Unlike congregate settings, Allwel has a unique advantage to providing one-to-one care with our patients in the comfort of their homes. This inherently keeps our patients in a less risky environment with decreased exposure to COVID-19 than in a group or nursing home.
Service Coordinators and Registered Nurses reach out to patients multiple times weekly to ensure all of their care needs are being met and for the patients to have a calm, reassuring voice through this emotionally difficult time. As much as possible, it has been arranged for pharmacy and grocery deliveries to the patients’ homes to avoid community exposure. Staff have been provided ongoing instruction on standard and universal precautions.
We only admit COVID-19-negative patients and anyone who has previously tested positive and who has recovered and is no longer contagious.
If any of our current patients in our care present with COVID-19 symptoms, the Registered Nurses and Personal Care Aides are provided with full geared personal protective equipment (PPE) which include: gowns, face shields, head covering, foot coverings, N95 masks, and gloves and following extreme protocols to treat those patients. Any patients who are symptomatic and require emergency care as determined by RN will be transferred to the appropriate facility.
All Allwel patients and staff have been provided with masks in both NYC and Western New York. In addition, Personal Care Aides have each been furnished with care kits of standard PPE (personal care style latex/nitrile gloves) as well as reusable latex cleaning gloves.
All Personal Care Aides are ongoing monitored for symptoms prior to each shift with patients by our Special Care Team. Any PCA who reports symptoms on the CDC indications is removed from shift, provided with instruction for COVID-19 testing until test report is confirmed negative or in the absence of a test – a self-quarantine until criteria for return-to-work has been met.
As a provider of health care services in NYC and Buffalo, we are up to a mighty challenge as we are not a major player, like a hospital, competing for the volume that PPE suppliers require for purchase. Allwel recognized in early March that there might be an increased need for PPE. It was determined at that time that our usual suppliers could not support our need and we began to get creative, sourcing PPE (masks and gloves) from the southern and Midwest states where COVID-19 has not impacted as greatly, as well as a small reserve provided by the local Office of Emergency Management.
We also got creative and found local sources who had altered their manufacturing and we were able to purchase gowns and make face shields. An entire team of Allwel staff, family, and friends set to work early on to sew face masks for each and every patient and staff of the organization in both locations. Through this endeavor, we are pleased to say that we were able to distribute all masks even prior to the NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive order for face masks to be worn. We are so grateful for the efforts of many!
Per NYS Department of Health and Office of Mental Health regulations for our TBI/NHTD and Behavioral Health programs, we have been able to transition services to a tele-health model in order to minimize exposure of the patients and those clinicians providing services. The seamless continued communication from familiar staff has helped our patients continue to work on their goals as well as provide comforting reassurance from qualified behavior and counseling staff.