*UPDATED 8.4.2020, 2020 at 3:00 PM

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Precautions at Phoebe Ministries Communities

The following precautions apply to all Phoebe Ministries’ Independent Living, Personal Care, and Health Care Center communities. 

The well-being and comfort of our residents and staff is Phoebe’s top priority, and we maintain strict policies and procedures to help prevent the spread of illness throughout our communities. Our employees are trained in best practices to help prevent the spread of communicable illnesses, including COVID-19.  We are following our infection-control policies, and will monitor this evolving situation. In response to the recent spread of coronavirus, Phoebe is taking proactive precautions to mitigate exposure among our communities.

The Campus Update letters are posted at least weekly, and more often if cases are reported.

Weekly Update for Phoebe Allentown as of 8.3
Weekly Update for Phoebe Berks as of 8.3
Weekly Update for Phoebe Richland as of 8.3
Weekly Update for Phoebe Wyncote as of 8.3

Phoebe’s COVID-19 Update phone line 610-794-6049

Click here for a message from Phoebe’s President & CEO on COVID-19. 

VISITOR POLICY AND DETAILS – Important updates

Reopening Phoebe’s Skilled Nursing Care and Personal Care Communities for Visitation

We are excited to announce we can begin the stages of reopening our personal care and skilled nursing communities.  We are following a step-by-step process put in place by the PA State Dept. of Health to reopen safely, protecting both our residents and employees.

Once mandatory testing is complete, each community and level of care has to go 14 days with no new COVID cases, and then we can begin reopening, which will include primarily outdoor visitation. Please also note that reopening depends on multiple steps and factors, and each Phoebe community will be at different steps of the reopening process and will reopen on different dates. As soon as that information is known, we will post it below.

We will offer in-person outdoor visits with loved ones by reservation only. You can reserve a timeslot for your visit on a page we will make available here by the end of this week. Scheduled visits will be prioritized for residents with cognitive or medical decline or those expressing/exhibiting signs of loneliness. Visits will be scheduled and spread out fairly to ensure that each resident is able to receive visitors and that the schedule is not monopolized by any party. You can also continue to utilize Connect Hearts Zoom virtual visits during this time period.

Phoebe Allentown
Health Care Center reopening plan:  (Pending 8/17 reopening) PLAN COMING SOON
Miller Personal Care at 19^th and Chew:  (Pending 8/17 reopening) PLAN COMING SOON

Phoebe Berks
Health Care Center reopening plan: (Pending 8/11 reopening) Reopening Plan for Berks HCC
Phoebe Berks Village Commons and Village Gardens: PLAN COMING SOON

Phoebe Richland
Health Care Center reopening plan: (Pending 8/11 reopening) Reopening Plan for Richland HCC
Meadow Glen Personal Care: PLAN COMING SOON

Phoebe Wyncote
Health Care Center reopening plan: PLAN COMING SOON
Personal Care: PLAN COMING SOON

All Independent Living communities and Affordable Housing communities:
Residents who live at Phoebe independently have been provided with facts related to coronavirus, along with preventive resources and information on protecting themselves and others from respiratory illness. We have communicated visitation guidelines to these residents.

Lastly, Phoebe will continue to restrict most visitation inside our buildings, but will allow essential visitors/vendors entry into our communities in certain circumstances on a case by case basis, and only after completing a coronavirus screening process aligned with the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) guidelines. Universal masking continues to be implemented and employees and residents have been provided with masks. Additionally, we have asked any employee with any possible COVID-19-related symptoms to not return to work until they have been cleared by Phoebe’s Occupational Health Department.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call our COVID-19 contact line at 610-794-6049.

Resident Property Drop-off from Family and Representatives

At Phoebe Allentown, we allow families, friends, and representatives to drop off or have items delivered for residents. The drop off table is located on the Trexler covered patio and there is signage at the table with a sheet to be filled out. Phoebe staff will take the following precautions to ensure safe delivery of any items dropped off:

1. Housekeeping and/or security will sanitize and deliver the items.
2. The housekeeper or the security guard will obtain the appropriate signature and will leave the top half of the form with the nurse in order to assure easy identification of items.
3. If the nursing staff deems the items safe for the resident, they will deliver them to the resident.

Please reach out to Phoebe Berks, Phoebe Richland, or Phoebe Wyncote directly for their drop-off procedure, or call the COVID line at 610-794-6049.

Admissions and Tours

At this time, we are conducting mostly virtual tours of our communities. In-person tours can only be accommodated for those needing immediate moves and are limited to the prospect and one guest. All individuals touring must meet specific screening protocols before being allowed in the building. Independent living, personal care, and skilled admissions/move-ins to our communities are only happening when certain pre-determined conditions are met. We will not accept any respite stays at any of our campuses at this time.

Testing Protocols

Phoebe will test the following residents:

• Residents who are symptomatic
• Residents on a neighborhood where another resident tests positive, at physician direction
• Residents who regularly leave the facility (dialysis, chemo, radiation, etc.); retest weekly
• All other Skilled Nursing and Personal Care residents

Phoebe will test the following staff:

• Symptomatic staff, if not tested in community under physician direction
• Staff with known exposure without PPE (at work or in the community)
• Any other staff, as indicated by Occupational Health
• All other Skilled Nursing and Personal Care staff

We are in the process of implementing universal testing for our employees and residents in our Health Care Centers and Personal Care Communities, in line with the PA Department of Health mandates and deadlines. Staffing agencies will be required to have their staff tested weekly.

Laundry

Effective April 1, 2020, no laundry is to be done by families. This is related to containing possible spread of infection through clothing, and is a temporary measure. On your next bill, please note that there will be no invoicing for laundry temporarily until further notice.