As many of you may have heard, CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), in collaboration with the CDC, announced on 8/18/2021 that they are developing a regulation that would mandate COVID vaccinations for all nursing home staff across the country. We will be looking at this new rule once it is published, likely in September, and support the mandate for all healthcare staff.

High levels of staff vaccination are linked to fewer COVID-19 outbreaks among residents in nursing homes. As of today, we have an employee vaccination rate of 80% which makes us one of the highest vaccinated facilities in the entire state of Wisconsin. Only 10 facilities in the entire state of Wisconsin have achieved over 75% vaccination compliance among employees. In the Fox Valley area, only two facilities have achieved that, and Oakridge Gardens is one of them. This is something to be proud of and we thank each of you for that!

There will be more information to share with you all as we become apprised. If you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to call me or stop by my office to discuss.

As always, thank you for your continued support and for all you do for our residents!

Best,

Caitlin Higgins, NHA

This June marks 12 months since the fire event that caused us to evacuate Oakridge. Reflecting back on the stress of that day and the days that followed, I really just remember how we all came together. With the help of staff, residents, families, colleagues and neighbors, we saw a successful relocation of our residents. We then made an immediate transition from our daily work of providing care in a place we knew, to that of recovery, rebuilding and getting back to what we are called to do.

We have been working towards the goal of getting back in our facility every day since last June and we are nearing the end of that journey to begin another chapter in Oakridge’s 52-year history of serving seniors in the Fox Valley. We couldn’t be happier.

I appreciate everyone who has been there to help us along the way.

Ever Forward!

Michael T. Schanke
NHA President

Early spring has prompted much progress. Across all of our locations, we have held successful COVID-19 vaccination campaigns with acceptance rates far above national and state averages, especially from our staff. We continue to partner with our pharmacy provider, Morton’s LTC Pharmacy, to ensure new residents and staff members have timely vaccination opportunities available to them. I want to thank Morton’s for their exceptional commitment to our shared community for the work they have done.

In mid-March, we welcomed our new Director of Nursing, Tayna Didier, RN, MHA. Tayna comes to us with an exceptional background in nursing leadership. Her commitment to the nursing staff and attentiveness to the people she cares for is already evident and motivational. You can learn more about Tayna in her employee spotlight later in this newsletter.

We have begun operational planning for our reopening in July. While we have stayed very active at Gardenview Assisted Living and The Gardens of Fountain Way Assisted Living, we have also been able to maintain a good number of our Oakridge staff as active employees. They have all been contributing to caring for residents other locations or keeping things moving behind the scenes at our temporary office location. I am grateful to all of them and look forward to bringing back former staff and welcoming new staff as we approach re-opening. That process has already begun.

It has been 10 months since the fire incident and many people ask, “Do you know what caused the fire?” The answer to that is, not yet. The process of determining cause and origin is very tedious and very scientific, as it should be to make such a determination with certainty. In fact, we may never know to absolute certainty, as is the nature of some fire events. Our insurer, Nationwide has an exceptional team of nationally respected experts in forensic fire investigations working on our behalf and if they can get to the bottom of it, they will.

In the meantime, with the help of our many dedicated staff members at all locations and Nationwide, we will continue our march to rebuild, re-open and once again meet the needs of our senior community.

Michael T. Schanke
NHA President

There has been a confirmed positive COVID result in one resident at The Gardens of Fountain Way.  This is our first positive case in a resident since the pandemic started. We will test all staff and residents again this week and next week. I have reported the result to the Menasha Health Department as required.  The Menasha Health Department has evaluated the exposure risk for The Gardens of Fountain Way staff and residents. We will take all measures as directed by the Menasha Health Department. 

Activities will be put on hold and we have to encourage all residents to stay in their rooms until further notice. All doctor appointments must be re-scheduled until further notice. In the meantime, residents and staff will continue to be closely monitored for symptoms and steps taken if needed for their care.  All scheduled outside visits will remain on hold until we are cleared by the Menasha Health Department from this exposure. 

We will put all required resources and time into managing it.

Thank you for your patience, care and understanding.

Tanya Clark, Manager
The Gardens of Fountain Way

There has been a confirmed positive COVID in one staff member at The Gardens of Fountain Way.  The staff member last worked on 1/20/21. We tested all staff and residents this week. We will test all staff and residents next week as well.

