Caring during COVID: Pandemic hasn’t affected focus at local long-term care facilities

Friday, September 25, 2020
As we take a look at what some local long-term care facilities are doing during these unprecedented times, we also see some scenes from several of the facilities of what staff members are doing to keep life as fun and “normal” as possible, such as Mill Pond Health Campus, where Legacy Lane memory care patients spend some time in nature on the nearby People Pathways trail.
Courtesy Mill Pond Health Campus

While a high level of care should always be the goal for any long-term care facility, it’s something that has been brought into even sharper focus as the nation responds to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Indeed, in Putnam County, the six long-term care facilities are still open and providing care, albeit under some altered circumstances.

What hasn’t changed is a commitment to taking care of patients and staff.

“The No. 1 priority through this pandemic is to ensure the health, emotional well-being and safety of our residents and employees,” Holly Wachtel, administrator at The Waters of Greencastle, said.

While Wachtel can speak specifically to the facility she oversees, her words could apply across the community. According to the Indiana State Department of Education, four facilities -- The Waters, Autumn Glen, Summerfield Health Care and Hickory Creek at Sunset -- have had no COVID-19 cases, according to ISDH data as of Sept. 9.

Meanwhile the remaining two, Mill Pond and Asbury Towers, had each had fewer than five, numbers that could hardly be construed as an outbreak.

Some might say the community has been fortunate. While there is an element of luck to any endeavor, administrators and staff members that there’s more to it than good fortune. It has meant a lot of vigilance and hard work.

“My staff -- all health care workers -- are amazing,” Wachtel said. “What people aren’t seeing is all the extra work with the housekeeping and sanitation.”

It goes beyond what happens, though. With the infectious nature of COVID-19, preventing it from getting into a long-term care facility also hinges on the choices staff members make in their daily lives.

“Employees have done an incredible job being mindful of their residents and families even outside the facility by taking safety precautions,” Wachtel said.

Of course, this is behavior that starts at the top, as Hickory Creek at Sunset Administrator Jill Stott noted.

“If I go out in the community and I don’t wear my mask and my staff sees me, then they think, what is she talking about?” Stott said. “You have to walk the walk as well.”

Tasheena Duncan, administrator at Summerfield Health Care in Cloverdale, agrees, saying her employees have gone the extra mile, considering their entire population is composed of Huntington’s disease patients, which puts them at even higher risk.

“My staff has gone above and beyond because all of our residents are already terminal, so we’re still on lockdown more than the others,” Duncan said.

Celebrating the Sunflower Festival recently at Summerfield Health Care, LPN Brittany Needs shares a moment of real joy with resident Charlie Perez. With ongoing visitor restrictions at long-term care facilities, staff members are thinking outside the box in finding ways of ensuring the emotional well-being of residents.
Courtesy photo

At both Summerfield and The Waters, this has meant telehealth, virtual doctor visits whenever possible, even stopping visits from ancillary services such as hospice visits.

Wachtel noted, however, that they are still coordinating with hospice services, but that employees have provided the in-person care. She said she believes this has been a positive.

“It’s almost been enhanced. The details aren’t being missed,” Wachtel said. “Now you’re doing it and making sure every single thing is being completed.”

This is important because with only virtual or family visits, the reliance of residents’ families on facility staff has only increased.

“During this time, I think it’s made us all understand what trust really is,” Wachtel said. “For a family member to trust us with their loved one without really knowing what the facility looks like or knowing what’s going on, it’s amazing to me.”

And that trust has to start from day one. It’s not as if facility admissions have stopped since March. The process just looks different. For example, there are no tours of the facility.

“We’re being very transparent. They sit on our front porch,” Wachtel said. “I’m very transparent with them and let them know, ‘These are the restrictions we have in place. You have to trust us with them.’”

With the way the pandemic has dragged on into months, mental and emotional health have also become a key aspect.

“With the visitation restrictions lasting so long, we have to watch for the emotional health of the residents,” Wachtel said. “Activities play a big part. Therapy plays a big part. It’s housekeeping, dietary. Dietary has changed a lot. What you look forward to is the meals, so we do a lot of grilling out. The dining experience has changed tremendously but we’ve made it fun. At the very beginning, we couldn’t do a lot of communal dining, but we’ve made it fun.”

There have also been plenty of window visits, outdoor visits and virtual visits with family members to have something resembling “normal.”

For Putnam County’s facilities, sharing has also been key. Wachtel, Duncan and Stott were all effusive in their praise of the leadership of Putnam County Hospital and the Putnam County Health Department.

“Dennis Weatherford and Lesli Fordice have done an amazing job of getting everybody together,” Wachtel said.

Hospital CEO Weatherford has taken the leadership on the community calls regarding COVID-19 that has drawn together various health and emergency officials, for what were originally daily calls, then three times a week and now weekly.

Fordice facilitates a smaller weekly call that brings together administrators from the six long-term care facilities in the county.

“It gets us in a smaller community so that we can talk our language with one another,” Stott said. “There have been a couple of facilities with COVID, unfortunately, and they’ve been able to share and be raw about what happens.”

“We’ve all tried to be a team with the hospital,” Duncan said. “I think they’ve done a great job.”

“There are a lot of long-term care providers in the community, so there’s a lot of options,” Wachtel said. “I think it’s important to know as a community member that every facility is following CDC and ISDH recommendations. Everybody is trying to do the same thing, which is to keep it out.”

Unfortunately, such cooperation seems to be the exception in other communities.

To promote contact with the larger world, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hickory Creek at Sunset is promoting a pen pal program Anyone from school-aged children to seniors is encouraged to send letters to Hickory Creek residents. Among those looking for pen pals is Marilyn. Letters may be mailed to Hickory Creek at Sunset, 1109 S. Indiana St., Greencastle, IN 46135.
Courtesy Hickory Creek at Sunset

“I would not want to be in any other community during this pandemic,” Stott said. “We are working together. I see other administrators in other communities and they feel like they’re out there alone. Whereas, we know we can pick up the phone and talk to each other.”

The feeling also extends beyond other health care and long-term care providers.

“As health care workers, we appreciate their support because the community has been there from the beginning,” Wachtel said. “Their patience, their support.”

Duncan agrees, noting that on a recent morning she arrived at the facility to find a bunch of sunflowers dropped off by a caring community member.

“I think we’re a little frustrated that our community doesn’t always realize how bad it can still be in the facilities,” she said.

In all, though, local leaders in long-term care remain positive and vigilant. Confident there’s still a long road ahead, they thank family and community members for the patience they’ve already shown and will continue to have to show.

“I’m very quick to say it’s not over with,” Wachtel said. “There’s several months of continued patience we have to ask for from the families. They’ve been patient, even at their most stressful times, to our staff, to their loved ones. And they’ve been thankful. And I think that’s what’s great to see is that they’re appreciative.

“Working in this community and seeing everybody come together has been nothing short of amazing.”

At Autumn Glen Senior Living, keeping morale up has mean celebrating, no matter how obscure the holiday, from Water Balloon Day (pictured) to Watermelon Day to Smoothie Day, on which Crystal is enjoying her delicious treat.
Courtesy Autumn Glen Senior Living
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