June 13, 2020

Dear Residents and Families,

The purpose of this letter is to communicate updates regarding our covid-19 reporting and the actions we continue to take to combat and protect our community.  

As of today, since this pandemic started, we have had a total of 26 residents test positive with Covid-19. This is an increase of 3 since our last update.

We also have 7 employees who have tested positive since this pandemic started. Four have returned to work. The three remaining employees remain at home under quarantine.

Of the 26 residents:

                       7 Residents have recovered. This is an increase of three since our last update.

              10 Residents currently in-house with positive Covid results.

  9 Residents expired who had tested positive for Covid.

Last night we received the testing results from the Department of Health on the 3 residents tested earlier this week. All 3 tests came back positive. All 3 residents are doing well. The families of these residents have been notified of the results.

We have and will continue to test our residents, who show any signs/symptoms. We believe this is in the best interest of our community. While the vast majority of our test results have come back negative, we are still very vigilant in our focus to protect and ultimately mitigate this infection.   

A few weeks back Governor Wolf announced he wanted all nursing home residents and staff tested for covid. Unfortunately, as this directive has filtered down through the varies agencies, we have learned:

·                      The department of health does not have enough test kits to perform what Governor Wolf is       asking.

·                      The State epidemiology lab can only handle approximately 800 tests per day.

On behalf of Hanover Hall, Wilmac Corporation has secured a contract with an independent lab, Gene By Gene, to test all our residents and staff members. It is my understanding that in addition to this vast initial test, this independent lab will provide our facility will coordinated re-testing capability.  

We will begin the facility-wide testing on Monday, 6/15, and Tuesday, 6/16.

We do need Responsible Party consent to test our residents. If you have not already received a call from the facility regarding this request, you will be contacted. This consent can be given verbally over the phone or by signing a consent form. The residents who will be tested are those residents who have yet to be tested and those who were previously tested, and results were negative. We anticipate the results of these tests to be obtained by Friday, 6/19. Families will be notified of the results.

The facility has been receiving calls regarding York County moving to a GREEN Zone and how this will affect visitation at the facility. All nursing homes are currently mandated by the Department of Health and the Commonwealth to maintain the current visitation restrictions, until further notice. We believe this is in the best interest of our community.

We have sought guidance from the Department of Health in regard to scheduled outside visitation as weather permits and assuring safe social distancing with face masks. I will keep you posted on this subject as I know how important it is to all of us that we have the opportunity to see and visit one another.

In early April, we decided to implement isolation precautions on most all new on-set symptoms. We believe we are in a time when we cannot be too overly cautious in protecting our community. Resident and staff safety are our top priority.

We continue to exceed our staff levels throughout the facility to meet the needs of our community.

You can be proud of the staff at Hanover Hall and be assured that all our staff continue to report to work and perform with excellence. 

I know this continues to be a difficult time for everyone. We will continue to update you, as quickly as possible, with any updates and/or changes to our current situation.

Please know we continue to strictly adhere to all directives from the local and state health departments as well as the CDC.

We appreciate your continued prayers and trust in the care and services we provide and for your understanding and support of any necessary adjustments as this situation evolves.

Please feel free to contact me at 717-633-4520 with any questions or concerns. 

May God bless us all.

Respectfully,

Daniel Pyle, NHA

Administrator, Hanover Hall