I have reported the result to the Menasha Health Department as required.  The Menasha Health Department has evaluated the exposure risk for The Gardens of Fountain Way staff and residents. We will take all measures as directed by the Menasha Health Department. 

In the meantime, residents and staff will continue to be closely monitored for symptoms and steps taken if needed for their care.  All scheduled outside visits will need to stop until such time as we are cleared by the Menasha Health Department from this exposure. 

We will put all required resources and time into managing it.

Thank you for your patience, care and understanding.

Tanya Clark, Manager
The Gardens of Fountain Way

Good Afternoon,

There has been a confirmed positive COVID case in one staff member at The Gardens of Fountain Way.  This staff member last worked on 1/6/21. We completed our required all staff testing this week and had just the one confirmed positive case. We will be testing all residents this week, and will complete a second round of tests on all staff and residents next week as well.

I have reported the positive result to the Menasha Health Department as required.  The Menasha Health Department has evaluated the exposure risk for The Gardens of Fountain Way staff and residents. We are taking all safety measures as directed by the Menasha Health Department. 

In the meantime, residents and staff will continue to be closely monitored for symptoms and steps taken if needed for their care.  All scheduled outside visits will need to stop until such time as we are cleared by the Menasha Health Department from this exposure. 

Thank you for your patience, care and understanding.

Tanya Clark, Manager
The Gardens of Fountain Way

There has been a confirmed positive COVID test in one staff member that was present at The Gardens of Fountain Way. The staff member last worked on 12/3/20. We tested all staff last week and will be testing again this week.

We will test all residents this week and next week. I have reported the result to the Menasha Health Department as required. The Menasha Health Department has evaluated the exposure risk for The Gardens of Fountain Way staff and residents. We will take all measures as directed by the Menasha Health Department.

In the meantime, residents and staff will continue to be closely monitored for symptoms and steps taken if needed for their care. All scheduled outside visits will need to stop until such time as we are cleared by the Menasha Health Department from this exposure.

As we all know, the community spread of COVID 19 in our area is at an all-time high and is continuing to grow. This instance is the second in nearly ten months of this pandemic for us. We will put all required resources and time into managing it.

Thank you for your patience, care and understanding.

Tanya Clark, Manager
The Gardens of Fountain Way

Please Click Below ▼

DATE: 11/6/2020

Dear Gardenview Assisted Living Community Members,

We conducted all staff and resident testing earlier this week and detected 6 additional residents and 2 additional staff members that have tested positive for COVID-19. Through contact tracing, all of these new cases are likely linked to our original case, according to Winnebago County Health Department. None of these residents are showing any symptoms as of now. We will continue to test residents and staff weekly until further notice. We continue to monitor all residents each shift and all staff before they begin working. We wish to assure you that even with staff being off, we are able to care for the residents adequately.

I notified Winnebago Public Health officials as required and we are following procedures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We are taking every step as recommended by authorities to contain the spread of this virus. We want to make our residents, their families, and our dedicated staff are aware of this situation. Our focus remains on the health and well-being of our community. We must also recognize our team for the concern and commitment they have shown to our residents during this challenging time.

Thank you all for your continued support, thoughts and prayers for our residents and team members! If you have any questions, please call me at 920-733-4305.
Sincerely,

Ann Coyle
Manager

10/29/2020

Today, a case of COVID-19, the illness resulting from the novel coronavirus, was diagnosed in 2 residents. The residents starting showing symptoms on Monday and were immediately isolated. All residents and staff members were tested and all test results have returned negative at this time. We will continue to test all residents and staff weekly until further notice. We continue to monitor all residents each shift and all staff before they begin working.

I notified Winnebago Public Health officials as required and we are following procedures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We are taking every step as recommended by authorities to contain the spread of this virus. We want to make our residents, their families, and our dedicated staff aware of this situation and reassure everyone that we are on top of it.

Developments are changing day by day, minute by minute. Our focus remains on the health and well-being of our community. We must also recognize our team for the concern and commitment they have shown to our residents during this challenging time.

Thank you all for your support! We will provide updates regularly. If you have any questions, please call me at 920-733-4305.

Sincerely,

Ann Coyle
Manager