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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOIH Newsletter - February 2021 OUR ISLAND HOME Monthly Newsletter Inside This Issue: • Our Island Home’s COVID Status • Keeping in Touch with Residents During COVID / Valentine’s Plans • Pfizer Vaccine Clinic • January Donations Highlights: 1) Modified Calendar of Events 2) Employee of the Month 3) The Future of Our Island Home 4) Resources and Information 9 East Creek Rd. Nantucket, MA 02554 1 (508) 228-0462 February 2021 Volume 4, Issue 2 OUR ISLAND HOME’S COVID STATUS On Friday, January 15th, Our Island Home learned that (1) of our staff members tested positive for COVID-19. Steps were taken immediately to protect the health and safety of our residents and other staff members, including suspending group congregation and activities at the Home, increasing frequency of deep cleaning and sanitizing the facility to several times daily, and increasing surveillance of and adherence to on-going safety measures such as frequent hand-washing, PPE-wearing, and physical distancing throughout the facility. As of the date of this newsletters’ publication, Friday, January 29th, 2021, we remain at (1) staff positive. KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH RESIDENTS DURING COVID / VALENTINE’S PLANS! We continue to receive letters, photos, and words of hope to our resident email account: ourislandhome@yahoo.com. You can visit our Facebook page (Oih Nantucket MA) for daily OIH COVID updates, and resident family members and loved ones receive a comprehensive update weekly via email. All visitation at OIH should continue to be scheduled in advance through the Activities Director, Ally Rowell, who can be reached via email at arowell@nantucket-ma.gov or via phone at 1 (508) 228-0462 x 7406. In celebration of Valentine’s Day this year, we are calling upon our fellow Nantucket community members to help show our residents the love! Please post a photo of yourself and/or your loved ones on social media with the hashtag #OIHvalentine – most preferably, you can hold a sign up saying, “I am an #OIHvalentine”! These photos will be collected and shown to our residents throughout the month of February to help make this love-filled holiday special for them. Thank you in advance for participating! PFIZER VACCINE CLINIC We had an amazing experience receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine from the CVS Pharmacy Team, receiving our first dose on January 5th and our second on the 26th! A hearty ‘thank you’ is owed to our staff and residents for doing such an incredible job with this process – our first step forward toward some big joy in 2021! JANUARY DONATIONS A major ‘Thank You’ to Mirick O’Connell Attorneys at Law, Atlantic East Nantucket Real Estate, Ms. Susan M. Warner, Matthew and Sheila Fee, Mary Casey and Jeffrey Blackwell, M. Marina Austin, Jeanne and Peter Hicks, Rev. Ted and Gretchen Anderson, Bill and Kathy Grieder, Judith B. Phelan, and Jennifer Ahlborn for your donations to OIH and to the Friends of Our Island Home this past month. Your generosity contributes directly to our resident’s daily life, activities, and overall well-being. We are so grateful. Thank you!!! OUR ISLAND HOME 9 East Creek Rd Nantucket, MA 02554 PHONE: 1 (508) 228-0462 FAX: 1 (508) 228-6875 E-MAIL: Bob Eisenstein Interim Administrator OIHAdministrator@ nantucket-ma.gov We’re on the Web! Visit us at: www.nantucket-ma.gov INSTAGRAM: ourislandhomenantucket FACEBOOK: Oih Nantucket MA MODIFIED CALENDAR OF EVENTS We continue to make modifications to our activities calendar in efforts to follow best- care practices as recommended state and federal agencies that reflect evolving standards and regulations surrounding COVID- 19. Daily, we continue to offer the following activities options: Coloring pages; Puzzles; Word search and trivia worksheets; Video chatting and phone calls with family and other loved ones; Window visits (scheduled in advance) Exploring old Nantucket picture books; Independent crafting such as knitting, crocheting, and other art forms; Reading letters sent to us from our Nantucket community members; Independent or distance bible study; Spending one-on-one time with staff members for support and comfort; and listening to music on headphones. In addition to the above activities, our residents have been busy playing on our tablets, arts-and-crafting, writing to their 3rd Grade Pen Pals at the Lighthouse School, and spending abundant 1:1 time with staff. We have temporarily suspended congregating in our living room for movies and distance-bingo due to our (1) staff positive, but are continuing to enjoy daily virtual visits and activities. FAMILY COUNCIL: The next Family Council Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 10th at 10 AM, via Zoom. RESOURCES & INFORMATION If you have questions or concerns regarding evolving COVID-19 regulations and standards, please be aware of the Nursing Home Family Resource Line established by the Baker-Polito Administration. This is a dedicated telephone line that will connect family members of nursing home residents with information and resources they need. The line is staffed from 9am – 5pm, Monday through Friday, and the number is: 1 (617) 660-5399. THE FUTURE OF OUR ISLAND HOME Six facilitated discussions were held between July and September 2020 regarding the future of Our Island Home. One of these groups was held with internal Town of Nantucket staff and the remaining were held with key Stakeholders; including OIH residents, family, staff members and senior service providers on the island. On October 14, 2020 a review of these stakeholder forums was presented to the Select Board. Another round of facilitated discussions with additional stakeholder groups and community members are being scheduled for January and February 2021. It is anticipated that additional discussions with the general public will occur sometime after those are completed. The information from these meetings will be reviewed by the Select Board and, along with prior studies done on OIH, will be utilized to determine what is the best direction the Town should procced in for the future of a nursing facility on the island. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH For December, our residents elected staff member Katey Boynton, RN, as our employee of the month, because of her efforts to always help those around her and the love she spreads to residents and staff alike. Thank you, Katey, for all that you do!!!