Status Update from Charmaine Preiss, Executive Director — 12/15/2020Brandermill Woods independent living angle

Status Update from Charmaine Preiss, Executive Director — 12/15/2020

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Independent Living Community (ILU)

In a few weeks, we hope to begin our vaccination program at Brandermill Woods but that doesn’t mean we will be able to roll back our safety protocols. In fact, we have just discovered that another resident in our Independent Living community has tested positive for COVID-19. The resident has been on quarantine since December 4 and is being observed. We have a good handle on our contact tracing and feel confident that we have the situation well monitored. All of these most recent cases are the result of community spread from outside sources.

Since November 30, 2020, we have had 34 resident households in quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure. As of today, we are happy to report 30 of the 34 households have come out of quarantine.  Two of our three employees who were COVID-19 positive have returned to work.

We monitor our COVID-19 status, Chesterfield County’s positivity rate and Virginia’s positivity rate on a daily basis to determine if we are extending our lockdown and housekeeping services for our ILU community past December 20, 2020.  We will continue to require for all approved medically necessary visitors and caregivers to provide us with a negative COVID-19 test result once a week before they are allowed to come to the ILU community until further notice.  

We are currently making plans to roll out a vaccination program at Brandermill Woods Health Care Community, which includes all Brandermill Woods employees.  We have reached out to our pharmacy representative to request that our ILU community residents be included in the Phase 1 vaccination program.  We will keep you updated on our progress.  

Like a child eager for Christmas, I know all of our residents and their families are eager for life to return to normal. This year, our present comes in the form of a vaccine. We just need to be patient until we can all roll up our sleeves and start the process of ending this pandemic. Thankyou for your understanding and help. We hope you all can have a happy holiday season.