Woodridge Rehabilitation and Nursing to relax COVID-related restrictions

Sepetember 22, 2020  |  By Anna Tempesta Noonan

At Gov. Phil Scott's press conference this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci announced that Vermont's community prevalence of the coronavirus is the lowest in the country. Our low statewide prevalence is a result of all your efforts to stay vigilant by socially distancing, masking, and observing other infection prevention recommendations from the Vermont Department of Health.

CVMC's Woodridge Rehabilitation & Nursing recently completed state-required baseline testing of our 219 staff and 89 residents for COVID-19. The tests were part of the Vermont Department of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living's re-start plan. I am pleased to share that there were no positive cases at our facility as a result of this testing.

With zero cases at the facility, the restart process now allows for some loosening of restrictions that have been in place since early March – including the resumption of activities like communal dining and our in-house salon. For residents, this welcomed return to routine activities has a direct impact on their quality of life and health outcomes.

To date, Woodridge has gone 190 days without a positive case among our residents. This is a direct result of the infection prevention measures we instituted in the early phases of our pandemic response and the continued vigilance of our team. These measures, along with the continued support of our resident's families, will help us keep Woodridge COVID free.

Across Central Vermont Medical Center's facilities, our COVID-19 safety record remains strong. The number of CVMC staff who have contracted the illness is extremely low – seven in total since March. Most of those cases occurred in March and April before we instituted mandatory masking of all employees.

We continue to screen all employees daily for symptoms before entering our facilities. Employees that are symptomatic or test positive for COVID-19, are not permitted to return to work until they have recovered.

With a low community prevalence, the majority of cases we have seen among our staff and community-members stem from out-of-state travel. To help slow the spread of COVID-19, we hope everyone continues to follow Vermont's travel restrictions and maintain distance from family and friends in quarantine when they arrive in the state.

Thank you for all that you do to support our staff, and to keep each other safe.

Anna Tempesta Noonan, RN, BSN, MS is president and chief operating officer of Central Vermont Medical Center.