We’ve been doing outdoor visits for quite a while now and they’ve been going well for the most part. However, we all know what’s coming…colder weather. So the question has been floating around, what are we going to do to replace outdoor visits? Until recently, we haven’t had a good answer for that. The Minnesota Department of Health did give us some guidelines to continue to do outdoor visits, and honestly, they weren’t very reasonable. So we were left without an answer.
While I can’t say that we have some magic answer to fix all this, we do have new guidance that gives us a just a little more freedom. Turning the dial just a bit more, if you will. Some of you may have seen the headlines in the newspapers indicating that nursing homes and assisted living communities can now allow visitors. Those headlines are frustrating to me because it tells the wrong story to families who are very anxious to see their loved ones. The truth is, we can allow visitors if certain criteria are met. One of the main criteria involves the COVID-19 case rate in the county. For the past couple of months, the case rate in 
Brown and McLeod counties have been too high to consider allowing families in. However, the Minnesota Department of Health has changed the criteria slightly and we’re hopeful that this will change the outcome for visitation.
We are still learning a lot this week about the new guidelines. We are listening to every call with the Minnesota Department of Health, our counties, and LeadingAgeMN to determine what our best course of action is. We are hopeful to have more information for you by the end of the week or early next week and we will communicate that with you in a timely fashion. While health and safety remains at the forefront of what we do here, we understand the importance of friends, family and relationships. And we sure hope to see you soon!
Brittany Gulden, Executive Director Woodstone Senior Living of New Ulm
Jill Springer, Executive Director Woodstone Senior Living of Hutchinson