Our Blog
Heart to Home works hard to create an enriching activity program. Our blog captures the essence of day-to-day activities and happenings at our residential care homes. You will notice a larger emphasis on outdoor activities during the summer months and more in-house events (music therapy, pet therapy etc.) during the winter months. Given our smaller size you will also notice that our staff have frequent times where they can enjoy one-on-one activities with our residents.
Resident Outing and Visit Guidelines
The Minnesota Department of Health has released new guidance for fully vaccinated residents living in congregate care settings.
Residents Leaving The Homes for Outings:
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Effective immediately, fully vaccinated residents, defined by 14 days past second dose of Moderna/Pfizer vaccine or 14 days past single dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine, are now able to leave the homes for both medical and non medical outings without requiring a 14 day quarantine period upon return unless high risk behavior or an exposure has occurred during the outing. Please follow the core principles of infection control when taking your loved ones on an outing.
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Fully vaccinated residents are able to complete outings with family/friends regardless of that person's vaccination status.
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Please call to notify the staff directly at your loved one's home if you plan to complete an outing for coordination purposes.
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All resident exposures to COVID-19 during an outing must be reported to Heart to Home nursing or management when that exposure becomes known.
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Upon return from an outing, the Resident Screening and Check-In form must be completed prior to the resident re-entering the home. These forms will be kept at the front door screen-in station. See attached form.
Indoor and Outdoor Visit Changes:
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Beginning Monday, March 29, 2021 visits will no longer need to be scheduled through the Calendly links. Visitors can visit when they choose without scheduling, with the exception of during meal times. Currently scheduled visits up until Monday, March 29th will continue.
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All visitors must be screened at the front door upon arrival. Note that staff may be caring for a resident at the time of your arrival and there may be delay on when they can answer the door.
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Masks are required at all times during both indoor and outdoor visits. Eyewear is now optional and will still be made available at the screen-in station for your use if you choose.
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Outdoor visits are preferred whenever possible.
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All residents can have up to 3 visitors indoors at one time to be able to maintain social distancing within the resident room.
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Visiting groups of more than 3 people must only visit outdoors. Screening, masks, and social distancing are still required for outdoor visits.
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All indoor visits must take place in the resident's room with the door closed. Visitors, including children, must go directly to the resident's room, must be in the resident room at all times during the visit, and leave directly from the resident's room after the visit. Visitors are not to be in the common areas at any point in time, these are spaces for all residents to use and increase the risk of exposures to all residents. Visitors must not be at the dining tables during meals but should wait in the resident room until meal time is completed.
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Indoor and outdoor visitors must not eat or drink during the visit to maintain mask use at all times.
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Please review the highlighted changes on the attached Visitor Screening form to prepare for your visit.
A Note About Exposures and Testing:
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We will continue to follow MDH guidance for routine COVID-19 testing and continue testing for symptomatic residents and/or staff.
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If there is a COVID-19 exposure by either confirmed positive resident or staff member, we will be required to suspend visitation and non medically necessary outings until we know if there has been further spread or exposures through Outbreak Testing. We will continue to keep you informed of positive staff and residents as we know when they occur.
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Check the Heart to Home website for the most up to date information on suspension of visits and outings.
COVID-19 Indoor Visitation Open
COVID-19 Indoor Visitation Closed
Due to increased COVID case positivity rates in our community (greater than 10%) we are currently CLOSED to indoor visitation per the Minnesota Department of Health. However we can still continue window visits, phone calls, video calls and compassionate care visits when appropriate. Thank you for understanding!
Read MoreCOVID-19 Indoor Visit Policy
State Fair @ Heart to Home!
If you live in Minnesota you understand the importance of the annual Great Minnesota Get Together - The Minnesota State Fair. Since this years fair was cancelled due to COVID-19 we decided to have our own State Fair Themed day here at Heart to Home. Our fun day included the Minnesota State Fair food box complete with Sweet Martha's cookies, corn on the cob, corn dogs / pronto pups, etc. We also setup 1:1 activities (following all COVID-19 precautions) where our residents could win fun fair themed prizes. The smiles were priceless!
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#H2HStrong #Essential2020
If you see one of our amazing team members out in the community make sure to give them a big "shout out"! We are lucky to have some remarkable hero's working at Heart to Home ensuring our residents are well cared for, safe, and loved. Despite the on-going visitor restrictions and lock-downs due to COVID-19 we have been able to enjoy the outdoors and some fun window visitors (see Secondhand Hounds pics). We are hopeful and look forward to brighter days ahead!
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Yoga and Charity Projects
Happy New Year! To kick off the new year we worked on some fun charity projects with the residents and staff. The first project we worked on was for Open Arms of Minnesota. We helped decorate bags that will be used for Open Arms to deliver meals around the Twin Cities. Open Arms of Minnesota is a nonprofit that cooks and delivers free, nutritious meals to people living with life-threatening illnesses in the Twin Cities. Learn more @ https://www.openarmsmn.org/
Aside from our volunteer project we also began bringing in Chair Yoga to our homes a few times per month. This should be a fun opportunity for our residents (and staff) to stay active, mobile and flexible. The benefits of Yoga are many so it should be fun to see how it benefits our residents' overall well-being.
Here are a few photos from activities at our homes this month... Enjoy!
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Secondhand Hounds Volunteers
We are so thankful to our Secondhand Hounds Volunteers! We are blessed to have these wonderful fur-friends visit our homes several times per month. The smiles on our residents' faces is second to none. The joy that animals bring to the homes is truly magical. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Learn more about these special friends @ https://secondhandhounds.org/
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Gardens & Homemade Ice Cream
We love to garden here at Heart to Home, and we love giving back to nature. Our residents love spending time outdoors, and to have beautiful gardens to enjoy is an important part of that experience. We have residents who tend to flower pots and enjoy watching fresh tomato's ripen on the vine. We also enjoy our critter visitors which include turkey, eagles, song-birds, butterflies and so much more. Part of our commitment to being "green" is being good stewards of our properties. The next time you visit one of our homes make sure to "stop and smell the roses"!!
Besides our love of gardening we also love ice cream! It is by far the most popular treat here at Heart to Home. Our residents love plain vanilla, and of course a DQ ice cream cake for those special birthday parties. So in honor of all things ice cream... we decided to make our own ice cream for a resident activity! Fun and Yum!!
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Rogers Lake Outing
We had a wonderful time at our Rogers Lake outing this summer. This year we really kicked it up a notch and had a hired musical performer, pizza party and ice cream truck all stop by to entertain our residents and their guests. The weather was perfect and the lake backdrop had everyone relaxed, smiling and enjoying life!
We also had a fun partnership with our local school district 197. Students came and helped plant flowers in our gardens and worked on arts and crafts. A fun time was had by all.
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