{"id":23553,"date":"2020-04-10T15:39:11","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T22:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=23553"},"modified":"2020-04-10T15:39:11","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T22:39:11","slug":"governor-newsom-outlines-steps-to-protect-residents-and-employees-of-california-nursing-home-residential-care-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=23553","title":{"rendered":"Governor Newsom Outlines Steps to Protect Residents and Employees of California Nursing Home & Residential Care Facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

To protect the most vulnerable Californians, the state issued early guidance to prepare facilities for COVID-19, including by limiting visitors and training staff on infection control<\/em><\/p>\n

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California has retrained 600 nurses to support facility compliance with COVID-19 guidance and to assist facilities with positive cases<\/em><\/p>\n

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State staff\u00a0calls each facility daily to understand needs and get early warning of any symptomatic patients<\/em><\/p>\n

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California\u00a0is\u00a0prioritizing\u00a0testing for residents\u00a0and staff for nursing facilities, as well as prioritizing\u00a0distribution\u00a0of\u00a0personal protective equipment to staff\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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A previously announced $25 million donation from Facebook is available for stipends to support critical staff at nursing homes<\/em><\/p>\n

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SACRAMENTO, CA (April 10, 2020)\u00a0 \u2013 Governor Gavin Newsom today outlined steps California is taking to protect the residents and employees of the more than 1,224 skilled nursing facilities and 7,461 residential care facilities across the state. Building on the state\u2019s early action to protect these facilities, California has trained and is deploying 600 nurses to support compliance with COVID-19 guidance, and state staff is calling nursing homes across the state daily to provide support.<\/p>\n

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“Protecting California\u2019s most vulnerable residents and the employees is a top priority \u2013 not only to protect public health but because it\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d said Governor Newsom. \u201cOlder Californians and those who are medically fragile are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill due to COVID-19, which is why we took early action to restrict visitors to these facilities. Now we are providing even more support for these facilities, their residents, and staff who serve them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Recognizing\u00a0the threat to these medically fragile individuals, the state last month\u00a0restricted<\/a>\u00a0visitors to these facilities except for end-of-life and other rare circumstances. Before COVID-19 had spread widely in the community in California, the Department of Public Health and the Department of Social Services issued guidance and offered trainings on infection control. And the Departments jointly deployed strike teams of infection control specialists to counties, nursing homes and residential care facilities for the elderly to provide one-on-one technical support and expertise.<\/p>\n

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The Governor also announced today that the USNS Mercy will be taking non-COVID-19 patients to help\u00a0decompress skilled nursing facilities in the Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n

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To further protect vulnerable Californians,\u00a0California is:<\/p>\n

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