Manor of the Plains announces results of COVID-19 testing

One Manor of the Plains assisted living resident tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.

“As we continue regular testing of employees and residents, our focus remains on the health and safety of our residents and employees,” said Jeanne Gerstenkorn, PMMA’s infection preventionist and vice president for health and wellness.

Manor of the Plains is conducting surveillance testing of employees in compliance with a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandate that all employees, volunteers, agency staff, and third-party caregivers should be tested regularly based on the COVID-19 positivity rate of the county. Based on Ford County’s positivity rate, Manor of the Plains is testing twice a week.

The campus tested 137 residents and employees September 23. One assisted living resident tested positive, and all other tests were negative. The resident is not showing signs or symptoms of COVID-19.

The COVID positive resident has been moved to the designed COVID-19 isolation area to be cared for by the COVID-19 Rapid Response Team. We will follow CDC and KDHE guidelines for when the residents may come out of isolation. Under the current guidelines, symptomatic residents may leave isolation when at least 72 hours have passed since resolution of the resident’s fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and the resident’s symptoms have improved and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. Asymptomatic positive residents will quarantine for 14 days. Rapid Response Team members are following doctor’s orders for treatment protocols and following CDC infection prevention protocols.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Epidemiology Hotline and Ford County Health Department have been notified and recommend continued mass testing of all residents, coordinated with the community’s surveillance testing dates.

Due to this positive case, the campus is still considered a COVID-19 cluster. A cluster is two or more non-household cases of COVID-19 associated with a location in a specific time frame.

Manor of the Plains will continue to follow KDHE, Ford County Health Department, CMS and CDC guidelines to monitor residents and other employees for any signs or symptoms of respiratory illness and signs of COVID-19.

Employees and residents are encouraged to follow CDC guidelines and best practices as these are continually updated. The community regularly reinforces with all employees that an employee should not report to work if he or she is experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness or is not feeling well.

For more information about Manor of the Plains’ response, go to PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) website, presbyterianmanors.org/media-room.