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Heritage Ministries to reopen skilled nursing admissions

Jeremy Rutter, Heritage Chief Clinical Officer, announced Tuesday that Heritage skilled nursing and rehabilitation communities in Chautauqua County will begin to admit residents today. Previously, Heritage had temporarily ceased all admissions effective May 19 in response to the New York State mandate to test all nursing home employees for COVID-19. This admission halt affected three Heritage communities: The Village in Gerry, The Park in Jamestown, and The Green in Greenhurst.

“We were notified on Tuesday, May 26, of the results of our first round of COVID-19 employee tests in our Chautauqua County skilled nursing and rehabilitation communities,” he stated. “The 100% negative employee test rate is a direct reflection of the hard work, dedication, and adherence to COVID-19 guidelines by all of our Heritage staff members. We have communicated with our local hospital, and all our referring partners, that we will begin taking admissions this Wednesday, May 27, at all of our Chautauqua County skilled nursing and rehabilitation communities.”

Heritage Ministries President and CEO, Lisa Haglund, shared, “The health and safety of our staff and residents are of the utmost importance. As we were directed to move into mandated testing for all employees by Governor Cuomo’s office, we needed to determine how we could implement that efficiently, while complying with all regulations, and preventing any impact to resident care. Our COVID-19 response team is committed to acting in the best interest of all staff and residents. The temporary admissions halt allowed us to determine if our staffing would be negatively impacted by test results. We needed to be able to ensure that our residents would continue to receive the same compassionate care that is standard at Heritage. The 100% negative results of our COVID-19 employee tests support our decision to reopen our skilled nursing and rehabilitation communities to new admissions. We commend all of our healthcare heroes for their roles in helping to keep our residents safe and healthy as we continue to promote Hope, Dignity, and Purposeful Living.”

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