Limited visitation resumes at PBMC’s Skilled Nursing Facility
Peconic Bay Medical Center’s Skilled Nursing Facility released an updated visitation policy after the State Department of Health’s recently announced guidelines for nursing homes to resume taking in visitors if facilities can meet strict criteria, including no COVID-19 positive tests among staff or residents for 28 days.
Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m., seven days per week and by appointment, according to PBMC. The visitation policy differs from that of the hospital, where hours are 1 to 5 p.m. The guidelines differ for each facility as well as the hours.
The guidelines say only two visitors will be allowed at a time for the skilled nursing facility and the visitation will be held outside, if weather is permitting.
No more than 10% of residents can have visitors at any one time, as per the DOH guidelines. Maximum length of a visit is 30 minutes and only two visits per week are allowed.
Nursing home residents have been particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and have accounted for about 25% of the statewide fatalities. PBMC CEO Andy Mitchell said in early May that the 15 fatalities attributed to COVID-19 in the state DOH data at the skilled nursing facility were from hospital patients in the overflow section. No additional fatalities have since been reported, according to the latest data.
Visitors will undergo symptom, temperature and travel screening when entering the facility and a hospital issued mask must be worn at all times.
To schedule an appointment, contact the unit secretary Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Click here for additional guidelines for hospital visitation as well as for PBMC Obstetrics.
Other nursing home facilities in Riverhead and Southold towns have not yet resumed visitation, which has been on hold since early March when the coronavirus pandemic reached New York.
