Governor’s Stay at Home Order Extended
MN’s Governor, Tim Walz, instituted a stay at home order beginning Saturday, March 28th, 2020 which has now been extended to May 4th. St. Francis encourages all visitors to honor the stay at home order. We also recognize how difficult it is not to see your loved one and how difficult it is for our residents to not see their loved ones.
Prior to the governor’s stay at home order, we encouraged visiting with residents through windows. While these visits are a creative way to bring joy to our residents, we encountered some difficulties. Throughout Minnesota, windows were opened and items were passed through the window to a resident potentially exposing not just the resident being visited, but other residents and staff of the care center. Residents are also at greater risk of falling in their attempt to try to get to a window without assistance. Privacy issues occurred as visitors were walking by windows of other residents.
Again, we encourage you to follow the governor’s stay at home mandate. As indicated in the governor’s address, the stay at home mandate has successfully bought Minnesota time to better prepare for the imminent outbreak.
If you choose not to follow the governor’s stay at home mandate and plan to make a window visit to your loved one, we ask that you call ahead and schedule the visit so an employee is available to assist the resident at that time. We encourage you to use alternative means of communicating with residents such as phone calls, Facebook, Skype, etc. Thank you for your patience as we learn how to navigate visitors in these unprecedented times. Our highest priority is reducing the risk of occurrence and transmission within our communities.