April 2, 2020

To our Residents and Family Members:

COVID-19 Containment Efforts Update

Thank you all for your patience and assistance with our adoption of the stringent COVID-19 enhanced precautions at Seneca View. As you likely already know, these are required by the Centers for Disease Control, and the NY State Department of Health, and serve to protect our residents and staff.

Our region of the state continues to see a rise in COVID-19 cases, as expected. Seneca View has had no cases of the virus amongst our residents or staff to date, and none currently suspected. If that were to change you will be notified, and advised of the additional steps we will be taking.

Schuyler Hospital and our affiliate Cayuga Medical Center have implemented a plan that directs the majority of COVID-19 testing, and any required treatment, to the Cayuga Medical Center campus in Ithaca. This channels care needs to where they can best be addressed and ensures that we limit any potential introduction of the virus to our campus. This is an extra level of protection for our Seneca View community.

In addition to the various steps in place as reported in our prior communications, we wanted to let you know that we continue to innovate and respond to the challenges imposed under the global protective measures. Our activities department continues to enhance in-room activities and has been creative in maintaining family connections with window visits, Facetime and Skype video conference calls, and telephone assistance.

All of our staff have masks in place while in the presence of our residents and we believe we have adequate formal supply levels at this time. “Social Distancing” is in place and routine staff meetings are now being held via conference calls, as are the resident care conferences, etc. These efforts add an extra layer of prevention.

We have also added increased infection prevention measures in the form of a UV Light Sanitizer Station for hand held object (phones, keys, name tags, etc). Local distilleries are providing us great volumes of FDA Approved hand sanitizer, and local sewing teams are donating hundreds and hundreds of approved face masks to us week after week. Our community continues to prove how wonderful it is.

Our update wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t take the time to recognize the massive team effort underway here to keep our residents happy, safe, and comfortable. We have seen great compassion and hard work amongst our team as we adjust to the volumes of new requirements. They have done a great job and we continue to recognize their dedication. We are all proud to be part of this community.

Please continue to monitor our SCHUYLERHOSPITAL.ORG website, and the Seneca View page, for updates. We very much look forward to bringing families back together. Until then, if you have any questions please feel free to contact our nursing units, our Director of Nursing, or me, at 607-535-8611.

My Best Regards,

Patrick Ryan Administrator