April 23^rd, 2021

Trinity monitored staff and residents for COVID-19 this week. There were no positive cases on campus.  This week reflects our 2^nd week of covid testing since our COVID positive exposure.  Should all results return negative Trinity Care Center will be re-opening for visits.  You will receive a similar notice when this occurs.

Unfortunately, while cases in long-term care centers remain relatively low due to vaccination efforts, case rates in our local communities have climbed dramatically again. County positivity rates continue to dictate testing frequency and visitation policies. Data published Tuesday show there were 193 people in Minnesota’s hospitals getting intensive care for COVID-19 complications the day before, a rise of 21% from last week.

You are a key partner in keeping our care center open for visiting and ending this pandemic. We encourage you to connect with your primary health care provider or use the Vaccine Locator map (Vaccine Locations / COVID-19 Updates and Information – State of Minnesota (mn.gov)) to find a vaccine appointment near you.

To read our Visitation practice in more detail, we urge you to check our website.  Out of state travel, known exposures, symptoms of Covid 19 and/or refusal to follow infection control protocol will restrict your visitation.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator

Elizabeth Letich

651.460.1138

eletich@trinity.sfhs.org

April 14^th, 2021

Today we were notified of an employee testing positive for COVID 19.  This employee worked in both the Chateau and Cottages.  Unfortunately, this means residents located in these areas (301 – 328 and 413 – 441) will no longer be able to receive visitors until we have gone two consecutive weeks with no additional positive cases for this area. 

For residents residing in the TCU (401 – 412), if the first round of outbreak testing reveals no additional COVID-19 cases in other areas (e.g., units) of the care center, then visitation can resume for the TCU residents. 

The beauty shop will be closed following our outbreak testing precautions.  For the safety of our residents and staff, residents will be quarantined to their rooms and employees will initiate full PPE use (gowns, eyewear, and masks).  Testing of all residents will begin today.

Essential Caregiver visits will continue with the use of full PPE and testing.

Please assist us in communicating this information to other members of your family. 

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator

Elizabeth Letich

651.460.1138

eletich@trinity.sfhs.org

MN Department of Health

Information for Safe Family Gatherings

Plan ahead

Take steps to lower the risk of COVID-19

• If you are unvaccinated, limit chances for contact with someone with COVID-19. Two weeks prior to your gathering, avoid people who do not live with you and settings where you cannot stay at least 6 feet away from others. Avoid bars, restaurants, or carpools where people do not consistently wear a mask.
• Wear a well-fitting mask when you are inside places other than your home.
• Wear a well-fitting mask at outdoor events where you cannot stay at least 6 feet away from others. See CDC: Improve How Your Mask Protects You (www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/yourhealth/effective-masks.html).
• Wash your hands regularly and thoroughly and ask people coming into your home to do the same.
• Stay at least 6 feet from others who live outside your household, whenever you can.

Create a safe setting

Create a safe setting for visitors

• Before anyone enters your home, ask if they have had a fever, cough, body aches, fatigue, runny nose, or other symptoms of COVID-19. People with symptoms should stay home and away from all others. They should be tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible.
• Before anyone enters your home, ask if they have recently been near someone with COVID-19. People who have spent time near a person with COVID-19 should stay home and away from others. They should be tested five to seven days after the contact.
• Before bringing someone who needs long-term care into your home, get yourself and your household members tested for COVID-19.
•  Before anyone enters your home, especially someone at-risk for more severe illness, wear a mask that covers your mouth and nose completely.
• Before anyone enters your car, wear a mask that covers your mouth and nose completely. If people staying with you can also wear a mask, ask them to do so as well.
• Before anyone enters your home, set up your house so people can stay 6 feet apart from others. See Indoor Air Considerations: COVID-19 (www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/indoorair.html). LONG – TERM CARE GUIDANCE FOR OUTINGS.
•  For current recommendations about creating a safe space for visitors, see Protect Yourself & Others: COVID-19 (www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/prevention.html).

Contact the nursing home or assisted living-type facility

Nursing homes and assisted living-type facilities follow strict regulations and guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their buildings. Before taking someone out of nursing homes or assisted living-type facilities, make sure you understand the current guidelines.

