New Steps to Protect Residents and Employees of California Nursing Home & Residential Care Facilities
Press release from the Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom:
Governor Gavin Newsom today outlined steps California is taking to protect the residents and employees of the more than 1,224 skilled nursing facilities and 7,461 residential care facilities across the state. Building on the state’s early action to protect these facilities, California has trained and is deploying 600 nurses to support compliance with COVID-19 guidance, and state staff is calling nursing homes across the state daily to provide support.
“Protecting California’s most vulnerable residents and the employees is a top priority – not only to protect public health but because it’s the right thing to do,” said Governor Newsom. “Older Californians and those who are medically fragile are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill due to COVID-19, which is why we took early action to restrict visitors to these facilities. Now we are providing even more support for these facilities, their residents, and staff who serve them.”
Recognizing the threat to these medically fragile individuals, the state last month restricted visitors to these facilities except for end-of-life and other rare circumstances. Before COVID-19 had spread widely in the community in California, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Social Services issued guidance and offered trainings on infection control. And the Departments jointly deployed strike teams of infection control specialists to counties, nursing homes and residential care facilities for the elderly to provide one-on-one technical support and expertise.
The Governor also announced today that the USNS Mercy will be taking non-COVID-19 patients to help decompress skilled nursing facilities in the Los Angeles area.
To further protect vulnerable Californians, California is:
Retraining 600 nurses to support facility compliance with COVID-19 guidance and to assist facilities with positive cases;
Working to decompress facilities to help slow the potential spread of COVID-19 in these facilities and create facilities specifically for positive patients;
Reaching out proactively to each skilled nursing facility on a daily basis to assess their specific needs and identify and address any challenges early on;
Prioritizing testing for patients discharged from a hospital to a skilled nursing facility to ensure patients who test positive are transferred to a facility that can safely provide care to the residents and also protect COVID-19 negative residents. California will also prioritize the testing of symptomatic residents and potentially exposed residents to ensure they are immediately isolated;
Prioritizing personal protective equipment to facilities with COVID-19 positive staff or residents and facilities that are at increased risk to COVID-19;
Providing stipends to certified nurse assistants, licensed vocational nurses and other critical staff at nursing homes to make sure their needs are met. A previously announced Facebook donation of up to $25 million available to provide $500 stipends to up to 50,000 nursing home workers;
Offering no-cost or low-cost hotel rooms for workers who have had possible exposure to COVID-19 or test positive for COVID-19 and do not need to be hospitalized; and
Ensuring that families of nursing home residents are informed and educated on COVID-19 safety protections for their loved ones.
Learn more about the state’s ongoing COVID-19 response efforts here. Visit covid19.ca.gov for critical steps Californians can take to stay healthy, and resources available to those impacted by the outbreak.
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Proletarians behold yet another gift from The Great Leader. The Great Leader is pleased with your willingness to confine to quarters and to avoid the ravages of the warm sun, and the fresh ocean breeze. Your blind obedience and consent to conform is noted, and don’t be surprised when The Great Leader allows each citizen 10 minutes of window time. You earned it. More later on Great Leader T.V. but always remember, viewing is mandatory. It’s unwise to disappoint The Great Leader.
First off it’s, Proletariat, jean-yus, and the rest of your screed is just as ignorant. Didn’t no less a personage than the (Russian)Adopted son of god in Wash.D.C. tell us that the States, by which he meant their Governors, should step up and take charge because “We (the Fed gov.) are not supply clerks,” or even leaders?
FYI, I have a friend in a managed care facility in South Carolina. Even in the First State to Secede, by crackie, they have not been allowing visitors in those facilities for several weeks now. Their governor, Henry McMaster(R), must be a Great Leader too, eh?
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The Battle of the Trolls is apparently the only full contact sport left in America.
It certainly appears that way indeed reading the discourse between these 2 at the Very least!!!
I don’t care much for Governor Newsom, but I will give him credit for taking the virus bull by the horns, and developing plans on how to best deal with it. I pray that everyone will stay safe, and we will get through this together. God bless.
Thanks for your service to everyone who works healthcare jobs!
