HOPE COMES TO NURSING HOME
Peter Becker Community skilled nurses, staff receive vaccination, look forward to socializing again
FRANCONIA » Peter Becker Community skilled nursing residents, employees at the retirement community and some other local health care providers got their first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine Jan. 3.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Peter Becker CEO and President Suzanne Owens said in a phone interview the previous day. “It’s a day we’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”
The second dose will be in three weeks, with another two weeks after that for the body to build up immunity, she said.
“Two weeks after that [second] shot, it should mean that our residents in skilled nursing that have had that shot will be able to visit face to face with their family for the first time since March. They should be able to just sit in a room and be comfortable interacting with them. They also have not been able to eat in the regular dining room. They’ve been eating alone in their room, so they’ll be able to come to the dining room again. They’ll be able to participate in activities, they’ll
"It’s pretty exciting. It’s a day we’ve been looking forward to for a long time."
— Peter Becker CEO and President Suzanne Owens
be able to go up to the chapel for worship service on Sundays. All of that we had to cut out in March when we shut things down and couldn’t have them near anyone,” Owens said.
The Jan. 3 vaccinations went to the 43 skilled nursing residents at Peter Becker, 145 Peter Becker employees, 20 health care workers who work with Peter Becker residents, but are not Peter Becker staff members, and 13 TriValley Primary Care physicians and nurse practitioners, she said.
The state has not yet given a schedule for when personal care and residential living residents will get the vaccine, so it’s not yet known when restrictions put in place to try to prevent the spread of the virus can be lifted in those areas, she said.
Peter Becker has a total of about 500 residents. The restrictions, similar to ones at other local senior citizen communities, currently include not allowing visitors.
Ways provided to help keep residents connected to their families include Zoom and FaceTime phone calls, Owens said. There are also individual activities for residents and live TV events and activities, she said.
“We are praying we will have the vaccine available for all our residents soon!!!” Owens wrote in an email as the vaccinations were taking place. She said the vaccinations were going well and described it as a “great day.”
The skilled nursing residents are among the most vulnerable to getting the virus, Owens said during the telephone interview.
“Skilled nursing residents have people standing very, very close to them to help them get dressed and help them bathe and that kind of thing, where residential living residents don’t have for the most part that kind of close encounter,” she said.
Vaccinating the staf f makes it safer for all the residents, she said.
“All of our staff have been under pretty rigid restrictions to comply with not bringing back an infection and being with our residents,” Owens said.
That included travel restrictions, she said.
While some people have lost their jobs or had cutbacks during the pandemic, that hasn’t been the case at Peter Becker, she said.
“Our 250 employees have been fully employed, in fact, we’re trying to hire more,” Owens said.
“While many people have the luxury of working from home during the pandemic our employees continued to work sometimes with little time off throughout the pandemic and in many cases with the understanding that they were working with active COVID positive individuals,” Peter Becker Vice-president of Marketing and Sales Barbara Keller wrote in a release about the vaccinations. “We are very proud of the dedication of our team and celebrate with them this great day when they can receive the vaccination. We continue to search for new employees who want to make a difference in the way that ours have. The state has allowed facilities to provide training to new individuals who have interest in a health care career.”
A January 2 posting on the Peter Becker Community website reported that the most recent weekly COVID-19 testing of personal care and skilled nursing residents and all the employees resulted in no positive tests. A group of volunteers was also tested, with one testing positive.
“The individual is isolating at home and is contacting individuals who had close contact. The volunteer did not have contact with any personal care or skilled residents,” the posting said.
Helen Schlegel, the first Peter Becker resident scheduled to receive the vaccine, said, “It’s an opportunity to see family and friends and to have a normal life again,” Keller wrote.
Nancy Fitch, Schlegel’s daughter, said she was glad her mother decided to get the vaccine.
“While Nancy and Helen communicate frequently, they look forward to visiting in person again soon,” the release said.
Some of the Peter Becker employees chose not to get the vaccination because of concerns that the vaccine is so new, Owens said.
Additional education about the vaccine will be given and the employees will be able to get the vaccine at another time, she said.