High Valley Lodge

COVID-19 Update: February 4th 2020 We are glad to announce that we haven’t had any new Covid-19 cases among residents in over 14 days and currently have zero residents’ positive for the virus. We are working with the Department of Public Health on reopening for visitations and communal dinning for our residents. We may be able to resume visitation as early as next week. As soon as visitations are permitted we will inform you. We thank you for your patience as we know you may be eager to see your loved ones. If you have any questions feel free to let us know.

We have just learned today that one of our staff has tested Positive for the Coronavirus. We have tested the staff that worked around her and they are all Negative. We have also tested the residents who had come in contact with her and they have tested Negative as well. We will keep you informed as to any changes if there are any. Sincerely, Joel M. Bolten, Ph.D. Administrator There are NO changes to visitations and they will remain outdoors for the time being, please schedule in advance if you are planning to visit our facility. Thank you.

Weekly COVID-19 Update: December 8th Our situation has not changed since the last update on December 1st and we are still open for outside visitations while adhering to guidelines. We have not had any new or reoccurring cases of Covid-19. We are conducting testing twice a week for 100% of staff and a minimum of 10 residents to ensure that if there is a case we can respond quickly. Residents are still wearing cloth face masks and maintaining social distancing of 6 feet a...part. We are asking you to please inform us in advance as to when you are going to visit so we can plan accordingly, thank you. We would also like to remind you we are limiting visitations to an hour with a maximum of two visitors at a time, and due to the sun setting earlier we have set visiting hours from 9am to 5pm. If you are not comfortable visiting in person we still have video chat or phone calls as an option, which we will gladly assist you with setting up. If you have any questions feel free to call us at 818-352-3158. For a full list of changes on the update the California Department of Public Health issued on 11/24/20 you may view them here: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov//healthfa/snf/prevention/ VISITATION GUIDELINES Visitation is allowed with screening and additional precautions including ensuring social distancing and hand hygiene. (All visitors will have their temperature taken and asked screening questions regarding Covid-19). You MUST check in by entering through the patio entrance accessed via the parking lot. All visitors must wear a cloth face covering or facemask for the duration of their visit. Social distancing must be practiced with no hand-shaking, hugging, and remaining six feet apart with staff monitoring to ensure this. We will be creating a designated space for visitations. Visitations will take place outside only for the time being according to the guidelines provided by the Department of Public Health. Visitations MUST be scheduled in advance, please call us to let us know you will be coming to visit the facility. For now visitations will be limited to TWO visitors at a time and a maximum of one hour. Please do not bring any food from outside.

Weekly COVID-19 Update: December 1st 2020 Our situation has not changed since the last update on November 25th and we are still open for outside visitations while adhering to guidelines. We have not had any new or reoccurring cases of Covid-19. We are conducting testing twice a week for 100% of staff and a minimum of 10 residents to ensure that if there is a case we can respond quickly. Residents are still wearing cloth face masks and maintaining social distancing of 6 f...eet apart. We are asking you to please inform us in advance as to when you are going to visit so we can plan accordingly, thank you. We would also like to remind you we are limiting visitations to an hour with a maximum of two visitors at a time, and due to the sun setting earlier we have set visiting hours from 9am to 5pm. If you are not comfortable visiting in person we still have video chat or phone calls as an option, which we will gladly assist you with setting up. If you have any questions feel free to call us at 818-352-3158. For a full list of changes on the update the California Department of Public Health issued on 11/24/20 you may view them here: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov//healthfa/snf/prevention/

