Dear Family Members,

We hope that this letter finds you safe.  First, we’d like to express our gratitude for your patience and support during the last three months.  And, we would like to announce some great news that we’ve all been waiting for.  On June 16th, NYS announced that we could start allowing family members to visit their loved ones at our residential programs, starting Friday, June 19th!  While we’re thrilled at the thought of seeing you again, we need to proceed with some caution to insure that everyone stays safe and healthy.  We’ve put together the following plan, as approved by NYS, that outlines the requirements that are expected by our federal and state health officials.  Please keep in mind that these requirements can change at a moments’ notice and that we’ll do our best to keep you in touch with the latest developments.

As of June 19th going forward, scheduled family visits can occur during our regular visitation hours; specifically, from 4:00p – 8:00p, Monday thru Friday, and 10:00a – 8:00p, Saturday and Sunday.

  • All visits need to be prearranged and scheduled by family members by contacting house management. In order to accommodate all families, visitation during the first 10 days may need to be limited to 30 minutes.  After the 10th day, visits can be extended to an hour.
  • To insure safety, only one family unit will be allowed to visit the facility at any one time, limited to no more than three persons at a time, with no family member being younger than three-years old.
  • Program staff will provide oversight to ensure that all visitors:
    • Participate in a health-check: (the same health check that our staff experience every day), which involves temperature check, questions regarding travel, and observation for symptoms. Please understand that if you have a temperature of 100 degrees or higher, any symptoms of illness, or have been out of the Country within the past 14 days, you will not be allowed to visit. 
    • Wear Personal Protective Equipment, specifically regarding masks. The use of gloves and gowns will be at your discretion.  All such PPE will be supplied by the agency as needed, but we’ll be asking you to dispose of the used PPE yourselves.
    • Conduct visits in the outdoor areas, within the grounds - for infection-control purposes, visitors cannot be allowed within the facility itself. At this time, we cannot permit visitation off our grounds.
    • Maintain social distancing guidelines of at least six feet with your loved one.

 

We’re sorry that there have to be so many rules right now, and we look forward to returning things back to normal as soon as we can.  So again, we appreciate your patience.  If you have any questions, please contact your assigned program director or call 516-921-7650.