Waveny LifeCare Network Opens Its Doors for Indoor Family Visitation

New Canaan, Conn. – Waveny LifeCare Network, after five months of their patients and residents being COVID free, has also announced its full compliance with the state’s new mandate for indoor family visitation.

“As the novel virus remains in our towns and surrounding communities and many are seeing the second wave, we feel that we have developed the added safety procedures and redesigned HVAC systems to minimize the inherent risk brought about by these state policy changes.  We have created two negative pressure isolation-type rooms inside our 3 Farm Road campus to allow for indoor visitation,” states Russ Barksdale, President and CEO of Waveny LifeCare Network.

“All of our protocols that include continuous staff testing, random patient and resident testing, and the donning of full personal protective equipment by our caregivers will continue in full force and is what has kept our residents and patients as safe as we can make them,” he said.

Family visitation has never been discontinued at Waveny; however, this will be the first time just before the virus hit Fairfield County that visitation will take place indoors.  Our therapeutic recreation department has provided daily family interfacing through skype, facetime, and zoom all along and within the last several months families were visiting their loved ones in one of the campuses beautiful courtyards outdoors.  The therapeutic and recreational staff have also increased residents’ social, cultural, life-long learning and activities including individualized music programs with our resident music therapist, Shane Sullivan.

All visitors must preregister, complete a screening form fully disclosing recent travel, exposure, and health information. Visitors must also wear a mask at all times and thoroughly wash and sanitize their hands before and after visiting. Each visitor will also be personally escorted through a non-patient area to the designated family visitation room for their visit.  Each room will be sanitized before and after each visit.

Given the closer proximity of individuals and reduced air flow during indoor family visits, Waveny has again rigorously increased infection controls, and equipped visitation rooms with HEPA filtered, Negative Airflow systems to enhance client safety, and importantly- keep families as connected as possible throughout the upcoming fall, cold weather and flu season.

“Critical to our efforts is the steadfast commitment of our staff, and ongoing support and willingness from our families, clinical partners, clients and broader community to take maximum precautionary measures during our reopening to minimize risk of infection,” says Russ Barksdale “We are of course urgently dedicated to keeping our residents safe, meaningfully engaged, and vibrant.  We are all family, but we know the importance that seeing their loved one has on our residents’ and patients’ overall health and wellbeing.”

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Waveny LifeCare Network is a nonprofit organization that provides a comprehensive continuum of healthcare to serve the changing needs of older adults from all areas. Waveny offers independent living at The Inn, memory/dementia assisted living and respite care at The Village, and skilled nursing, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation Services at Waveny Care Center. It also includes the Brown Geriatric Evaluation Clinic, and an array of community-based services through Waveny Home Healthcare. For more information, call 203.594.5200 or visit www.waveny.org.

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