Emergency Response

Pandemic Policy Statement

APPLICABILITY: Milestone owned and/or managed communities

POLICY STATEMENT:

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, we at Milestone Retirement Communities have been especially vigilant in our commitment to addressing the many challenges it has brought to our communities. Today our commitment continues, as we strive to maintain the best living and working environment for everyone. To that end, we are instituting new guidelines to address the continuing spread of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) and the mutation of the variants, such as Delta.

Beginning September 30, 2021, all current and new employees of Milestone Retirement Communities and those managed by us will be required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. This requirement is to protect and preserve the health, safety, and welfare of those vulnerable residents living in our communities and the staff who care for them. Accommodations will be considered for current employees and employment candidates post enforcement date.

The vaccination mandate does not apply to Milestone residents or their personal visitors and guests. However, some states are and have enacted directives requiring proof of vaccination or recent (within 72 Hours) negative COVID Test prior to those visiting residents on campus. On a positive note, since we began offering on-site vaccine clinics to our residents, an overwhelming majority of residents have chosen to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Unless otherwise indicated by state/local or other regulatory agencies, this policy does not apply to state/local government employees, vendors, or independent contractors who provide services and support to our managed communities.

We at Milestone believe in supporting and following the guidelines of the CDC and state/local agencies. Recently the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced a plan to begin offering COVID-19 booster shots in the fall. Milestone will keep residents informed on upcoming booster clinics at the communities. Visit the CDC website to read more about the booster.

According to the CDC, vaccination against COVID-19, together with following COVID-19 safety precautions, is the most effective way to protect individuals against COVID-19 infection and prevent further COVID-19 transmission to others. Visit the CDC website to learn more.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES DURING COVID

All Milestone communities have been implementing a phased reopening since vaccinations became available. The reintroduction has involved bringing back activities, events, dining, services, and increased visitation. Please be aware that each community is assessing the viability of in-person events on an ongoing basis. Many communities also continue to offer tours and events virtually for prospects.

Our communities continue to follow guidance from their local/state health authorities and the CDC about masking, social distancing, and other COVID-related precautions.

Visitors are being welcomed to all communities. If visiting a loved one, we recommend you contact the community for the latest information on this policy as new directives specific to visitation criteria may change during this pandemic. Should you have any questions regarding a specific community, don't hesitate to get in touch with the Executive Director at the community

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We have recently released Phase 2 guidance for re-opening our communities.  Monday, March 8 2021, the CDC released new guidance for fully vaccinated people.  We have provided the link to the guidance below as well as information from this guidance that we think is important.  Of importance to note is that the guidance for vaccinated people meeting without masks with other vaccinated people does not apply to our communities.  The CDC guidance related to this is:

“CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people continue to take these COVID-19 precautions when in public, when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple other households, and when around unvaccinated people who are at high risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19.”

You can find this guidance here:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/LTCF-residents.html

The choice to be vaccinated, while important to public health, is also resident choice, which we respect.  In order to keep all residents and staff protected, vaccinated and unvaccinated, we will be following the Milestone Phase 2 Guidance.  The below bullet points highlight specific guidance related to fully vaccinated visitors:

• Fully vaccinated visitors may visit with a fully vaccinated resident, in-apartment, without the wearing of masks. 
• Fully vaccinated resident visits with fully vaccinated visitors are required to be scheduled in advance, with a set time limit, to accommodate other visitors.  This enables us to monitor the number of outside visitors in the community and maintain social distancing.
• Fully vaccinated visitors of fully vaccinated residents may have brief, limited physical contact with the resident (e.g., a brief hug, holding hands, assisting with feeding or grooming).
• Visits for residents who share a room should be conducted in a separate indoor space or with the roommate not present in the room (if possible), regardless of the roommate's vaccination status.
• Indoor tours are allowed if approved by your county “tier” schedule.  Masks are required while on a tour and potential residents should NOT socialize with current residents.
• Residents that are vaccinated that leave the community do NOT need to quarantine upon return.
• We will continue monitoring residents, staff and visitors for symptoms.
• We will continue our COVID-19 cleaning and infection prevention measures.

