Help us help vets with an individual contribution in your community. The best way to impact the vets around you is with hands-on assistance through your business, a veteran service organization, and in your community. You can also help our emergency aid initiative with a donation to the Military Family Assistance Fund.
LDVA TO BEGIN INITIAL OUTDOOR IN-PERSON VISITATION PROGRAM ON TUESDAY, SEPT. 22 AT FOUR VETERANS HOMES
BATON ROUGE, La.—Under the direction of Governor John Bel Edwards, the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs will begin conducting an initial outdoor in-person visitation program on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at four of its veterans homes following new guidance from the CDC and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The homes included in the initial visitation program are the Northeast Louisiana Veterans Home in Monroe, the Northwest Louisiana Veterans Home in Bossier City, the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Home in Reserve and the Southwest Louisiana Veterans Home in Jennings. LDVA will conduct the program at facilities which are 14 days past the most recent resident or staff COVID-positive test result. This outdoor visitation program will be conducted for at least 28 days.
“I am so pleased to be able to offer this outdoor in-person visitation to our residents’ families beginning next week,” LDVA Secretary Joey Strickland said. “We will continue to follow the guidance of our federal and state partners as we move forward through this pandemic in terms of other visitation options. We greatly appreciate the support that our residents’ families and the local communities have shown us during these unprecedented times.”
All visitation will be outdoors in an area that allows for social distancing and no visitors will be allowed to enter the building. Visitors will be screened, including a temperature check, as well as asked to use hand sanitizer and wear a facemask covering for the duration of the visit. Children under 14 may not visit at this time. Anyone who does not pass the screening criteria will not be allowed to visit a resident at that time. Visitation will be conducted Monday through Friday from 9-11 a.m. and 1-4 p.m. Family members will need to contact the individual homes to schedule their appointment for visitation prior to making plans to go to the facility.
Per CDC and CMS guidance, these outdoor in-person visits may and will be stopped by the facility at any time at which a new resident or staff COVID-positive test result is received which originated within the facility. We will continue to test our residents and staff weekly following current medical protocols from our public health authorities.
For more information about LDVA, visit vetaffairs.la.gov, email veteran@la.gov, call 225.219.5000 or follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
###
