This virus that insists that mankind not become complacent or overly confident continues to vex some of the smartest scientists on our planet.  We still don’t know if contracting and weathering COVID-19 makes us immune to a repeat infection. Do masks protect us from getting the virus or if we have it, from spreading it to others? Is six feet of physical distance really enough? Laboratory diagnostics have at once become extremely vital and in some cases, grossly inaccurate, the latter causing great concern with false positives and false negatives. A cloud of confusion surrounds antibody tests, their accuracy and what we can use them for.

Never has the time for separating fact from fiction become more important.

Since this is our first foray into the world of a global pandemic, we can perhaps be somewhat forgiving when considering mistakes made be they in public policy, health care provision, and even journalism – that’s if we accept the premise that all of us are trying to get this “right” – in the course of our respective responsibilities.

Nursing homes have been called “hot spots” for COVID-19 – a phrase that also comes with the connotation that long term care providers are not doing their job at best and being negligent at worst.  There is a palpable frustration among the public that protecting our elderly from this virus that comes with unprecedented contagion is so incredibly challenging. When Governor Abbott rightly mandated testing of all residents and staff in Texas’ nursing homes exposed a large number of individuals who were asymptomatic and unknowingly contagious, Focused Care kicked into gear to ensure those staff members quarantined at home as we labored to fill their positions on site as direct care providers. Additionally, we purchased and put in all 31 of our communities MediClean Pro equipment that utilizes a proven application method to disinfect exposed surfaces and is registered effective by the EPA to treat the human coronavirus and provide maximum germ sanitization.   We have most recently contracted with a private lab so we can conduct on-site testing and receive results in a timely manner – again, at our own cost.

I am conveying all of this here on our company website because you will probably not read about it in a news story.  While we have participated in interviews via phone calls, media statements, press releases and near daily reports to journalists looking for counts on positives, quarantines and deaths, I have yet to see what it is we ARE doing included in a news story in any substantive way.

If you are looking for facts at a time when many are elusive, please contact us if you want to know what Focused Care is doing to keep residents and those who care for them as healthy as possible.

Facts matter. The truth matters. Honesty is paramount.