General Update #13

Breakfast arrived at 8:30 a.m. Joyce ordered sausage links and cream of wheat for breakfast with tomato juice as a beverage. 

Joyce's blood sugar had been tested (prior to 8 a.m.) with a reading of 175. Insulin was administered by nurse at 8:34 a.m. Nurse checked to ensure if Joyce was feeling up to a shower later and Joyce responded in the affirmative. Joyce apparently told the day shift nurse (prior to Dusty's arrival at Gritman this morning) that she hasn't had to take her blood sugar readings before. Dusty corrected that information. 

Joyce finished one sausage link out of four on her plate, drank all of her tomato juice, and at all of her cream of wheat by 9 a.m. Dusty realized post-breakfast that Joyce was missing her upper denture as he watched her eating the sausage links and asked if she needed them. Dusty checked with nurse and it was approved that Joyce could have her dentures.

At ~9 a.m., nurse arrived to give Joyce the morning multivitamin, iron supplements, anti-inflammatory, blood pressure, laxative and pain medication. (Overlap with Dana's arrival so Dusty was unable to obtain all information exchanged between the nurse and Joyce, if any.)

At ~9 a.m., Joyce's case worker, Dana, arrived to visit about what plans for Joyce the family had determined. Dusty relayed that the 24-hour assisted care facility option was determined to be the best option for Joyce's recovery.

Dana confirmed that she had spoken with her contact, Jennifer, at the Aspen Park facility. Joyce does qualify for the COVID-19 1-day "in-patient" status Medicare waiver (so she would not have to remain at Gritman for 3 days as "in-patient status" before being transferred to Aspen Park) and so Joyce could be admitted under her Medicare benefits. Joyce's COVID-19 test (taken yesterday) would still have to come back negative as she could not be admitted until she is confirmed not to be infected with COVID-19. Dana indicated that there would also be a second COVID-19 test administered by Aspen Park as well, though not sure at this point on the timeline when that would occur.

Dana reached out to Carrie (sp?), her contact at Good Samaritan, about Joyce and is awaiting Carrie's response for confirmation on available nursing care confirmation. Dana hopes to hear back from Carrie later this morning.

Dana inquired as to the family's preference between the two facilities for Joyce. Dusty relayed that the family felt Good Samaritan was the better option as many friends and family have been through there recently (or are there currently).

Dana informed Dusty that care facilities are still following the current quarantine lock-down procedures for their community safety and would not be "open" for regular visiting until stage 4 reopening (June 13). This could potentially be longer as well if either care facility has individually developed guidelines that will be in place beyond the state's guide for reopening out of concerns for their populations. Their visiting rules may be significantly different than what Gritman is currently allowing, so Joyce's family should be prepared for that added stress. Working with a different patient, Dana recently received an update on Aspen Park's visiting guidelines and they have scheduled visiting hours for family to arrive and visit with loved ones using their outdoor space, socially distanced, for small windows of time. These are limited and the schedules for visits need to be followed, with personal protective equipment used at each session. As The Good Samaritan is the preferred facility for the family, if Carrie responds that they would have capability to host Joyce, Dana will have Carrie contact Dusty direct to provide them with current visiting rules and plans they have in place. 

At 9:15 a.m. a nurse's aide arrived to refill Joyce's water and chart her urine output.

The nurses' assistants arrived at 9:20 a.m. to see if Joyce could make a bathroom trip and then lie down for a while. Joyce indicated that she did not need to use the bathroom, as she had so recently gone. Nurses' assistants acquiesced and left Joyce in her chair but informed her that they would return later to see if she needed to go to the bathroom (Dusty believes their concern was the laxative would kick in unexpectedly). 

Joyce resumed napping in her chair following their departure.

Message(s) from Joyce:

None. 

Current location:

Gritman Medical Center, Room 226.

Current pain level:
5 out of 10.

Visiting information:

Confirmed with nurse's station shift leader at 9:30 a.m. - currently only 1 visitor per day for Joyce, no exceptions. Once current visitor departs Joyce's room, no further visits for the rest of the day. No swapping out visitors (example, Dusty cannot remain on hospital grounds while Craig goes to sit with Joyce for an hour and then Dusty returns to room).