March 13, 2020
Dear Jaywalker Family and Community,
At Jaywalker, we take our responsibility to the safety of our clients and our community seriously. For the past few weeks, we have been closely monitoring the spread of COVID-19 throughout the United States, following guidance from the CDC and local health authorities, and consulting with community health experts to ensure we have the right plans and resources in place to safeguard the health and wellbeing of all the people we serve.
Nothing is more important. Over the past two weeks, we have taken the following actions:
- Instituted a screening process for admissions and outside visitors that includes questions about recent fevers, overseas travel, and family members’ risks to reduce the possibility of introduction of the virus into the treatment environment. Anyone deemed a possible risk to our clients or staff will not be admitted to our facilities.
- We will be offering our family therapy component remotely via computer so that families do not have to travel to our site for the family program or their individual family counselor session.
- Working with the program directors, we are implementing new guidelines and protocols that call for limiting or suspending group activities and interaction within our local community. These include:
- Recreational and fitness remain a vital part of the Jaywalker experience. However, we are shifting our current activities (CrossFit, Yoga, Rec Center, Martial Arts, Skiing) to pursuits that have a lower risk of exposure (i.e. hiking, biking, in-house fitness and yoga classes, golf, fly fishing, etc.)
- Clients will not be attending outside 12 Step meetings (i.e. AA, NA, MIR, YRC) and Jaywalker will provide both AA and NA meetings to clients and staff in our facility.
- We are suspending until further notice sign-outs and all community meetings at Jaywalker Lodge. This includes the Wednesday night Alumni Dinner & Meeting and the Friday Night SpeakerMeeting.
- We will provide on a limited basis a dedicated space and protocols for clients to meet with sponsors and family members who may be visiting.
- Restrict access to each of our buildings only to visitors that have been pre- screened/pre-approved.
- In conjunction with the Garfield County Public Health Department, there is a process in place to screen any Jaywalker client or staff member who has come in contact with an infected individual or exhibits symptoms of COVID-19 and provide quick access to testing for the virus.
- The clinical and operations teams, working with local health authorities have finalized the protocols that will go into effect in the event we have a resident or staff member who’s been exposed or in recent contact with an infected individual, or a client or staff member who has symptoms of the illness, or is positive for COVID-19. We will continue to update and assess each program’s preparedness for implementing voluntary isolation of clients as necessary, and our ability to respond to a mandatory quarantine order.
With the COVID-19 situation evolving quickly, we believe we must act decisively in order to minimize risk for the Jaywalker community and do our part to slow the spread of this outbreak across the local community. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to assess our protocols and future events as the situation evolves, always putting health and safety first.
Thank you for your support and commitment as we respond to this evolving situation together.
Bill Anuszewski
CEO, Jaywalker Lodge
