January 19, 2021 —Kendal at Ithaca is delighted to offer COVID vaccinations to all residents. It’s a prudent move, as anyone living here on our campus could find themselves living in our Health Center in a twinkling. We’ve been working very hard to prevent infection in the nursing home and assisted living areas that we don’t want to jeopardize those efforts in any way.
We’ll be holding a clinic in conjunction with Health Direct on Monday, January 25. With nearly 500 participants expected, it will take most of the day.
There will be four distinct groups receiving the vaccination that day:
- Nursing Home residents will receive their second dose;
- Staff already vaccinated on January 4 will receive their second dose;
- Staff not yet vaccinated will receive their first dose; and,
- All independently living residents will receive their first dose.
Assisted Living residents will be vaccinated on January 28 with their first dose. The CVS pharmacy will administer this clinic.
We are also pleased that no positive test results have been reported on campus since January 5th. If none occur, we shall be able to re-open visitation for Health Center residents on January 20th.
Finally, it has become a mandate to test staff twice weekly. We did voluntarily begin this practice before Thanksgiving. At that time. we planned to extend it until at least the end of January. That decision will now be determined by the NYS Health Department under their latest guidance.
If you are looking for your vaccination in the general Tompkins County process, the keyword is patience, patience, patience. Sheer persistence has paid off for some, and we hope it will for you.
Be well, Betsy