\u201cI\u2019ve had COVID nightmares because you see what\u2019s going on in these large cities,\u201d Humiston said. \u201cThe anxiety alone of just that was stressing people out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preventing the spread<\/div>\n
In response to the virus, the facilities have followed guidelines set by federal agencies, states and local public health agencies to prevent the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n
At C&G Health Care Management, which operates seven facilities in Southwest Colorado, staff members are screened daily for symptoms. Visitors are not allowed, and residents must wear masks outside rooms and practice social distancing. Administrators join regular emergency planning calls.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the same at 27 SAVA Senior Care facilities in Colorado and Wyoming, including Four Corners Health Care Center, said Joe Reese, vice president of operations for the region. Other SAVA centers have reported outbreaks, but no residents at Four Corners have tested positive for the disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, the challenge was things were changing nationally almost as fast as you could implement them,\u201d Reese said. \u201cNow the challenge is continuing to be isolated, certainly for the residents, and the day-to-day challenges that our employees face.\u201d<\/p>\n
None of the 600 residents in C&G nursing homes have tested positive either, Humiston said. In Cortez, five staff members tested positive for COVID-19, four without symptoms.<\/p>\n
The companies have received state, federal and local support. San Juan Basin Public Health has provided long-term care facilities with testing kits and assistance, facility-wide testing at Four Corners, and thousands of surgical masks, gloves, face shields and medical gowns, said Claire Ninde, SJBPH spokeswoman.<\/p>\n
Colorado, led by Colorado State University, launched a program in early May to conduct eight weeks of testing at 30 skilled nursing centers to track asymptomatic spread in staff. Both C&G and SAVA are part of the program, but the state hasn\u2019t yet contacted them to begin testing staff members.<\/p>\n
Instead of waiting, C&G started its own testing process. The company also shut down visitation before the state ordered it and found a testing supply when no one had enough tests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned through all of this, is if everyone\u2019s going to sit back and wait for the government to tell us what to do, we\u2019re going to have a problem,\u201d Humiston said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t (wait) from the very beginning, and I think that\u2019s what\u2019s helped us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new norm<\/div>\n
While the facilities have seen months of success, residents, families and staff are adjusting to a new norm to prevent the virus\u2019 spread.<\/p>\n
Lunch used to be a social hour. Now, most residents eat in their rooms. Exercise groups are limited to four people. The beauty shop closed at Cottonwood Inn Rehab and Extended Care Center, so a nursing assistant washes and styles the women\u2019s hair.<\/p>\n
\u201cHair, to the elderly ladies, is everything,\u201d said Deb Snyder, administrator at the center.<\/p>\n
Cottonwood staff have seen some signs of anxiety, isolation and sadness. Residents with dementia did not understand why they weren\u2019t getting visitors. At times, some residents would start crying with no apparent reason.<\/p>\n
Staff have limited their activity outside work. Snyder goes straight home from work and limits any other trips. One nurse said her three kids haven\u2019t seen their friends in months to help prevent contracting the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re powering through this, but boy, it\u2019s been difficult on both sides \u2013 our residents and our staff,\u201d Snyder said.<\/p>\n
Carla Vigil Shoub and her husband, Don Shoub, feel cooped up and wary as they pray for a vaccine. It\u2019s sad they can\u2019t see their families, they said.<\/p>\n
Shoub\u2019s sister, Christine Mullholand, said she could hear tension in the married couple\u2019s voices when they got overwhelmed, especially in the first month.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019re learning to adjust that maybe this is going to be this way for a while,\u201d Mullholand said.<\/p>\n
smullane @durangoherald.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Largest care center outbreaks<\/h4>\n
Care center County Cases
\n 1. Pikes Peak Care Center El Paso 90
\n 2. Cherry Creek Nursing Center Arapahoe 70
\n 3. Mountain Vista Health Care Jefferson 70
\n 4. Orchard Park Health Care Center Arapahoe 64
\n 5. Veterans Community Living Center at Fitzsimmons Adams 59
\n 6. Eben Ezer Lutheran Care Center Morgan 57
\n 7. Life Care Center of Aurora Arapahoe 57
\n 8. Villa Manor Jefferson 56
\n 9. Harvard Square Retirement Community Denver 48
\n 10. The Peaks Care Center Boulder 48<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
coronavirus outbreaks are reported at long-term care centers in this corner of Colorado<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,13,28,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53158"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}