March 29, 2021

Dear Staff, Residents, and Their Families

Good news!  We resumed indoor visitation at DVH!

Throughout our state and nation, some restrictions are relaxing, which will benefit not only DVH but businesses, communities, and our own mental and emotional well-being.  But only if we continue to follow the basics.

as the weather warms up, and the spread of the virus has ceased to decline and started to plateau, we remain hopeful in seeing an end to the full force devastation of the pandemic.  No one would like to open the doors of DVH, allow everyone in, and return to business as usual more than me.

We at DVH must remain diligent in wearing masks, being smart about keeping our distance, and agreeing to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus and do everything we can to keep the virus from entering our facility.  To that effect, we will be following the recommendations to focus as much of our in-person visitation as possible outdoors.  As long as the beautiful Spring weather allows, we will be having visitation on the porch and in the pavilion.

When necessary, we will be facilitating Indoor visitation, but please bear in mind that we still have an obligation to ensure the wearing of masks and social distancing continues to occur.  We will be utilizing several of the larger areas in the building as designated visitation areas.  In this phase of re-opening, we only plan to allow room visitation for residents that are room bound.  Please be mindful that our staff still need to function with social distancing as well, and therefore it is necessary to keep the work areas as undisrupted as possible.  With a little hope and a lot of diligence, we will adapt and persevere through this expansion phase as positivity rates will again begin to decline.

There are various types of visitation options and requirements for each type.  Below is the list of visitation types and their requirements.  As previously mentioned earlier in this letter, visitation resumed with visitor limitations of two visitors per resident (unless special arrangements have been approved by me), along with locations of visitation confined to designated areas as directed by our staff.  Please contact Giulia Kirsch to schedule visitation 302-424-6026. She can also be reached by email at giulia.kirsch@delaware.gov

Although Indoor visitation is allowed more liberally at this point, we still have to maintain our distancing and the demands of our workflow in providing excellent personal care to the resident which includes the coordination of Group Activities and Communal Dining.  In that effort we will not be able to accommodate visitors during these activities.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Carol Erhart, NHA