March 22, 2021

Dear Patients and Families:

Potomac Falls Health & Rehab Center is committed to safely reuniting patients, families and friends as we move toward expanding visitation in the Center. During 2020, the Center has offered virtual, outdoor and compassionate care visits in accordance with CMS and Virginia Department of Health guidelines. Since receiving the recent CMS nursing home visitation guidance published on March 10, we have incorporated this guidance into our visitation plan and will be re-introducing indoor visitation beginning March 25, 2021.

We plan to slowly begin indoor visits with the following procedures:

• Weather permitting, we encourage outdoor visits.
• COVID-19 testing will be offered and is encouraged for any visitor participating in indoor visitation. A visitor who has been tested within the previous 2-3 days may share their test results at the time of the visit or choose to be tested by the Center prior to the visit. Testing will require signing a consent form.
• Visitors are asked to arrive 15 minutes in advance of their scheduled visit to allow time for screening and COVID-19 testing, if desired.
• Upon entering the Center, all visitors will be screened and observed for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 to include temperature check and answering screening questions about symptoms and close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 within the previous 14 days.
• Patients and visitors are required to practice good hand hygiene by using alcohol-based hand sanitizer or vigorously washing with soap and water.
• Patients and visitors must wear a face mask covering the mouth and nose for the duration of the visit.
• The number of visitors per patient at any given time and the total number of visitors in the Center at one time must be limited. Each patient is allowed one indoor visitor per visit.  Visitors must be age 18 and older.
• Visits will be scheduled for 30 minutes in duration, Monday-Friday between the hours of 10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. These days and times will allow the maximum amount of staff support to perform essential functions such as cleaning between visits and screening procedures. The visitation days and hours will expand in the future.
• If the patient is in a private room and both the patient and the visitor have been fully vaccinated, the visit is permitted in the room. The patient may choose to allow close contact with the visitor as long as the patient is wearing a well-fitting face mask and hand hygiene is practiced before and after the visit. Both the patient and visitor must wear their face masks at all times. If one of the parties has not been vaccinated, close contact is not permitted and 6’ social distancing is required at all times.
• If the patient is in a semi-private room (whether vaccinated or not), the visit will be conducted in the 2^nd Floor Conference Room, which will safely accommodate one visit at a time with visual reminders for 6’ social distancing. Face mask use and social distancing are required at all times.
• If neither party has been fully vaccinated, we are recommending outdoor visits.
• Outdoor and indoor visitation must be scheduled in advance through our on-line scheduling portal: https://potomacfalls-rehab.com/patient-visitation/.
• All visits will be on a first come, first served basis with indoor visits initially scheduled once per week to afford all patients the opportunity for initial visits.
• We ask that you refrain from eating or drinking while enjoying your visit in an effort to eliminate the need to remove face masks.
• Visitors will be escorted by staff to either the patient’s private room, outdoor tent, or indoor designated area where the visit will be monitored to ensure compliance with CDC and Potomac Falls Health & Rehab guidelines.
• Visitor movement must be limited to the designated visitation area.
• Compassionate care visits are allowable at all times.

Should the Center be required to initiate outbreak testing, visitation will be suspended pending the outcome of the testing. If the county positivity rate increases to more than 10%, we will evaluate the current vaccination percentage among patients and communicate any changes to visitation accordingly. Patients residing on our Quarantine Unit will continue to be offered virtual or window visits until the patient has met the CDC’s criteria for discontinuation for transmission-based precautions.

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Brenda K. White, LNHA
Administrator