Covid-19 update November 25th 2020 Yesterday afternoon the Los Angeles Department of Public Health released new guidelines for Skilled Nursing Facilities that will effective starting 11/30/2020. Staff testing of Covid-19 has been increased from once a week to twice a week. ... Updated guidance on communal dining, group activities, and visitation to align with CDPH AFL 20-22.5 o Restricted indoor general visitation; general visitation may continue to take place outdoors o Included reference to CDPH AFL 20-86 for infection control recommendations regarding group activities and communal dining for holiday celebrations at facilities o Revised the definition of essential visitors to include healthcare personnel (HCP) not directly employed by the facility, protection & advocacy representatives, and individuals authorized by federal disability rights laws o Replaced the term non-essential visitation with general visitation Added residents who leave facilities for non-medical reasons as a consideration for quarantining in Yellow Cohort upon their return including residents returning to facilities from non-facility holiday celebrations per CDPH AFL 20-86. Clarified testing recommendations for HCP and visitors Clarified guidance on staff refusal of testing Updated cohorting recommendations for symptomatic residents in consideration of the influenza season. Added new guidance for the management of nursing home residents who may present with atypical symptoms of COVID-19 Revised recommendation to specify that medical-grade surgical/procedure masks or respirators should be used instead of cloth face coverings for universal source control of HCP Updated the close contact definition per CDC For a full list of the changes you may visit: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov//healthfa/snf/prevention/

COVID-19 Update: October 20th We are issuing this as an update to how our facility is currently doing regarding Covid-19. Our situation has not changed since the last update on September 4th and we are still open for outside visitations. We have not had any new or recurrent cases of Covid-19. We are currently testing 100% of staff and a minimum of 10 residents on a weekly basis to ensure if there is a case we can respond quickly. Residents are still wearing cloth face mas...ks and maintaining social distancing of 6 feet apart. I have attached visitation guidelines below. We will update you as soon as possible if our current situation changes or when we are able to allow visits to occur inside the facility. If you are still concerned regarding Covid-19 you are also welcome to resume visitations via telephone or video chat. Though for our resident’s mental health we do encourage you to see them in person if possible. Please arrange visits in advance with Daniel Myers in Social Services. VISITATION GUIDELINES We currently meet the California Department of Public Health’s Phase 3 of reopening. The guidelines that affect visitors are as follows: Visitation is allowed with screening and additional precautions including ensuring social distancing and hand hygiene. (All visitors will have their temperature taken and asked screening questions regarding Covid-19). You MUST check in by entering through the patio entrance accessed via the parking lot. All visitors must wear a cloth face covering or facemask for the duration of their visit. Social distancing must be practiced with no hand-shaking, hugging, and remaining six feet apart with staff monitoring to ensure this. We will be creating a designated space for visitations. Visitations will take place outside only for the time being according to the guidelines provided by the Department of Public Health. Visitations MUST be scheduled in advance, please call us to let us know you will be coming to visit the facility.

Weekly COVID-19 Update: November 24, 2020 Our situation has not changed since the last update on November 17th and we are still open for outside visitations. We have not had any new or reoccurring cases of Covid-19. We are currently testing 100% of staff and a minimum of 10 residents on a weekly basis to ensure that if there is a case we can respond quickly. Residents are still wearing cloth face masks and maintaining social distancing of 6 feet apart. We are asking you ...to please inform us in advance as to when you are going to visit so we can plan accordingly, thank you. We would also like to remind you we are limiting visitations to an hour maximum, and due to the sun setting earlier we are setting current visiting hours from 9am to 5pm. If you are not comfortable visiting in person we still have video chat or phone calls as an option, which we will gladly assist you with setting up. If you have any questions feel free to call us at 818-352-3158. VISITATION GUIDELINES Visitation is allowed with screening and additional precautions including ensuring social distancing and hand hygiene. (All visitors will have their temperature taken and asked screening questions regarding Covid-19). You MUST check in by entering through the patio entrance accessed via the parking lot. All visitors must wear a cloth face covering or facemask for the duration of their visit. Social distancing must be practiced with no hand-shaking, hugging, and remaining six feet apart with staff monitoring to ensure this. We will be creating a designated space for visitations. Visitations will take place outside only for the time being according to the guidelines provided by the Department of Public Health. Visitations MUST be scheduled in advance, please call us to let us know you will be coming to visit the facility. For now visitations will be limited to TWO visitors at a time and a maximum of one hour. Please do not bring any food from outside.

