Resident, employees at Emporia PMMA test positive for COVID-19

A resident and two direct-care employees at Emporia Presbyterian Manor have tested positive for COVID-19.

“The safety of our residents and employees remains our highest priority,” said Jeanne Gerstenkorn, PMMA’s infection preventionist and vice president for health and wellness.

Friday, November 6, we learned that one of our residents tested positive for COVID-19. While this was confirmed by our ongoing testing, which last took place on Wednesday, November 4, it was also confirmed by a local hospital, where the resident was taken Thursday night, due to a medical situation.

The resident, who lives in independent living, had been in isolation in our health care center following a prior hospitalization and was tested on Wednesday as part of our ongoing testing process. Thursday night, November 5, the individual returned to the hospital for medical attention. They notified us yesterday of the positive COVID-19 test. Shortly after, the results of the Wednesday test also came back positive. The resident remains hospitalized at this time, and we will follow all CDC and KDHE recommendations upon their return.

The employee tested positive at a local clinic after not feeling well earlier Friday. The individual last worked Thursday, November 5, and wore personal protective equipment (PPE) after screening in before their scheduled shift.

The second employee last worked Friday, November 6. The employee passed pre-shift screening and wore PPE as required. The employee began to experience symptoms on Saturday and was administered a rapid point-of-care test on Sunday. The test result was positive.

The Flint Hills Health Department has been notified and we will conduct contact tracing to check for exposure. The CDC defines exposure as being within 6 feet of another person while he or she is symptomatic for 10 minutes or longer.

The Health Department also recommended we test all health care and assisted living residents who may have been exposed every seven days to ensure any new positive cases are quickly managed. We will continue with employee testing twice each week.

We will follow CDC and KDHE guidelines for when an employee may return to work. Under the current guidelines, symptomatic employees may return to work when at least 24 hours have passed since resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and the employee’s symptoms  have improved and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared. Asymptomatic positive employees will quarantine for 14 days. Upon their return to work, we will follow CDC recommendations related to work practices and restrictions.

Emporia Presbyterian Manor will follow any additional guidance from Flint Hills Community Health Department, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment epidemiology hotline and the CDC.

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

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