Coronavirus update 03/30/2020
March 30, 2020
Our commitment in the face of the coronavirus
At Genesis HealthCare, our people are on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak, fighting to protect the sometimes fragile health and lives of our patients and residents. They are doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, therapists, aides and so many others who are heroically coming to work, day after day, to keep our patients and residents safe.
Even before the pandemic became apparent, our medical and clinical teams implemented enhanced infection precautions at our centers. We knew we needed to take extraordinary steps to protect our patients and residents from this deadly illness. Although the coronavirus does not discriminate, the frail and elderly are most susceptible.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began providing protocols and guidelines for the coronavirus, our centers have diligently followed them. In many cases, we have gotten out in front of public health guidelines, adopting even more stringent infection precautions than were recommended at the time. We did this because we knew we were facing an exceptional situation, and it is better to risk overreacting than to underreact in the face of a pandemic. (See timeline of actions we have taken).
We are learning as a nation how incredibly challenging it is to prevent the spread of the virus, particularly once it enters a nursing home environment--regardless of how restrictive and rigorous the prevention efforts have been. We have seen how this situation has played out across the country, with cases jumping state by state and hotspots erupting with little prior notice. We are among all nursing home providers working to keep this virus from impacting our seniors, who are more susceptible to even the common cold, much less a virus like this one.
No one ever imagined that our whole nation, and especially our elders, would ever be vulnerable to a pandemic like this. Understandably, patients and residents are anxious, and families are deeply concerned about their loved ones. The impact of this virus around the world is unprecedented, but we remain absolutely and passionately committed to doing everything we can to protect the health and safety of our patients, residents, providers, and staff, for whatever time it takes until the risk is gone and normalcy is returned.
Dr. Richard Feifer
Chief Medical Officer
Genesis HealthCare