JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Despite missing visiting her mother, one First Coast woman is against loosening the ban of visitors of nursing care facilities.
Pegine Eschevarria's mom has dementia. She's in a memory unit at The Cove and Marsh Landing.
Eschevarria is appreciative that the facility, located at 1700 The Greens Way in Jacksonville Beach, works hard to take care of her mother.
But she's on alert now that 16 residents in that memory care unit have turned up with positive COVID-19 tests, according to the state tracking website for nursing homes in Florida.
She is against any loosening of the governor's orders to ban visitors from nursing care facilities.
"I miss holding my mother's hand," she said. Even so, she added that with the "fragile health" of our seniors, we can't afford to risk taking the virus into facilities. "It could kill them."
The CEO of The Cove at Marsh Landing says in a statement to First Coast News:
As of July 1, 2020, we have confirmed positive Coronavirus cases in the Memory Care wing of The Cove at Marsh Landing, with these predominantly presenting as asymptomatic at this time. These positive cases have been reported following standard Department of Health protocol, and our residents and families are being kept informed. With the significant growth in positive cases statewide, it is our upmost priority to minimize the spread of the virus. Our focus is not only containment of the virus, but the overall health and wellbeing of each resident and staff member. We know times like these are difficult, so we are continuing to care for each resident – inside our Memory Care wing and out. We are minimizing the impact on our residents and employees by:
• Continuing updated trainings to staff on the general guidelines of how the virus spreads and measures to take to prevent spreading
• Continuing to meet and exceed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on screening of residents and employees.
• Implementing social distancing when quarantining is unavailable; residents maintain distances of six feet between others.
• Continued ceasing of all communal dining and large group activities.
• Further increasing cleaning and disinfecting of commonly touched surfaces on each shift.
• Keeping an ample supply of PPE on-hand, which staff utilizes when interacting with residents.
• Continued working with a private lab for testing of residents and staff.
Our leadership has been in close contact with the Department of Health and AHCA for guidance during this unprecedented time and the DOH has visited the community and is satisfied with our measures. We are closely monitoring for any signs of illness and continue to keep our residents and families informed of the community status. We are taking every precaution possible to protect our residents, staff and community in this difficult time. For more information about SRI Management’s response to Coronavirus, please visit our website.
Thank you,
Shelley Kaiser
Chief Operations Officer