COVID-19 Update: September 4th Dear families and loved ones, we are excited to report that our facility currently meets the criteria to allow visitors as we have not had a new case of Covid-19 since July 7th. As enthusiastic as we are to reopen for our residents we must inform you of the steps we must take to allow visitations to occur. Our facility will be open for visits taking place outside beginning 9/8/2020. ... We currently meet the California Department of Public Health’s Phase 3 of reopening. The guidelines that affect visitors are as follows: Visitation is allowed with screening and additional precautions including ensuring social distancing and hand hygiene. (All visitors will have their temperature taken and asked screening questions regarding Covid-19). You MUST check in by entering through the patio entrance accessed via the parking lot. All visitors must wear a cloth face covering or facemask for the duration of their visit. Social distancing must be practiced with no hand-shaking, hugging, and remaining six feet apart with staff monitoring to ensure this. We will be creating a designated space for visitations. Visitations will take place outside only for the time being according to the guidelines provided by the Department of Public Health. Visitations MUST be scheduled in advance, please call us to let us know you will be coming to visit the facility. We are still conducting tests on a weekly basis and will update you if our situation changes or when we are able to allow visits to occur inside the facility. We greatly appreciate your patience during this time and we are glad to welcome you back to our facility. If you are still concerned regarding Covid-19 you are also welcome to resume visitations via telephone or video chat. Though for our resident’s mental health we do encourage you to see them in person if possible.

COVID-19 Update: August 7th 2020 Dear families and loved ones, we are happy to report that we have not had a positive Covid-19 test result for either staff or residents since July 7th (29 days!). We are still conducting tests on a weekly basis and will update you if our situation changes. Unfortunately the California Department of Public Health has once again changed its guidelines as of August 4th for allowing visitors into our facility, wherein it is stated Non-essential ...visits are not allowed at this time due to the current level of daily average trends in community transmission of COVID-19. Essential visitors must be advised to self-monitor for 14 days after their visit and to notify the facility if they develop symptoms. Due to this change we are not able to allow visitors in until further notice, but we will notify you as soon as entrance is permitted. We are still encouraging the use of video and phone call visitations for our residents. If you require any assistance in setting up a video call we will gladly guide you through the process, please do not hesitate to contact us. See more

COVID-19 Update: July 23nd 2020 As you are aware our last update went out on July 13th and we had zero Covid-19 cases among our residents at the time. We are thankful to report that our current status remains the same, with zero new cases among our residents. Our last employee to test positive was on 7/7/20 and has remained quarantined since then. We are testing our residents and employees on a weekly basis and will continue to update you on our situation. We are optimistic a...nd working hard to safeguard our residents and staff members. Due to the employee who had tested positive we are still restricting visitations into the facility. Following guidance from the CDC and California Department of Public Health we must wait 28 days until the last positive result from either staff or residents to allow visitors into the facility. Though these guidelines tend to change on a weekly basis so we will keep you posted as to when entrance is permitted. As of right now we are encouraging the use of video and phone call visitations for our residents. If you require any assistance in setting up a video call we will gladly guide you through the process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

COVID-19 Update: July 13th 2020 We are happy to report that we currently have zero active Covid-19 cases among residents in our facility. All residents were tested for Covid-19 on July 5th and all results came back as negative. Residents have been able to leave their rooms while wearing a face mask and following the 6 foot rule. This includes attending activities and spending time outside, as long as those prerequisites are met. Unfortunately we did have one employee test as ...positive on 7/7/20. Due to this we are still unable to allow visitors into our facility. Following guidance from the CDC and California Department of Public Health we must wait 28 days until the last positive result from either staff or residents to allow visitors into the facility. Though these guidelines tend to change on a weekly basis so we will keep you posted as to when entrance is permitted. As of right now we are encouraging the use of video and phone call visitations for our residents. If you require any assistance in setting up a video call we will gladly guide you through the process, please do not hesitate to contact us. See more

