On March 27, 2020 a statement from Terry Walsh, President and CEO regarding construction and COVID 19
As you know, Friendship Villages are building the future of senior living and senior care. Even in the current COVID-19 environment, we feel that this effort must continue toward completion as much as possible.
Fortunately, our new Independent Living buildings were complete prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and our new residents are excited to move-into the Villages and become part of our families and take advantage of all of the precautions we have put in place, rather than being alone at home.
Our new Skilled Nursing Facilities and Assisted Living in Chesterfield are still under construction and we are striving to continue that work quickly and safely. One of the main reasons is that it will be important for us, if the COVID-19 situation continues on, to be able to have state of the art facilities with private rooms where residents can be cared-for in an even better-protected environment. The new environment will be superior to the current care centers in that regard.
However, we want to make you aware of the extensive health and safety precautions we and our construction partners continue to undertake during the Covid-19 situation.
All of our ongoing construction has been permitted by the St. Louis County health department as necessary during our shelter-in-place restrictions. Our construction partners continue to follow all Health Department and Friendship Village health and safety guidelines.
All current construction is taking place in areas and buildings completely separated from occupied buildings by at least 100 feet. As a further precaution, no construction worker is permitted to be inside any Friendship Village building without proper authorization and thorough screening according to all appropriate protocols which includes proper hand sanitation, exposure questionnaires and temperature taking and social distancing. Contact with Residents is prohibited and controlled.
Portable hand washing stations are readily available to all workers. Workers also have personal protection equipment as does the person doing the temperature screening. Any delivery personnel entering campus who is required to leave his or her vehicle is also temperature screened before being allowed to exit the vehicle. In addition, construction workers are being given the option of staggering their work shifts at the discretion of their unions.
Click Here to See Our Current COVID-19 Protocols AND Essential Construction Guidelines