Holiday Guidance From Department of Health

We have just received a notification from New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) regarding holiday out trips for residents. While we are still reviewing the notification, it does state that any resident going out of the facility will be required to quarantine for a full 14 days and will be required to have 3 negative tests prior to their release from isolation.
In addition, any families taking their loved ones out of the facility will be required to attest in writing multiple points including but not limited to the risks associated with taking their loved one to a family gathering, that they will follow the rules of masks, social distancing and other directives, notification of illness within the attendees including within their work and social circles that might include persons not at the gathering and will be able to quarantine the resident or minimise contact during the out trip.
This guidance is more restrictive then our previous postings and we are continuing to discourage residents from leaving the facility for the holidays.
Please speak to us about options for virtual visits and other forms of communication during the holidays.
Our goal continues to be the safety and health of your loved ones!
Thank you once more for your cooperation and understanding in these trying times!

Due to the change in the seasons and the recent drop in the outdoor temperature, we are suspending our outdoor face to face family visits on Thanksgiving Day. To provide holiday visitation options; while continuing to be vigilant in containing the spread of COVID-19, we will be scheduling video family visits with your loved ones visits through Facebook Portal.
In order to serve all of our residents fairly, we are scheduling 15 minute video sessions for each resident and are limiting the frequency of visits for each resident so everyone has a chance to participate. Facebook Portal visits will be scheduled using our visiting appointment application that we utilized for outdoor visitation. Facebook Portal has some added features that allow for up to seven unique individuals to participate on their own devices each visit. This will allow for more families to group together for a Thanksgiving visit regardless of where they live.
When scheduling your family Facebook Portal visitation appointment online, additional instructions will follow showing you how to link up and interact with each other. ** In order to participate you must have the Facebook application downloaded that you must be signed into it on your smartphone, computer with camera, or on a tablet in order to use the Portal to visit**
At this time unless there is an appointment scheduled in advance, we will not be able to accommodate any last minute requests.
Due to the business of the holiday and the implementation of Facebook Portal visits we are not allowing any family visitation onto our campus on Thanksgiving Day. Unfortunately at this time we can not accommodate any further window visits, door visits or outside visitation with residents of any kind (this includes: the vestibule, sidewalks, benches, the outdoor visitation area and parking lot). We thank you in advance for your continued cooperation and understanding.
Also if you would like to drop anything off for your loved one for Thanksgiving please do so no later than 5pm on Wednesday November 25th in order for all items to be properly sanitized and distributed on Thanksgiving Day.
If you have any further questions or concerns regarding our visitation policy during the holidays, please feel free to contact Jennifer at 845-331-1254 Monday- Friday between 8am and 2pm.
Thank you for your continuing cooperation and patience as we navigate through this pandemic and we would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving!

We are currently working on a cold weather visitation option and will be sending an update soon.

November 2020
Dear Friends and Family,

The holiday season is approaching and Mountain Valley Manor (MVM) would like to review our policy for residents this season. With concerns for COVID-19 we are being advised by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) as well as local medical practitioners to discourage our residents from leaving MVM to spend the holidays with their families.
We understand that this is less than an ideal situation for both our residents and our families. If you still wish to take your loved one home for the holidays we will have to follow the following policy.
Residents who are to be taken out of MVM will have to have a request made no less than 7 days in advance. We will not accept any late requests.
A digital document will be sent to the family contact for completion no less than 7 days prior to the events. Failure to complete this document will result in MVM refusing to allow the resident to leave the facility.
Residents must be picked up by the previously scheduled family member at the pre-approved time. We will only honor a 15 minute window for pick up to allow for traffic or other circumstances. The family member scheduled will arrive at MVM, call to state they have arrived and will remain in their car until a staff person comes to greet them. At this point the driver must be masked. The family member’s temperature will be taken and logged.
Residents pick up times will be staggered as will drop off times. Residents will be required to be returned to MVM no later than 3:30pm.
Residents will be required to wear a mask during their out trip for the duration of their out trip with the exception of eating or drinking.
In accordance with Gov. Coumo’s recent executive orders, private social gatherings will be restricted to 10 persons maximum. Residents must be counted in those 10 persons and will not be allowed to leave MVM if the events will contain more persons then allowed.
Upon their return to MVM, residents will be escorted to their rooms to ready themselves for a shower. There will be no exceptions to this. After their shower, they will be placed in their rooms in isolation for up to 14 days.
On Monday November 30th, any residents in isolation will be swabbed for COVID-19. Residents will not be released from isolation until this swab is results as negative.
On Thursday Dec 3rd, MVM will contact the resident’s primary family contact to review if any persons attending the events have any symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and or have had a positive test for COVID-19 in the last 14 days.
Families may be required to provide all persons in attendance at any event’s names, addresses, phone numbers or other contact information in accordance with NYSDOH or local department of health requests.

This policy has been reviewed and put into practice in order to maintain resident, staff and family safety. We would like to allow our residents and families to celebrate the holidays together in person, however, the resident’s health is our priority at this time.

If you wish to make a request to bring your loved one home for the Thanksgiving Holiday, please contact Jennifer at 845-331-1254 Monday through Friday from 8am until 2pm no later than Thursday November 19, 2020.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

Happy Holidays!

Yours,




Salvatore DePoala Taber McNaughton