It’s great some people are looking out for the elderly. Remember Obama said he wasn’t sure how long we should keep older people alive. He doesn’t want tubes and stuff in his body when he’s old, etc. I am very glad he isn’t in office for this. He would probably pull out all care except hospice.
Could you point to this? I don’t have any recollection.
On the other hand recently the Texas governor suggested that it wouldn’t be so bad if a few elders died. “Those of us who are 70+, we’ll take care of ourselves but don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick said. “Don’t do that. Don’t ruin this great American Dream….But the point is our biggest gift we give to our country and our children and our grandchildren is the legacy of our country, and right now, that is at risk.””
I haven’t located the transcript yet. I believe it was during a speech after Congress argued about senior health coverage in the ACA not being good enough. This was prior to passage. He made the argument that he didn’t see himself wanting a bunch of needles and tubes trying to keep him alive when he was older, so why did we want all that in the bill. If I can find it I will get it to you.
I think it was like the infamous Obama statement about “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” It was one of his “nothing happening here” speeches that just avoided mentioning that indeed something unpopular was going to happen. In truth nothing in ACA directly ordered which doctor you can see but instead put intolerable expenses on private practice doctors that lead to fewer doctors staying in private practice. Many older doctors quit because the expense and frustration so good luck keeping your doctor.
The Independent Payment Advisory Board was the name of the beast on this issue. It was to be a group of accountants to look at “Medicare funding annual cost-cutting proposals to Congress whenever the five-year growth in Medicare spending per beneficiary is expected to exceed a set growth limit.
Those proposals would be automatically implemented unless Congress enacts legislation to block it.” https://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/2012/10/11/Whatever-happened-to-IPAB In other words, if the Board decided that the return on Medicare spending was not worth the cost, they could make recommendations that would be implemented by fiat unless a Congressional super majority enacted legislation to stop it. These were what got popularly called death panels as they decided what care would be paid for.
Obama refused to address it publicly but did once say it was key to reining in deficits.
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/04/20/facts-about-independent-payment-advisory-board Typically for Obama, he said it won’t ration care but never explained how that would be avoided. Just like the “you can keep your doctor” thing- no one would be ordered not to provide service but Medicare would have the way to not pay for it.
Still waiting…..
As usual this is a posturing bad spin by Democrat candidates against a current office holder. What the Lieutenant Governer said was, that while he couldn’t speak for everyone, he was not willing to ruin the future of younger Americans in order to protect himself. “Everyone says pretty much the same thing, that we can’t lose our whole country. We’re having an economic collapse,” Patrick said. “My message is let’s get back to work, let’s be smart about it, and those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves.”” And ” No one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’ And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in,” that he supports the current restriction but after a few weeks, it will be time to think of fate of the country.
http://www.bpnews.net/54523/elderly-can-take-care-of-ourselves-as-covid19-spreads-texas-lt-gov-patrick-says
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/dan-patrick-texas-coronavirus-comments-fox-news-15156794.php
So, instead of reading what he actually said because you found it questionable, you repeated the Democrat candidate’s spins reported in the media that what he said was “it wouldn’t be so bad if a few elders died. “ That takes a position of a person who is worried about economy and what it will do to his children and grandchildren and turns it on its head and all for political posturing. Using the same newness level to spin itva little further, would you be in favor of creating a poverty stricken world for your grandchildren to live in in order to protect yourself from the chance this disease might kill you? Do you really think that is a fair representation of what you said? Because that is exactly what you did to this Lt.Governor’s words.
Remember, now is the time to write down your wishes in an advanced directive, a DNR if you want it, do a living will, and, communicate with your heirs! Don’t leave people to guess, and don’t leave a mess!
Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, at the end of their life! Be assured by making all your wishes known! Don’t leave yourself to suffer in your last time!
And take the time to appreciate the work that the CNA’s, LVN’s, RN’s and Administrators do, down at the Assisted Living and the SNF! Say thanks, bring some treats, and smile! Everyone gets to the end, and, it’s never a pretty job to dedicate yourself to!
Everyone wears a diaper as a baby, and you might need one when you are near death. Consider your eventual fate, and make some plans!