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Marian Village’s Reopening Information

Dear Residents and Families,

Marian Village plans to begin slowly re-opening the campus beginning June 8. These guidelines are put into place to allow visitations while ensuring the safety of our residents.

Marian Village understands the Independent Living (IL) residents can leave the campus. We have asked residents to limit their outside contacts. We also have a large number of IL residents who have not left the building since mid-March. To protect all of our residents in IL, but open the campus to visitation, we are instituting these visitation guidelines and protocols.

Independent Living (IL) will be the first area that will allow visitations. The plan is to have scheduled visitations in a certain area for a particular period of time following a set protocol. At this point in time, the State of Illinois is not allowing any visitations for Assisted Living (AL). Per the governor, these areas will be re-evaluated on an ongoing basis. When visitations are allowed, protocols will be established.

Listed below are the guidelines for visits. These guidelines may change as new information develops.

Independent Living Visitations:

Scheduling IL Visitations

1.  Scheduling for IL visitations will begin on Wednesday, June 3. The first visits will be on Monday, June 8.
2. Please contact Jeannine at 708-226-3718 to schedule the visit. Voicemail will be monitored.
3. Appointments may be scheduled throughout the day on the hour (9 a.m., 10 a.m., etc.) beginning at 9 a.m. with the last appointment at 2 p.m.
4. The actual visitation time will be limited to 45 minutes to give the staff time to clean and disinfect the visitation room.
5. Due to the amount of visitations expected, each resident family will be allowed only one visitation per week and will only be allowed to schedule two visitations at one time. Only two (2) family members will be allowed to visit each time and all must be at least 18 years old.
6. Family is responsible for notifying their loved one of the scheduled visit.

Pre-Visitation Protocol

1. Visitors should arrive no more than 5 minutes before their scheduled visitation and enter through the main independent living entrance.
2. All visitors should be wearing a mask when they arrive. Masks will be mandatory for the entire visitation for families and residents. Masks will not be provided by Marian Village as we attempt to maintain our PPE. Anyone without a mask will not be allowed to participate in the visitation.
3. Upon entering Marian Village, all family members participating in the visitation must wash or sanitize their hands, have their temperature taken and answer a questionnaire at the reception desk before being allowed to participate in the visitation.
4. Upon completion of these requirements, family members will be asked to wait in a designated area.
5. No food or beverages are allowed.

Actual Visitation Protocol

1. When the room is disinfected, the family members will be instructed to enter the visiting area.
2. There should be no touching during the visit as we practice social distancing from the beginning to the conclusion of the visit. This will be monitored by a staff member, who will not be in the room, but will be in the area during the visit.
3. There should be no shared food or beverage during the visit.
4. A staff member will let all visitation members know when the visit has reached 40 minutes, so the visitation can end at the 45-minute mark and disinfection and sanitation preparation for the next group of visitors.
5. At the end of the visit, family members should exit from the same door they arrived and the resident should exit back into the hallway.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Any of the above mentioned guidelines may be suspended or modified in the event of non-compliance, a marked change in the incidence of Coronavirus or a change in federal, state or local guidance addressing visitation procedures.

Everyone at Marian Village sincerely appreciates your cooperation as we move to this next phase of our plan. Our first priority has been and continues to be the safety and health of our residents.

God Bless,

Daniel Bannon
Executive Director

May 29, 2020

To the Residents and Family Members of our Franciscan Communities:

It is hard to believe that it has been almost three months since all of our lives were turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic. The myriad of restrictions that were enacted throughout this time were necessary to provide the highest level of safety for the residents of our communities. However necessary those steps were, we all also recognize the psychological, mental and physical toll it has taken in every conceivable way on residents, family members and associates alike. We are all joyous to begin thinking about what it looks like to re-open our campuses both internally for resident dining & activities as well as externally for family member visits.

Our senior housing campuses fall under numerous Federal, State and local regulatory bodies who all have a say in the timing and extent to which we may allow visitors to our campuses. We have a team of staff who are dedicated to understanding all the regulatory requirements to ensure our compliance relative to the re-opening of our communities. Please know that we will phase our re-opening as quickly as possible within the safety guidelines under which we operate. I will continue to be a vocal supporter of getting families and their loved ones connected as soon as practically possible.

What we know today is that the skilled nursing section of the campus will be the last to re-open. It is no surprise that on Monday of this week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued new guidance detailing steps that nursing homes should take before relaxing restrictions in skilled nursing. Much of the guidance will be dependent on how the State Health Departments interpret CMS guidance, and none have weighed in yet on what the timeline is for re-opening the skilled nursing.

Assisted living is also regulated by the various state departments of health, but we anticipate that we will receive some guidance on re-opening the assisted living portion of our campuses sometime in the next couple of weeks.

We will continue to do everything possible to arrange for FaceTime, Skype, window visits, etc. for the assisted living, memory support and skilled nursing residents. Please contact any member of the team if you need help with connecting with your loved one while we await some guidance about how we can comply with re-opening the campus. I promise to mobilize our teams as quickly as possible once we are given the “green light” to move forward.

Due to the unique circumstances at individual communities, each Executive Director will be sending out a memo in the upcoming next couple of weeks that goes over the particular plan for each campus. Our overall plan to open the campus has four key areas:

1. Visitation Guide and Guidelines: each Franciscan Community will have a guide for visitation that you will receive from the Executive Director of the campus. Since each campus has a slightly different configuration, some campuses may start with outdoor visits and other campuses will start with a dedicated space inside the community for family visits. Visits may also vary based on level of care, i.e. assisted living versus skilled nursing .
2. The Franciscan Ministries’ Infection Prevention & Control (“IPC”) program: the Franciscan Ministries’ (ICP) program will be extended to designated outdoor or indoor visitation areas and will identify protocols for social distancing, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and disinfectant requirements for associates, residents and visitors in accordance with the guidelines provided by state, local, CDC and CMS authorities. All visitors will be required to wear masks, maintain social distancing and remain in designated areas only during their visit. Please be assured that we will sanitize the area between family visits. Scheduling of the visits and specific guidelines will be shared with you by the Executive Director of the campus.
3. Internal Reopen Planning and Procedures: each community’s Executive Director is also finalizing a roadmap that will outline timing and guidelines for the beginning of communal dining, chapel services and life enrichment activities in accordance with CMS and state health departments.

We recognize how difficult these past few months have been and how much our residents need to see their loved ones. It is our intention to make this process as quick, safe and smooth as possible. You all have been incredibly patient with us during this time, and we ask for your grace as we embark on this next step towards reclaiming our normal lives. Please know that every decision we make will be based on the safety of the residents of our communities.

Please continue to watch your email for more information regarding the reopening of our communities to help you reconnect with your loved one (s). Once again, thank you for your continued support, words of encouragement and prayers throughout this crisis. We can’t wait to welcome family members back to the campuses!

Sincerely,

Judy Amiano
President & CEO