Springfield, Illinois – We can confirm that staff member(s) of Heritage Health, a long term care facility, has tested positive for COVID-19.
According to a mailed letter, received by a family member of a Heritage Health resident, the letter says the following:
“Dear Family Member or Responsible Party,
Our healthcare climate changes daily as the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues throughout our state and our country.
Heritage Health – Springfield has received confirmation that we have had the following in our building:
Additional positive test results for staff member(s)
In accordance with The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and our local health department we are reporting this information to you in written format and in line with the latest communication guidance. We aim to keep you informed as new information that affects our residents and staff materializes in our building regarding COVID-19. Our staff will also verbally notify you.
Both the IDPH and the local health departments have been informed of our confirmed positives. We work with both agencies to prevent and reduce the risk of the virus in accordance with the CDC guidelines. Upon confirmation of the above positive test results, we follow a specific COVID-19 plan and move residents who have tested positive to specifically designated areas of the building based on their positive or pending test results and their symptoms. Additionally, we continue to follow our stringent infection prevention measures such as universal masking for our staff, masking requirements for residents while outside of their room, the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), hand hygiene protocols, social distancing and multiple screenings for temperature/symptoms of staff during each shift.
As a reminder: another way to keep you informed is a dedicated page set up on our website for residents’ families to check regularly for additional updates and messages from me. You can view that page here: https://www.heritageofcare.com/springfield/updates
This is a time of challenge with visitor restrictions set forth by the IDPH in early March and changing guidelines to accommodate the lates developments affected by the virus. We thank you for your extreme patience and understanding during this time.”
