Latest Letter from our Executive Director

16 October 2020

Dear Residents/Responsible parties,

Apologies for the delay since our last communication. Our status and policies had not changed for several weeks and we had fallen behind in keeping everyone updated.

Currently we have no confirmed cases of COVID at the Hallmark. We continue testing in healthcare on a weekly basis for both residents and staff and have had zero (0) positive test results since our initial testing period. We also continue to screen ALL visitors to the Hallmark.

Hallmark healthcare has been approved for both essential caregiver and phase I visitation. This means that visitors can come by appointment and spend time with residents in our licensed areas under established guidelines with the state. We had reached out individually to residents with spouses in healthcare when this change occurred, however If you are interested in visiting a friend or loved one, please feel free to contact me to initiate the process.

As it relates to Independent living visitation, we are still requesting that you limit visitors to immediate family and essential caregivers at this time and that visitors be limited to a maximum of two (2) at a time. Our current guidelines are that visitors should be at least 18 years of age and everyone must be screened at entry. There is no time limit on visitation, however we do ask that you be respectful of your neighbors with regards to time and use of the public spaces as we still need to maintain proper social distancing.

Our dining services team has been hard at work putting together a plan for re-opening the dining room. We are targeting November 9th as our initial attempt for re-opening. More details to come on this, however we eagerly anticipate a return to the dining room in a “safe” way.

During these times, communication can be one of the hardest things to keep current. As part of our effort to make sure we are open and transparent, we intend to return to our regularly scheduled fireside chats beginning November 4th. Included on the initial agenda will be details around dining services re-opening and an update on our potential expansion project.

One of our residents informed me today that the Hampton Inn is providing a location for early voting and that they have covered handicap access with very little waiting time to get in and out for those interested.

In other news, some of you may remember Brittany Phillips from her time here at Hallmark. We are excited to announce that Brittany will be rejoining the Hallmark team in our HR department over the next several weeks.

Sincerely,

Harold Ermshar

Executive Director