Dear Patients, Families and Community:

As part of our ongoing efforts to remain connected with you, I wanted to provide you with the most up-to-date information on behalf of Dinwiddie Health & Rehab Center.

COVID-19
As of the date of this letter, we have no patients or employees that have tested positive for COVID-19. We are very pleased to be able to share this reassuring news with you.

Mitigation
As previously reported, we have implemented our infection prevention and control policies and procedures, as this is key to preventing COVID-19 and other common viruses. We have a trained infection control preventionist who is taking the lead to ensure all infection prevention education has been conducted and that all screening measures continue to be active for patients and staff members. It is critical that we follow direction from federal and state governmental agencies, including CDC, CMS and VDH, who are providing oversight and resources to prevent and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Testing
While we await further guidance from the VDH and local health department on testing all nursing home residents in our area, we continue to carefully monitor all patients in accordance with existing guidance. We are working with the local health department to appropriately test all patients and employees who are symptomatic for COVID-19.

PPE
We are continuing “universal” use of face masks in the center as we have done for several weeks now. We have received additional PPE supplies from our regional health care coalition, and in some cases FEMA, to augment our own internal supply, and we receive weekly shipments of PPE through our vendor partners. We have a sufficient supply of N95 masks and are maximizing the use of our current supply in accordance with CDC guidelines.

Visitation
We acknowledge that video calls with your loved one and phone updates are no substitute for in-person visits. We are working to make the Mother’s Day holiday special for residents with a variety of activities. You should have received separate communications surrounding this special day. If you wish to drop something by the center for your loved one, you are welcome to do so by delivering the items to the front entrance and calling ahead to let us know. Once you have returned to your car, we will collect the items as extra precaution for both your safety and the safety of our staff. We will be posting pictures on our Facebook page documenting any special activities so that you can feel some sense of peace. We appreciate and recognize all moms, including our employees, patients and families and wish you a wonderful day.

Communication
We will continue to provide you with a minimum of weekly updates on our website to keep you informed and to help give you peace of mind. We encourage you to check our website frequently at www.dinwiddie-rehab.com. We will also be providing more brief updates from time-to-time through texting and email notification. If you have not already provided us with your current email address and cell phone number, please call the social services department to provide this information as soon as possible.

Thank You
We continue to receive many expressions of gratitude and support from the local community during these challenging times. Knowing that our community stands behind us serves as a source of inspiration to continue our work as frontline healthcare workers.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me directly with concerns or questions.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Byers, LNHA
Administrator

To read the official letter, please click here!