Hilltoppers,

I wanted to give you all a “state of the organization” update, to keep you informed and aware of what is happening across all our programs.

  • RYS has been affected most significantly by recent COVID outbreaks, resulting in the decision to temporary shutdown the program this past Monday.  We had been operating on a reduced capacity when youth and staff began showing symptoms, followed by some positive COVID results.  Plans are being made to determine when we can safely open the facility back up.
  • LAP (sharing the campus with RYS) has not been hit as hard, but still has received some positive tests through our weekly surveillance testing. Surveillance testing will continue weekly until we have two consecutive weeks without any positive results.
  • The Commons and Fountains are also completing weekly surveillance testing.  Over the past two weeks, all resident test results have been negative, but in the same time period we’ve had six employees test positive.
  • Our non-residential programs are also seeing an increase in positive tests and exposures.  As the assisted living facilities continue to improve their weekly testing processes, we will look into the possibility of testing support services and non-residential staff as well.

Here are a few other changes we’ve recently made, or are working on, to limit potential exposure and mitigate the community spread:

  • Strengthened mask protocols- mandatory during internal/external meetings and in shared office space, even when separated by more than six feet
  • Discontinued meetings at coffee shops and restaurants
  • Increased remote employment and encouraging virtual meetings whenever practical
  • Equipping all of our air handling units with ionizers to purify the air
  • Creating outdoor heated visitation sites
  • Forming our own drive through testing site and team

I understand that this is a lot to take in. Our community was fortunate enough to not be hit very hard in the first wave, but it doesn’t seem like we are in for a repeat of those stats. As Mesa County is experiencing widespread community transmission of COVID-19 and recently moved our status up to “Safer at Home: High Risk”, there are certain places where we know COVID-19 spreads more easily. Avoid the three Cs to protect yourself and others from the spread of COVID-19:

Together, we got this,

-Mike