Ohio Living Cape May, Clinton County’s only 5-Star Rated Nursing Facility, continues to remain COVID-19 virus-free in our health care center, assisted living, and our villas as businesses throughout the state begin to open.

The staff at Cape May continue to follow all rules and guidelines put in place over the past several months by the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Living’s Corporate Office, as well as other agencies.

Cape May’s primary focus is to provide a sense of normalcy for all residents and employees while still working to ensure the health and safety of all. With COVID-19 concerns continuing, cautious and preventive measures remain in place for Cape May staff and residents alike.

While there has been some relaxation of the visitation policies over the last week, we’re still doing our best each and every day to keep things “business as usual” for everyone.

The quality care and services provided by our Activities Department, as well as Culinary, Housekeeping and Laundry, Maintenance, Long Term Care and Rehab Nursing remain fully operational but now include the addition of even more practices to keep everyone safe.

Even in the midst of all we’re doing, we are still seeking qualified candidates to fill open positions during this strange time. Both business and life continues!

Keeping resident’s active is critical for many reasons, especially to stave off boredom and depression. For example, LaTasha Ruddle, Director of Activities at Cape May, said that some changes have been made to exercise programs since individual instructors are no longer permitted to enter the facility.

“We’ve been providing online and video exercises as actual exercise classes,” said Ruddle. “We also continue to deliver social-distancing activities ranging from chair volleyball to bingo to art classes for all levels of care.”

Residents are growing green beans inside the facility and attending social-distanced church services. Ruddle shared “We try to provide activities that meet everyone’s different interests – especially during this time of restrictions and guidelines.”

While we’ve been considering how to safely reopen our main dining room, meals are still being hand-delivered to each resident with a smile by our Culinary staff. In fact, we’ve started taking orders for dinners from our Independent Villa residents – it’s the Cape May version of “curb side pick-up”!

While visitors are still not permitted to enter the building, in certain areas, families can chat with their loved ones through window visits, video calls, and by using our new Visitor’s Window unit.

Upon entering the building, all staff and visitors are still required to take their temperatures and complete an assessment questionnaire.

Social distancing, frequent hand washing, wearing of masks, and the almost constant disinfecting of surfaces continue to be heavily enforced, but employees have taken these adjustments in stride.

Daily and weekly meetings, phone calls, and written updates from Executive Director Brad Reynolds continue to keep staff, residents, and family members current on any changes that may occur within the facility.

Reynolds mentioned, “While these communications have helped, directives from the State of Ohio and others continue to change day to day so keeping folks informed is a constant challenge.”

He pointed out again that Ohio Living Cape May, like similar communities and other health care organizations, will be one of the last to completely reopen to visitors, that is, once the pandemic numbers get to an acceptable level, as determined by the State of Ohio Department of Health.

Cape May is currently accepting applications for residency and care as residents are cautiously being moved in and out of the facility.

Please contact Tom Dreyer, Director of Business Development for more information at 937-382-2995.

In addition, employee hiring continues – come join our caring team! See ohioliving.org/careers for details or call us at the same number.