To our AMAZING Nursing and CNA staff,
We wanted to reach out with some encouragement and updates from the TN Department of Health as we are receiving additional guidance on a daily basis.
First, No Place Like Home has the best nurses and CNAs around. We want to say thank you to all of you who continue to show up day after day providing compassionate and excellent care to all our kiddos. Right now, more than ever, our patients and families are depending on you to keep them well and at home. The last place we want our kiddos is in the hospital where their risk of being exposed to the coronavirus is significantly increased. We can’t accomplish that without each and every one of you! Thank you!
Second, we are monitoring the recommendations from the TN Health Department and CDC daily. We are also working closely with the local Healthcare Coalition. They are attempting to help us get additional PPE supplies. We are hoping to have approximately 200 surgical masks by this Friday. As soon as we receive those, we will start delivering them out to homes. With only 200 masks, we will only be able to give one mask to each nurse for each patient you are seeing. So, if you work at three different homes, we will give you three masks. We are asking that you keep the mask in a plastic ziplock baggie and use that mask with only one patient. Masks should be visibly inspected prior to use and discarded if there are concerns such as degraded material or tears.
Thirdly, let’s talk about possible exposure and how to know if you were exposed. The latest guidelines from the Department of Health state you generally need to be in close contact with a sick person to get infected. Close contact includes:
- Living in the same household as a sick person with COVID-19
- Caring for a sick person with COVID-19
- Being within 6 feet of a sick person with COVID-19 for about 10 minutes or longer
- Being in direct contact with secretions from a sick person with COVID-19 (coughed on, kissing, sharing utensils, etc.)
If you are to be exposed at some point to a sick person positive for COVID-19, you would need to self-quarantine for 14 days after the last day you were in close contact with that person. You would also need to contact the office immediately.
At this point, we have not had any patients tested for the coronavirus and we have no nurses that we are aware of that have come into close contact with any persons that have tested positive for COVID-19. If that changes at any point, I assure you that we will be in immediate contact with anyone that might have been affected.
We are also advising that you ask the nurse in the home or the parent upon arrival to the home if anyone in the household is experiencing fever, cough, or shortness of breath. If so, do not enter the home and immediately contact the office. We have spoken with all the of families and advised them of the importance of contacting the office, but it does not hurt for everyone to double check before each shift.
We are asking that each of you be diligent to monitor your health and watch for fever, cough, and shortness of breath. If you develop any of these symptoms, call us immediately before reporting to any patients’ homes. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to support you in any way that we can.
I’ve attached several links that include a lot of great information.
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/documents/cedep/novel-coronavirus/HCWCaseGuidance.pdf
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/documents/cedep/novel-coronavirus/CloseContactGuidance.pdf