Dear family and friends of Castle Senior Living,
We are happy to continue to report that none of the residents at any of our Castle Senior Living communities has tested positive for COVID-19.
One staff member tested positive at one of our locations, (all impacted individuals and the local health department were informed immediately), but after testing the rest of the community, no residents or staff were found to be positive with COVID-19. We are now outside the critical two-week window of exposure at this community and none of our residents or staff have any signs or symptoms of COVID-19.
The Wisconsin Department of Health is still recommending we restrict all non-essential visitors to our communities, but they did recently release guidance on how Assisted Living providers can develop policies for safer visitation practices in certain situations. Castle Senior Living is currently drafting our policies and procedures for how we can offer these visits safely. This means that non-essential visitors are still restricted from our communities. We hope to have a policy in place in the next few weeks. We know that this is difficult, but the health of our residents and employees remains our top priority.
We ask everyone to please respect the safeguards that the CDC and the Department of Health have put in place to protect our residents from COVID-19 and follow the no visitor policy. If residents have to make essential visits out into the community, please continue to sign out of the community and inform staff, so we can account for all our residents in the event that there is an emergency and we need to evacuate the building. We strongly encourage all residents and families to review the CDC recommendations on ”Deciding to Go-Out” before residents make essential trips outside of their assisted living community.
Additionally, the Wisconsin Department of Health is working on guidelines for allowing ancillary services (beautician, barber, etc.) back in our communities in a safe manner. Those guidelines are now under review by the Wisconsin Department of Health. We will update you as we find out more.
If you’d like to discuss the recommendations and lobby for change you can still access the Ombudsman Program with the Board on Aging and Long Term Care by phone at 1-800-815-0015, by e-mail at BOALTC@wisconsin.gov or online at http://longtermcare.wi.gov/.
We will communicate with you as soon as we are able to adapt the Wisconsin Department of Health’s new guidelines to our communities and feel that we can safely reopen visitation. If you would like to schedule a video call with your loved one, please reach out to your facility administrator.
Thank you for your patience and have a wonderful Fourth of July.