MNRC, Pennington starts to vaccinate residents, staff

     On Monday morning, Jan. 11, staff and residents of both Monticello Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Pennington Square Assisted Living started receiving the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

     “The vaccine is being administered and distributed to nursing homes across the country through the federal Pharmacy Partnership for Long-term Care Program,” explained MNRC Administrator Laurissa Martin.

     Under this program, three pharmacies were federally approved: Community Pharmacy, CVS, and Walgreens.

     “At MNRC, we received our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine from CVS,” noted Martin.

     At this time, the vaccine is not mandatory at MNRC. However, before it can be administered, the individual needs to consent to receiving it.

     “The resident or their responsible party must sign a consent for to receive the vaccine,” said Martin.

     As part of the vaccine administration, residents and staff will be getting the shot in honor of a loved one.

     “Getting the vaccine is not only a way to protect yourself, but also to protect those you love by reducing your likelihood of spreading the virus to them,” explained Martin.

     Each person getting the vaccine will wear a sticker noting a loved one by name.

     “We decided it would be nice to honor our loved ones,” added Martin. “They can honor anyone they decide to choose.”

     On Feb. 1, a second vaccine clinic will be held at MNRC to administer the second dose for those who received the first. Martin said the Pfizer vaccine, it’s a 21-day waiting period between doses.

     “It takes about three to four weeks for the pharmacies to administer each dose to all nursing homes in Iowa,” shared Martin.

     Since mid-March when the pandemic began in Iowa, nursing homes and long-term care facilities were closed to the visiting public, including residents’ loved ones. Martin said the residents are like family, and the focus has always been to keep everyone safe and healthy.

     “Infection control has always been an important part of what we do,” she said. “We have had infection control measures in place long before COVID.”

     Once the pandemic hit, MNRC worked with federal and state health officials to implement additional public safety measures for everyone, staff and residents. Those included visitation protocols, staff symptoms screenings and testing procedures, and the use of additional PPE.

     “Like many care providers, we have had to combat this virus first hand,” continued Martin. “Even with all of these protective measures in place, the virus can still get in.”

     Martin said that’s due to community spread and asymptomatic carriers.

     “We have seen across the country that increases in community spread directly correlate with increases in cases in long-term care facilities. It is like trying to keep smoke out of a house next to a forest fire.”

     MNRC and Pennington are excited, to say the least, to finally be able to immunize residents and staff from the COVID-19 virus.

     “The vaccine is our best weapon against this virus,” Martin said.

     While the virus continues to be a risk for the elderly residents, MNRC is following the CMS (Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services) visitation protocols. Residents have been able to use technology to other online resources to stay in contact with their family members versus in-person visits. Window and outdoor visits were also permitted.

     “We have been able to safely accommodate for compassionate care visits for families facing end-of-life situations,” Martin offered, “using appropriate PPE and safety measures.”

     No word yet on when in-person activities can resume. Martin said that would depend on the county’s positivity rate being less than 10 percent. In addition, there can’t be any active COVID cases inside the care facility.

     “That is why it is so important to get our county positivity rate down,” urged Martin, “so that our families and residents can safely visit in-person again.”