CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – With more presumptive positive cases of coronavirus now in South Carolina, one Conway skilled nursing and rehab center administrator says the elderly are some of the most vulnerable to the virus.
Conway Manor administrator Jim Wooddell tells News13 they’re asking visitors to fill out a two page screening form to make sure they’re not showing any symptoms, similar to that of the coronavirus.
“We’ve just kind of heightened our awareness of the coronavirus and just making sure that we protect our residents, as well as our staff,” said Wooddell.
He says the elderly should be protected because they are some of the most vulnerable due to age and other factors.
“Definitely, the elderly are vulnerable, obviously because of their age. Their comorbidities, they have, you know, diseases and illnesses that we have to address, plus some are immunocompromised, so they are really susceptible.”
Jim Wooddell, Administrator, Conway Manor
Wooddell says they’re asking visitors seeing their loved ones to stay in the room with them, and to not linger in the halls of the building.
The restrictions and extra cleaning are something Wooddell says they’re doing on their own, but they’re still consulting with their corporate office and the CDC.
“We’re also screening our staff, making sure that, monitoring them to make sure that they have no infections or fevers, really stressing our hand washing techniques in the facility, also sanitizing the facility, keeping things clean,” Wooddell pointed out.
They’re continuing to have indoor activities with residents, but any outside vendors wanting to bring in an activity are also restricted.
“Anybody that comes in, resident wise as well as families and our employees, like I said, we’re continuing to monitor them, so if we see anybody that has a fever or runny nose, we’re assessing them and taking the appropriate steps,” he said.
Wooddell says these restrictions on visitors and cleaning the nursing home is going to help them be successful in protecting their patients from the coronavirus.
