Dear Family and Friends,

We are excited to announce that all test results from Thursday, October 21^st, were negative!

All residents have come out of quarantine and our COVID unit is closed. We are happy to have visitors return. To schedule your visit, please call Linda Fellman, Activities Director at (218) 302-6994.

Under CDC and MDH guidelines, we will continue testing all unvaccinated staff twice weekly due to county transmission rate. We will test today (Monday) and on Thursday October 28^th 2021.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638.

Dear Family and Friends,

We had one resident test positive for COVID-19. We are testing again October 7^th.  We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Our COVID unit remains open at this time. We are still required to restrict indoor visitation for all residents. Compassionate care and essential care visits will continue as needed. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638.

Dear Family and Friends,

Unfortunately we received the news that one resident has tested positive for COVID-19 from our testing done on September 10^th. Our next testing date is Wednesday, September 15^th. This will continue to occur until 2 rounds of testing results return with no new positive cases. We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Due to the risk of transmission, we will continue to pause all group activities and communal dining. MDH requires us to restrict indoor visitation for all residents until at least one round of testing results return negative. Compassionate care and essential care visits will continue as needed.  We encourage our family and friends to reach out to us to schedule window visits or virtual visits during this time.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638.

Dear Family and Friends,

Today we were notified that an employee has tested positive for COVID-19. We will continue point prevalence testing of all staff and residents regardless of vaccination status. Our next testing date is today, September 7^th. This will continue to occur until 2 rounds of testing results return with no new positive cases. We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Due to the risk of transmission, all residents in close contact with this employee have been put on quarantine. All activities and communal dining are also temporarily paused. MDH requires us to restrict indoor visitation for all residents until at least one round of testing results return negative. Compassionate care and essential care visits will continue as needed.  We encourage our family and friends to reach out to us to schedule window visits or virtual visits during this time.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638.

Dear Family and Friends,

Due to county positivity, our care center routinely tests unvaccinated staff monthly and when an employee or resident show signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or has had exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19. As of today, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our care center. We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

On Wednesday of this week, President Biden announced that he has directed the CMS to develop emergency regulations requiring Nursing homes to mandate COVID-19 Vaccinations for staff members.  This new requirement is a key component of increasing vaccinations rates and protecting the health and safety of nursing home residents and staff. These vaccines have shown to help prevent COVID-19 and have proven to be effective against the Delta variant.

CMS is expected to release the new regulations in September. At this time we are uncertain of when the vaccine mandate will go into effect or details related to enforcement of the vaccination mandate.  We will honor exemptions for medical and religious reasons, required by law.

We are required to follow all CMS guidelines, but ask for your patience as we wait for more information regarding the key issues needed to move forward. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638.

Dear Family and Friends,

Today we were notified of two employees testing positive for COVID 19. Should any remaining test results come back positive, we would notify family, residents and staff promptly.

Due to the positive test results, we will resume weekly point prevalence testing. Unfortunately this means we must restrict all indoor visitation except compassionate caregivers and essential caregivers at this time. Residents WILL continue communal dining and small group activities at this time.

We will be resuming weekly testing for all staff and residents.  If no additional cases arise, we may resume indoor visitation following one week of point prevalence testing. We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Brittany Loosbrock

Administrator

bloosbrock@fhc.sfhs.org

952-239-6638

Dear Family and Friends,

Our care center continues to routinely test staff weekly and when an employee or resident show signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or has had exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19. As of today, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our care center. We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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.

Looking for ways to help? We have a variety of positions available with flexible scheduling and on the job training. For more information or to apply, visit www.jobswithus.org.

Please follow our Facebook page (@Franciscan Health Center) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638 if you have any questions or concerns.

Dear Family and Friends,

Our care center continues to routinely test staff monthly and when an employee or resident show signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or has had exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19. As of today, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our care center. We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Health Department calculations on Friday show 49.8 percent of the state’s adult population has received at least one vaccine dose, with more than one-third completely vaccinated. However, active cases are now at levels not seen since December. Hospitalizations have climbed significantly in the past weeks and are hovering around levels not seen since early January. The age of those newly hospitalized is trending younger than earlier in the pandemic. The majority of people in the hospital now for COVID-19 are younger than 60.

We continue to work on vaccinating our residents and staff. 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.

Looking for ways to help? We have a variety of positions available with flexible scheduling and on the job training. For more information or to apply, visit www.jobswithus.org.

Please follow our Facebook page (@Franciscan Health Center) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638 if you have any questions or concerns.

Dear Family and Friends,

Our care center continues to routinely test staff monthly and when an employee or resident show signs or symptoms of COVID-19 or has had exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19. As of today, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our care center. We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

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, we can safely open our doors to visitors. Additionally, those residents who are fully vaccinated will be able to come and go without the need to quarantine upon return.

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. Visits are still required to be scheduled in advance. Please contact Linda Fellman, Activities Director to schedule your visit.

Please note that screening is still required of all visitors and employees but you will see changes in how this is performed.  We ask that you please complete the screening at the entrance to our building which will require a temperature check and attestation of 2-3 questions.

While visitation is continuing to expand under the federal and state changes, there are still a few distinct exceptions: 

• 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.

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 altering 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.

Looking for ways to help? We have a variety of positions available with flexible scheduling and on the job training. For more information or to apply, visit www.jobswithus.org.

Don’t forget to get your flu shot this season to help protect our community. Please follow our Facebook page (@Franciscan Health Center) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638 if you have any questions or concerns.

Dear Family and Friends,

As of today, we have no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our care center. Our care center continues to test staff monthly. We are following recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

This Saturday, March 6th, 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.

Looking for ways to help? We have a variety of positions available with flexible scheduling and on the job training. For more information or to apply, visit www.jobswithus.org.

Don’t forget to get your flu shot this season to help protect our community. Please follow our Facebook page (@Franciscan Health Center) or our website (www.sfhs.org) for all COVID updates and information on what is happening inside our care center. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Brittany Loosbrock, Administrator, at 952-239-6638 if you have any questions or concerns.