Vaccination for COVID-19 is ongoing. We look forward to the day when more restrictions can be removed.

March 26th, 2021

Dear Family and Friends,

Our campus continues to test and monitor staff and residents for signs or symptoms of COVID-19. As of today, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19. We continue to follow recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

This past Monday Trinity Campus officially opened its doors to visitors.  What joyous reunions we witnessed throughout the week.  Thank you to everyone who practiced good infection control while in building.  Keeping visits to resident rooms and good mask use is essential.  We are so appreciative of everyone’s efforts to keep everyone safe!  An answer to a frequently asked question from family members, Trinity Care Center will continue to hold care conferences by phone.

This week marks a new milestone for Minnesota. Over 2 million vaccine doses have now been administered! Another milestone this week; Governor Walz announced that all Minnesotans ages 16 and up will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by March 30^th! We encourage you to connect with your primary health care provider or use the Vaccine Locator map (Vaccine Locations / COVID-19 Updates and Information – State of Minnesota (mn.gov)) to find a vaccine appointment near you.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator

Elizabeth Letich

651.460.1138

eletich@trinity.sfhs.org

March 19^th, 2021

Trinity monitored staff and residents for COVID-19 this week. There were no positive cases on campus. 

We are very excited to share the news that state and federal agencies that previously limited visitation in our setting have now issued guidance on how we can relax visitation restrictions and continue to protect the health of our residents and staff. As a result, this coming Monday 3/22/21 we will safely be opening our doors to visitors. We encourage you to come visit between the hours of 8am – 8:30pm, excluding meal times.  Additionally, those residents who are fully vaccinated will be able to come and go without the need to quarantine upon return and may receive a visitor in their private room.  We must all continue to practice our core principles of Infection Control, mask use, social distancing, sanitizing before and after.

If a resident is fully vaccinated, they can now choose to have close contact (including touch) with their visitor while wearing a well-fitting face mask and performing proper hand-hygiene before and after. Visitors are still required to physically distance from other residents and staff throughout our care center and not socialize in hallways or common areas.

Please note that screening is still required of all visitors and employees at the entrance to our building which will require some education on infection control practices, a temperature check and answering 2-3 questions.

There are a few distinct exceptions to visiting: 

• No indoor visits are allowed for unvaccinated residents if our county positivity rate is >10% or in the “red zone.”
• No indoor visits are allowed for residents with a confirmed COVID-19 infection, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met the criteria to discontinue transmission-based precautions.
• No indoor visits are allowed for residents in quarantine, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, until they have met criteria for release from quarantine.

To read our Visitation practice in more detail, we urge you to check our website.  Out of state travel, known exposures, symptoms of Covid 19 and/or refusal to follow infection control protocol will restrict your visitation.

We deeply appreciate the sacrifices you made to limit the impact of COVID-19 on our community and your patience as we continue to navigate the ever-changing guidelines imposed by the state and federal agencies. Our entire team looks forward to seeing you again! Family, friends and volunteers are core to what makes our community so special.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator

Elizabeth Letich

651.460.1138

eletich@trinity.sfhs.org

March 12^th, 2021

In addition to Trinity Care Center employee testing, Trinity Care center tested all employees for COVID-19 this week.

Results from this week’s testing are as follows: 

Trinity Care Center – 0 positive residents, 0 positive employees

Terrace and Suites – 0 positive tenants, 0 positive employees

On Wednesday the CDC released new recommendations for long term care visitation.  One of the major changes is in regards to resuming indoor visitation.  Effective Monday, Trinity may now resume indoor visitation after one week of negative Covid testing for areas that were not directly impacted by the Covid positive exposure.  This means, effective next Monday Trinity will resume indoor visitation for the CHATEAU residents only.  This includes residents that are in rooms 413-441.  These visits will continue to occur in a designated area of the building.  The rest of the building remains in quarantine for an additional week pending all negative covid 19 testing.   

While the CDC released additional recommendations we have yet to receive guidance by the Minnesota Department of Health on how this will roll out in MN nursing facilities.  We expect this guidance to be coming out very soon.  Until then there are no further changes to our indoor visitation policy. 