COVID-19 Update: June 19th 2020 While we are still in the midst of a Covid outbreak we are optimistic to report that we are more than likely over the worst of it. We are taking all the recommended measures as directed by the CDC and California Department of Public Health and working closely to ensure our mitigation techniques are effective. Unfortunately visitations will still be restricted until further notice with the exception being patients at end-of-life. We are strongly encouraging the use of video and phone call visitations for our residents. If you require any assistance in setting up a video call we will gladly guide you through the process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

COVID-19 Update: June 2nd 2020 Dear family members and loved ones, we are sorry to report that we have had an outbreak of Covid-19 in our facility. Despite our efforts and mitigation techniques this was exceedingly difficult to avoid. We have had 9 confirmed cases among residents so far in our facility. We have taken the following actions to prevent and limit the spread of Covid-19 as much as possible; Residents that are positive are all placed on the same wing of the faci...lity and will be place in a single room if possible Residents that test positive will only be placed with other confirmed or suspected symptomatic residents Residents that are positive will be assessed twice during the day shift and twice during the evening shift to document respiratory rate, temperature and O2 status Staff will be assigned to exclusively work in the Covid section to the extent possible Any staff member entering a Covid confirmed room is required to wear the following protective equipment: N-95 Mask, Face shield, gloves, isolation gown If staff shall be shared between Covid positive and non positive in any way the staff will fully doff all PPE and leave all dirty PPE in designated receptacles, perform hand hygiene, and don new PPE in accordance with CDC guidelines for the area they are entering If our facility cannot maintain minimum standards for the safe care and treatment of Covid-19 they will evacuate positive residents to the nearest designated facility in conjunction with the local health department Each room with Covid positive residents is either separated by a barrier or the door will be kept closed Residents that exhibit difficulty breathing are transferred to the hospital per Doctors order Test any symptomatic resident through any available source in coordination with the Local Health Department To the best of our knowledge the virus arrived in California near November. We have been successful in keeping it out of our facility until late May. We are truly sorry that this has occurred and we can assure you we are doing everything we can to prevent the spread of Covid-19. If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.

COVID-19 Update: May 15th As many of you are aware there were some confusing statements made by Los Angeles county regarding the extension of the current safer at home order. The order was originally set to expire on May 15th, it was then stated that it will remain in effect until July. However the set date of July is not written in stone and the county may ease or restrict the order periodically as it sees fit. We will continue to follow the guidance of Los Angeles county a...nd unfortunately we are still restricting visitations until further notice. We are encouraging families and loved ones to contact residents using video calling and we support many different platforms for doing so. From the few participants we have had in this program it has shown to make a significant difference in the resident’s wellbeing. If you need any guidance on setting this up we will walk you through on how to get it working properly. We are here for you during this time, please feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions or concerns. See more

We are fortunate to have such compassionate family members; such a gesture of kindness during this time makes everything we do worthwhile. Thank you.

Thank you again Sunland/Tujunga/Shadow Hills Rotary Club for your donation of face shields to our facility.

Thank you Sunland/Tujunga/Shadow Hills Rotary Club for the donation of face shields to our facility during this trying time!

Thank you FirstMed Ambulance for your generous contribution to our staff during National Nurses week!

COVID-19 Update: April 28th As many of you are aware the current stay at home order in Los Angeles County is in effect until May 15th. We are still restricting visitors into our facility in order to protect our residents until this time. The order may be extended further and we will continue to update you on this matter. We would like to remind you that we are offering video chat with your loved one if you wish to participate, and you are always welcome to talk over the phone as well. We now support video chat via Facetime, WhatsApp, Facebook messenger and Amazon Alexa. If you would like to participate feel free to contact us and we will arrange it for you.