID-19 specific facility.  Staff who have a positive COVID-19 test will not work. Asymptomatic staff with a positive COVID-19 test will not work. Return to work procedures will be strictly followed. Any staff required to be temporarily off work will be afforded all protections under the CARES Act. Regarding negative tests – negative tests only represent a single point in time and should not create a false sense of security. Repeat PPS testing will be conducted every seven days until there are two consecutive weeks of no new positive test results.

PioneerCare has informed MDH of our interest to voluntarily participate in facility-wide testing of ALL residents and ALL staff. We have requested Monday, May 18th as our testing date, but that is yet to be confirmed by MDH. It is MDH who will determine our level of priority and the actual testing date. We are asking everyone to be prepared to mobilize for testing quickly if/when it happens. All staff, residents, tenants and families will be notified if we get a positive test.

This is big news, but it is good news given the circumstances. I want you to know that PioneerCare, along with our Medical Director Dr. Colt Edin, supports this action.  I am asking for your support as well. While testing is only one component of PioneerCare’s broad-based response strategy, testing will help us assess the scope and magnitude of outbreaks and guide additional prevention and control efforts designed to further limit transmission among residents and staff.

Lastly, a quick word on the Governor’s action lifting the Stay at Home order and replacing it with a Stay Safe order. As of this writing, the Stay Safe order changes nothing for our settings. While the rest of the state begins to open up, MDH is requiring long-term care providers to leave all restrictions in place, including visitor restrictions. Staff should continue to do their best to take extra precautions while off duty. We continue to monitor this issue daily and will keep you promptly updated with any developments toward re-opening our buildings.

I will end by stating that from day one our top goal at PioneerCare has been the health, safety and wellbeing of our residents and our staff. As new information has poured in nearly every day, I am so grateful for how you have responded with a profound sense of urgency to keep residents safe, and to ensure their lives are filled with love and human connection despite the many restrictions we have in place. I am also grateful for how you care for yourselves, your families, each other, and our greater community. I urge you to keep leading by example as you follow the Governor’s Stay Safe order and wear your source control masks in public settings. I have said it from the beginning, and I will say it again – the better Fergus Falls does at mitigating the spread of this virus, the better chances our long-term care facilities have at doing the same.

Stay Healthy,

Nathan Johnson, CEO