We appreciate your patience as the guidance is continually evolving and can change based upon local health department guidance.  We will do our best to keep you informed.  If you would like more information regarding the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine, you may find it here:

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0308-vaccinated-guidelines.html

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How Milestone is responding to the COVID-19 virus

Updated on 2021-09-20 14:43:06 -0700

Dear Residents and Families,

It has certainly been a long year as we have battled COVID-19 throughout our cities, states and nationally and it has taken an enormous drain on the entire population.  We are now, for the first time seeing what we believe is tangible progress toward being able to open up various aspects of our business while we work toward more ‘normalized’ ways of living.  It is incumbent that we address the relaxation of some of the protocols we have had to undertake in a conservative manner as we ‘test the waters’ of the COVID-19 spread.  We have and will continue to carefully modify our processes and want to give you the current update as we see it today.

Various counties and states are adjusting their guidance about visitation and what Personal Protective Equipment is needed to control the virus spread as best we can.  We are hopeful that this is just the beginning of the changes that you will see in the near future and if we all do our part; we can continue to see the downward numbers of positive cases throughout the land.

In response, we are revising our visitation policy to permit indoor visits at the community, but we will need to follow some guidelines for that visitation to occur and some planning will be needed ahead of time.  We continue to follow the local HD and CDC guidance.  Below are some of the important parts of the visitation practice:

Prerequisites include, but are not limited to:

• The community has not had a new onset of COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days and the community is not currently conducting outbreak testing.
• During your visit, you will have to wear the appropriate PPE which can be provided to you from the community.  We are trying to eliminate outside PPE from coming into the community however, our formerly required KN95 or K95 masks will be replaced by medical grade masks.

Indoor visits may be determined by the COVID-19 county positive rate. Counties with less than 5% (Low) positivity rate or 5-10% (Medium) positivity rate may allow indoor visits. Counties with a 10% or higher positivity rate will be limited to Compassionate Care Visits.

Required visitor precautions include:

• Medical Grade Face Masks are required to be worn properly, covering visitors nose and mouth, prior to entering the community with adherence to additional infection control protocols.
• No outside food or beverage will be permitted during a visit.

• Visitors will be required to read and sign the Covid-19 Risk Addendum before visit can occur.
• Pets are not permitted during a visit.
• Visitors will have to comply with a temperature check and our health screening process.
• Visits shall follow social distancing guidelines, which includes maintaining a minimum of six-feet distance and no physical contact during the visit.
• Visits require scheduling in advance.

For Communities that are limited to Compassionate Care Visits due to County positivity rate, in addition to the above:

• Compassionate Care visitors can be adult family members, power of attorneys, outside caregivers, friends or designated essential caregivers who provide regular care and emotional support to the resident prior to the pandemic.  Compassionate Care visitors must be a minimum age of 18.
• Compassionate Care Visits will be staggered and limited to two visitors at a given time, per resident.

• Compassionate Care Visits may be suspended under the direction of local, state or federal directives or the discretion of the Executive Director.
• Compassionate Care Visits scheduled indoor will be in specifically designated spaces for this purpose and the area will be sanitized before and after visits.

There are many protocol requirements to visitation in this environment and they can change anytime there is an outbreak or as the pandemic exposure continues to improve. We certainly hope it is the latter, but this is new to us and making sure that we are taking the steps deemed necessary is vital for the health of all.

We are happy to answer specific questions you may have and you can reach out to us at your convenience for further guidance. If you have further questions, please email the community at their families@ address or go to the community web page and select the "Connect with Us" button.

We appreciate your understanding in our ever-evolving situation and wish you well. 

Sincerely,
Caryl Ridgeway,
Chief Operating Officer