914-636-6565

COVID-19 Update for Willow Towers

March 12

 

  • COVID-19 Information
  • Visitation with your loved ones
  • Information about the COVID-19 vaccince
  • Testing — Staff and Residents
  • Communication with families
  • Safety measures in place 
  • NYS Ombudsman Program
  • Thank you: To our community and to our staff

 

COVID-19 Information

We are updating our website frequently for our staff, residents and their families. Our administration also sends regular email updates to our family members and letters to our residents. Please follow our Facebook page for additional updates, photos, and news.

 

Visitation with your loved ones

After successfully meeting criteria set by the Department of Health, including the submission of our safety plan, a review of all policies and procedures, and the absence of new positive cases for COVID-19 for both residents and staff, we have opened our doors to visitors on a limited basis.

If you would like to schedule a visit with your loved one, please review our visitation plan policy and procedures first. We continue to offer opportunities for you to connect with loved ones. Options include courtyard visits, video chats and compassionate care visits. Please contact Lisa Librandi at llibrandi@willowtowers.com to schedule a courtyard visit. To schedule a virtual visit, please contact Deborah King at dking@willowtowers.com. If your loved one is a resident of our Phoenix Neighborhood, please contact afeintuch@willowtowers.com for virtual visits.  We look forward to seeing you!

Information about the COVID-19 Vaccine

Please see “Questions and answers about the COVID-19 Vaccine,” provided for our staff, residents, and their family members, via AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.

 

Staff Testing

In accordance with Governor Cuomo’s most Executive Order dated May 11, 2020, we are testing all staff once per week. All staff are screened daily when they arrive at our facility. If a staff member tests positive, he/she is placed on mandatory quarantine for 14 days and must test negative for COVID-19 prior to returning to work.

Because of health information privacy regulations, we cannot share information about staff members who test positive for COVID-19. We continue to adhere to the following strict guidelines: Staff wear appropriate PPE; infection control protocols are in place; and each resident’s vital signs and symptoms of illness are monitored daily.

Resident Testing

With the support of our partners at the Montefiore Medical Center and in consultation with our physicians, we are testing residents who present COVID-19 symptoms. If one of our residents tests positive for the virus, we immediately notify their family and place them isolation.

Safety Measures in Place

Since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in this region, we have taken every step possible to keep everyone protected. We scrupulously have been following all guidelines recommended by the CDC and the Department of Health, as well as our own strict protocols.

In addition to the no-visitation policy we have implemented, we have put into place the following are additional safety measures:

  • We are fortunate to have plenty of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for our staff to wear. All of our staff wear face masks and we have made them available to residents who are able to wear them.
  • Screening procedure for staff: All staff have their temperature checked daily, performed by a staff member who also checks for signs of illness. If staff show any symptoms, they are sent home to be quarantined.
  • We are following strict infection control and prevention guidelines, and performing staff training and audits throughout all departments to ensure competency and compliance.
  • Our team meets daily to review the latest CDC data and clinical findings so that we are well prepared should any of our residents become ill.

New York State Ombudsman Program

Because of the state directive to close our campus to visitors, all New York State (NYS) Certified Long Term Care Ombudsmen will provide “virtual” visiting by phone, email and other web-based technologies. Residents wishing to contact the state LTC Ombudsman may call the new helpline number: (914) 500-3406.

To the community: Thank you for your support

We want to thank our community for the support you have given to us since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have received generous financial contributions, hand-written cards and artwork, beautifully made cloth masks, and kind letters to let us know how much you appreciate the care we are providing for our seniors. We’re sharing all of these stories on our Testimonials and Facebook pages.  These generous acts sustain us in our work, and our operation. Thank you.

If you’d like to help, visit our Go Fund Me page to send a gift to our staff, or consider making a tax-deductible donation to United Hebrew of New Rochelle.

You may also send a message to a resident of United Hebrew of Rochelle or a staff member working in our nursing home, Willow Towers Assisted Living or Willow Gardens Memory Care. Please email: UHheroes@uhgc.org or send snail mail to: Administration, United Hebrew of New Rochelle, 391 Pelham Road, New Rochelle, NY 10805

To our staff: Thank you for your essential work

You are our heroes! We want to acknowledge the extreme dedication of our extraordinary team at United Hebrew, Willow Towers, and Willow Gardens. From housekeeping and maintenance, to activity staff, chefs, culinary staff, security, nurses, care managers, and operations — everyone has gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure the physical and emotional well-being of our residents.

Thanks to these frontline workers, your loved ones are receiving unconditional emotional support and comfort to help them cope with any anxiety triggered by news of the coronavirus epidemic. Whether helping them log onto an iPad for a virtual visit with a loved one, singing their favorite songs, or just spending a quiet moment together, our staff are truly a source of comfort to residents across our campus. They are helping to fill the void left by residents’ families who are not able to visit during this period.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any additional questions at 914-636-6565.