August 14, 2020
Dear Key family,
As we continue to see the increasing impact of COVID-19 in our community, we know you have questions about what the outbreak will mean for you and your loved ones. Thank you for trusting the Key Training Center, and know that we are taking precautions to minimize disruption to services and keep those in our care and our staff members safe.
The actions we are taking are consistent with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health, and mandates by Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD).
In addition to the every two weeks COVID-19 testing of our staff by AHCA for our four assisted living facilities group homes (Burnes Cottage, Franklin Cottage, Davis Cottage, and Simmons Cottage), APD has followed suit and will be requiring and supplying COVID-19 testing every two weeks for our staff of APD licensed homes and operated residential facilities. The Key Center is responsible for administering the tests, which requires coordination and logistics to test group home, day training program, and other essential employees every 14-days. However, it is a vital step in stemming the rising tide of positive COVID-19 cases across our state and allows us to react quickly to a positive COVID-19 case.
As part of our COVID-19 screenings and testing, we identified that we had three staff members who tested positive for COVID-19. Sadly, our bubble of no COVID-19 has passed. As shared before, we have plans of action in place for all scenarios to include staff and client positive COVID-19 cases. These action steps include: conduct contact tracing to determine what other staff and/or clients may need to be COVID-19 tested, identify all work/home environment to be immediately professionally COVID-19 sanitized to include transportation vehicles, report to our local Department of Health, issue KN95 masks, and any other appropriate personal protective equipment to all staff members, and in some cases clients, that were intimately exposed to the positive staff member/client with the requirement to wear them for 14-days. In all cases, families/guardians of clients associated with any positive COVID-19 staff or client will be notified and shared the actions that have or will be taken for that particular case. To date, we have no clients that have tested positive for COVID-19, but we are prepped and ready to active the isolation room located on our Lecanto campus if the need arises.
We will continue to update you and on any news or emerging issues. In the meantime, if you any questions or concerns, please call:
Melissa Walker, Executive Director 352.795-5541 ext. 203
Theresa Flick, Director of Program Operations 352.795.5541 ext. 224
Barbara Branch, Director of Day Services 352.795.5541 ext. 244
Cole Kiser, Director of Residential Services 352.795.5541 ext. 227
Please continue to keep all the Key staff, clients, and our community in your thoughts and prayers as we continue to deal with COVID-19.
Sincerely,
Melissa Walker
Executive Director