To Our Residents, Family Members and Visitors:
This is an update to a letter sent on 03/09/20 and based on updated guidelines received from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Hawaii’s Department of Health (DOH). The Palolo Chinese Home (PCH) would like to reassure you that our residents are being cared for in a safe and healthy environment. At this time, we don’t have any cases in our facility. We need your help to protect the residents as well as prevent the spread of COVID-19 throughout the community.
At this time, the PCH will be restricting visitation of all visitors and non-essential health care personnel, except for certain compassionate care situations, such as an end-of-life situation. Please call the nurses to schedule visits. We understand that connecting with family members is incredibly important, and there are a variety of other ways you might consider communicating with them including telephone, email, text, or through Facetime, Skype, or Facebook. PCH is willing to coordinate and assist with this.
For individuals that enter in compassionate situations (e.g., end-of-life care), PCH will require each visitor to perform hand hygiene and use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Those with symptoms of a respiratory infection (fever, cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat) will not be permitted to enter the facility at any time (even in end-of-life situations). Those visitors that are permitted, must wear a facemask while in the building and restrict their visit to the resident’s room or other location designated by the PCH. You will be reminded to frequently perform hand hygiene.
In addition, all communal dining and all group activities, such as internal and external group activities will be canceled. There will be active screening of residents and staff for fever and respiratory symptoms; and residents will be practicing social distancing and perform frequent hand hygiene.
PCH will have a dedicated COVID-19 hotline that will provide updates. Please call 808-748-4906 or you can access PCH’s website at www.palolohome.org.
Please call the facility Administrator, Darin Yoshimoto at (808) 829-1545 or the On-Call Nurse Manager at (808) 782-4187 to schedule a screening upon your arrival. We also request that pet visits be suspended for the time being.
PCH is being proactive on all levels ensuring that the home is kept clean and sanitized (table tops, chairs, door handles, elevators, etc.) at all times. Again, following the recommendations of the CDC on prevention & mitigation steps, we are posting signs at the entryway doors to notify visitors of the symptoms of COVID-19 and request that you do not enter the building.
Palolo Chinese Home will notify you if any residents or staff are diagnosed with COVID-19. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact myself at (808) 732-0488 or email at dnakayama@palolohome.org or one of the managers listed below.
Thank you for your cooperation as we all work together to keep our residents safe.
Sincerely,
Darlene H. Nakayama, RN, LNHA
Chief Executive Officer
Palolo Chinese Home
Manager’s Contact Numbers and Email
- Darin Yoshimoto, Administrator – (808) 829-1545; dyoshimoto@palolohome.org
- Mylene Ignacio, RN, Director of Nursing – (808) 782-4187; mignacio@palolohome.or
- Rachel Agustin, Manager Senior Day Care/Palolo Wellness Program (808) 748-4907; ragustin@palolohome.org
- On-Call Nurse Managers – (808) 782-4187