Chain with 11 Ky. nursing homes says it applies lessons learned in pandemic, stopping visits when an employee tests positive

Christian Health Center in Hopkinsville (Photos by Jennifer P. Brown)

Christian Care Communities, which operates 11 nursing homes in Kentucky, "is using what it learned to minimize the risk of a surge in Covid-19 cases — especially as a surge in the Delta variant suggests long-term care facilities may not have seen the last of the virus," Jennifer P. Brown and Julia Hunter report for Hopkinsville's online Hoptown Chronicle.

That means stopping regular visitation when employees test positive for the coronavirus, as they did at Christian Care homes in Hopkinsville, Louisville, Bowling Green, Midway and Corbin, Christian Care CEO Mary Lynn Spalding told the Chronicle.

When an employee at Christian Health Center in Hopkinsville tested positive, "The facility shifted immediately to scheduled, outdoor visits with masks required for residents and visitors. Those unable to leave their room must visit with family members through a window, using cellphones to speak."

The employee did not have contact with residents, but the visitation policy was changed after "devastating infections and deaths during earlier waves of the pandemic" at the nursing home, the Chronicle notes. "In 2020, 98 residents tested positive for the virus — which was nearly all of those living at Christian Health Center, Spalding previously told Hoptown Chronicle. Of those, 14 died of Covid-19."

Christian Care Communities CEO Mary Lynn Spalding and
Jason Armstrong, executive director of Christian Health Center

Spalding "believes it indicates how much skilled nursing facilities have learned about managing infectious disease during the pandemic," the Chronicle reports. She said, “I don’t know a positive way to say it, but we are really good at managing Covid and infectious disease. Not that we weren’t good before, but everyone is so well attuned to it now.”

The Hopkinsville home is testing employees and residents for the virus twice a week because Christian County has a high level of virus spread, as measured by new cases over the last seven days. "As of Thursday, no one else at the nursing home had tested positive," the Chronicle reports.

Spalding said, “If we don’t identify any additional positive cases, we will resume our normal indoor visitation in approximately two weeks.” She said the facilities in Louisville and Midway have returned to regular visitation after two weeks without any new cases, and Bowling Green and Corbin are on track to soon reopen to visitors.