COVID-19 surveillance testing reveals new case at Wichita PMMA

One essential health care worker has tested positive for COVID-19 in employee surveillance testing February 22 at Wichita Presbyterian Manor.

The employee, who last worked February 21 in memory care, tested negative during surveillance testing last week. The employee passed pre-shift screening and wore personal protective equipment as required. All other employee tests were negative for the virus.

The Sedgwick County Health Department and Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) Epidemiology Hotline have been notified. Employee surveillance testing will continue March 1. The campus is currently testing employees once a week with Sedgwick County’s positivity rate below 10-percent for COVID-19 testing.

Residents in memory care will be tested for COVID-19 March 1 as a precaution.

Our focus remains on ensuring the well-being of our residents and employees. We continue to follow all guidance related to patient care, employee safety, and efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19, as provided by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We are working closely with Jeanne Gerstenkorn, PMMA’s infection preventionist and vice president for health and wellness, in implementing our Emergent Infectious Disease (EID) Outbreak Management Plan.  

All residents and employees are encouraged to follow CDC guidelines and best practices as these are continually updated. The community regularly reinforces with all staff that an employee should not report to work if he or she is experiencing symptoms of a respiratory illness or not feeling well.

As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, it should play an instrumental role in eventually moving toward resuming our normal operations. Every person who receives the vaccine will strengthen the protection for all residents, staff and the community at-large. As the vaccine becomes more widely available, PMMA strongly encourages our families, employees and residents to carefully consider obtaining a vaccine for themselves as well as their loved ones.

For more information about Wichita Presbyterian Manor’s response, go to PMMA’s (Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America’s) website, presbyterianmanors.org/media-room.

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