To schedule your visits please contact the activities line at 651.460.1166. 

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator

Elizabeth Letich

651.460.1138

eletich@trinity.sfhs.org

3/4/21

Farmington Health Services tested all staff and residents for COVID-19 this week. Employee test results are still pending. 

Trinity Care Center has been notified that we have had one additional employee test positive for COVID 19 this week.  A total of 2 employees. 

We continue to encourage all residents, staff, family and community members to get themselves vaccinated against COVID 19.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator

Elizabeth Letich

651.460.1138

March 5^th, 2021

In addition to Trinity Care Center resident testing, Trinity Campus tested all staff for COVID-19 this week. A few employee test results are still pending. 

Results from this week’s testing are as follows: 

Trinity Care Center – 0 positive residents, 2 positive employees

Terrace and Suites – 0 positive tenants, 0 positive employee

This Saturday, March 6^th, marks one year since Minnesota confirmed its first case of COVID-19. The state has since recorded 485,230 total confirmed or probable cases. Now, more than 52% of Minnesotans 65 and older have received at least one dose of either COVID vaccine. This week, Governor Tim Walz stated Minnesota will expand vaccination eligibility when 70% of that population gets their first dose. Vaccine eligibility would expand to people with high-risk health conditions and targeted essential workers. Younger groups and the general public would follow in the late spring and summer.

Johnson & Johnson has now received an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its COVID-19 vaccine, the Janssen Ad-Vac. The J&J vaccine is different than its Moderna and Pfizer 2-dose vaccine counterparts in two ways. First, the J&J vaccine is a one-shot vaccine, not a two-dose vaccine. Second, the J&J vaccine uses a more common vaccine technology and does not utilize the mRNA vaccine delivery method. The vaccine is published as 85% effective 28 days post vaccination. Side effects listed for this vaccine are similar to those listed for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator

Elizabeth Letich

651.460.1138

eletich@trinity.sfhs.org

3/2/21

Farmington Health Services tested all staff for COVID-19 this week. Employee test results are still pending.

Unfortunately, Trinity Care Center had one employee test positive for COVID 19 today. All residents have been tested for Covid 19 and will resume weekly testing until we have gone two weeks free from COVID 19.

We will continue following our infection prevention and control practices along with the latest guidance from MDH and CDC regarding safe visiting for our residents. Per MDH regulation, effective Wednesday 3/3/21 all indoor visits will be cancelled. I encourage you to reschedule your indoor visit with an outdoor or virtual visit. Please contact the activities line to reschedule at 651.460.1166. Once we remain Covid free for two weeks we can resume indoor visitations.

We continue to encourage all residents, staff, family and community members to get themselves vaccinated against COVID 19.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator
Elizabeth Letich
651.460.1138
eletich@trinity.sfhs.org

February 26th, 2021

Trinity Care Center tested all staff for COVID-19 this week. A few employee test results are still pending. 

Results from this week’s testing are as follows: 

• Trinity Care Center, Terrace and Suites – 0 positive residents/tenants, 0 positive employees

Trinity Care Center is scheduling indoor visits.  Please call 651.460.1166 to start scheduling your visits.  All visits will occur in a designated area of the building.  Visits will allow for two visitors at one time, all visitors must be able to maintain PPE appropriately and follow direction. 

We continue to receive questions on how and when family and friends will receive their vaccine. Health officials have created a Vaccine Connector tool found at https://vaccineconnector.mn.gov/. This tool helps Minnesotans find out when, where, and how to get a COVID-19 vaccine. After you fill out a simple form, the Vaccine Connector will alert you when you are eligible to receive a vaccine, connect you to resources to schedule a vaccine appointment, and notify you if there are vaccine opportunities in your area.

We look forward to the day we can throw our doors wide open to the community. Until then, there are multiple ways residents in our setting can interact with one another and with their loved ones. We have resumed socially distanced communal dining and small group activities.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Trinity Campus Administrator

Elizabeth Letich

651.460.1138

eletich@trinity.sfhs.org