COVID-19, Types of Visitation: Arizona State Veteran Homes

COVID-19, Types of Visitation: Arizona State Veteran Homes

UPDATE (5/24/21) Starting May 29, 2021, the Arizona State Veteran Homes will allow residents to participate in home and community visits with a responsible party. 

Home Visits/Community Visits with Responsible Party 

• Residents, regardless of their vaccination status, are able to go on home visits with their family.
• Families will need to inform the facility of the visit in advance so the resident is ready.
• The family member will be screened upon arrival to ensure no COVID-19 symptoms are present.
• The family will be provided with an education packet with information regarding COVID-19 signs and symptoms, preventing COVID-19, safe practices, contact tracing and vaccine information.

Requirements/Protocols for Home Visits/Offsite Visits

1. Visitor will inform the facility that they will be taking their loved one home for a visit.
2. Upon arriving to the facility the visitor will go to the main desk and inform staff they are here to pick up their loved.
3. The visitor will be screened to ensure they are free of COVID-19 signs and symptoms prior to taking the resident from the facility.
4. The visitor will also be provided with an education packet from the employee at the screening station.

While visitation is allowed seven days a week, all home and community visits must be scheduled Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. and at least 24 hours in advance of the requested visit with a resident. 

To schedule a home or community visit with a resident, call the specific Arizona State Veteran Home. 

Arizona State Veteran Home - Phoenix: Brittany Tashner 602-248-1560 or Carrie Boston 602-351-6879

Arizona State Veteran Home - Tucson: 520-638-2150

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Read the full visitation policy below

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Policy Statement:

Our facilities follow current CMS/CDC guidelines and recommendations for prevention of COVID-19 during visitation within our facility.

Policy Interpretation and Implementation:

Visitation will be conducted through different means based on a facility’s structure and residents’ needs, such as window visits, outdoor dedicated visitation spaces, indoor dedicated visitation spaces and compassionate care situations and home visits. Regardless of how visits are conducted, there are certain core Principles and best practices that reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmissions:

Core Principles of COVID-19 Infection Prevention

• Screening of all who enter the facility for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and recent exposure to a person with COVID-19 infection

• Persons with signs and symptoms or with close contact to a person with COVID-19 infection in the last 14 days should be denied entry regardless of the visitor’s vaccination status

• Performing hand hygiene with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub
• Wearing a face covering or mask while in the facility
• Practicing physical distancing of at least 6 feet between people
• Cleaning and disinfecting of high frequency touched surfaces in the facility often, and designated visitation areas after each visit
• Requiring appropriate staff use of Personal Protective  Equipment (PPE)
• Conducting effective cohorting of residents ( e.g., separate areas dedicated for COVID-19 care)
• Posting instructional signage throughout the facility and visitor education on COVID-19 signs/symptoms, proper facility procedures, and infection control precautions
• Testing residents and staff for COVID-19 infection as described in CMS testing guidance

These core principles are consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance for nursing homes and should be adhered to at all times. Additionally, visitation will be person-centered, will consider the residents’ physical, mental and psychosocial well-being, and support their quality of life. The facilities will enable visits to be conducted with an adequate degree of privacy. Visitors who are unable to adhere to the core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention will not be permitted to visit and will be asked to leave.

The facilities will use the Type In-Person Visitation Permitted Based on Resident Transmission Based Precaution (TBP) for COVID-19 and Facility Outbreak Status Grid as our way to determine how the facility will facilitate visitation:

Facilities will accommodate and support outdoor visitation and indoor visitation as long as there has been no new onset of COVID-19 cases and the facility is not conducting outbreak testing.  If there is an outbreak, outdoor and indoor visitations will resume when the facility after the first round of facility-wide testing has been completed.

Facilities must keep a log of all visitors to the facility (indoors and outdoors). Facilities must capture the name, address and phone number of visitors to facilitate potential contact tracing efforts.

Outdoor Visitations

• Outdoor visits will be allowed for all residents regardless of vaccination status, except in the following circumstances when visitation should be limited due to high risk of COVID-19 transmission.

• Residents with confirmed COVID-19 infection, regardless of vaccination status, until they have met the criteria to discontinue COVID-19 isolation;
• Residents in quarantine, regardless of vaccination status, until they met criteria for release from quarantine.

• Outdoor visitation is preferred even when the resident and/or visitor are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Outdoor visits generally pose a lower risk of transmission due to increased airflow and ability to more easily socially distance greater than 6 feet. Therefore, outdoor visits will be prioritized whenever practical.

• Considerations about whether an outdoor visit is practical for a resident include:

• Weather (e.g., inclement weather, excessive hot/cold temperatures, poor air quality)
• The individual resident’s health status (e.g., medical conditions, COVID-19 status)

• During outside visits, the facility will:

• Provide an accessible and safe outdoor space for the visits (e.g., courtyards, patios, parking lots, including the use of tents when available.
• Continue to follow the core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention, with the following caveat for physical contact between a resident and their visitor(s):

• Residents who are fully vaccinated can choose to have close contact (including touch) with their visitor(s) while wearing a well-fitting facemask and performing hand hygiene before and after.
• Regardless, visitors should always physically distance from other residents and staff in the facility

Note: residents who are on transmission-based precautions for COVID-19 (regardless of vaccination status) should only receive visits that are virtual or through windows, unless a compassionate care situation is identified. This restriction on visitation will be lifted once transmission-based/isolation precautions are no longer required, and routine visits may be conducted.

Indoor Visitations

• Indoor visitations will be allowed for all