- April 25, 2024
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Grand Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Palm Coast is working to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the facility after five staff members and two residents tested positive.
"The nursing home is responsibly addressing this situation," said Bob Snyder, health officer for the Florida Department of Health in Flagler County, after confirming the number of people who've tested positive. The facility's executive director did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Snyder said that the center had promptly shared a mitigation plan with the health department.
Grand Oaks is completing electrostatic cleaning of the whole facility and bleaching all high-touch areas, and has reinitiated infection control training for all staff members and suspended group activities and group dining, he said.
Visitation has been limited to only outdoor visitation or visitation at the longterm care unit — where no residents or staff have tested positive — and to compassion visits for seriously or terminally ill patients, with the visiting family members in private rooms and given full personal protective equipment, he said.
All staff are wearing N-95 masks and protective eyewear, residents are being screened for COVID-19 during each shift, and staff and visitors are screened at entry, he added.
"We find the staff and the leadership there to be responsive," Snyder said. "They're on top of this and doing the right thing, and they’re taking it very seriously."
He added that nursing home employees should get vaccinated for COVID-19.
"We encourage and promote all staff members who work in a nursing home: Get vaccinated," Snyder said. "They are treating and caring for the most vulnerable individuals for COVID-19. As a result, they should reconsider their decision not to get vaccinated, when they are essential healthcare workers managing patients with chronic conditions."
Snyder noted that after a previous outbreak at another nursing home, more staff members at that facility had opted to get vaccinated.
"I hope that Grand Oaks is encouraging the same," he said.
