In these unprecedented times, most everyone in the United States has been affected by the Novel Coronavirus, or COVID-19, either directly or indirectly. This includes U.S. Army World War II Veteran and Carl Vinson VA Medical Center resident Meta Monteleon, our country’s oldest Army nurse Veteran at 105-years-old. Today, Monteleon used Facetime on her smart phone to call her 100-year-old sister, Virginia Dupree Phillips, also an Army nurse Veteran of World War II, who resides at a nursing home in Raleigh, N.C.

“It was wonderful talking to my sister—I’ve been wanting to get in touch with her for a long time,” said Monteleon. “I was born in 1914 and we’ve come a long way when it comes to keeping in touch with family.”

COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, forcing federal and state governments to take all necessary precautions recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to slow the contagion including avoidance of groups of people counting 10 or more, maintaining a 6-foot social distancing radius, closing schools, teleworking if possible, and enforcing curfews.

The Carl Vinson VA Medical Center located in Dublin, Ga. has been preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic since early March to protect its 136 Community Living Center (CLC) residents, domiciliary Veterans, and staff. The leadership team activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and began putting safety measures in place to protect its most susceptible population – Veterans living in the five CLC nursing home communities located throughout the facility. The tragic outbreak at a nursing home in Kirkland, Ore. where approximately 35 residents passed away to COVID-19 served as a tough, but teachable lesson.

“We have been entrusted to care for America’s heroes at a time in their life when they are the most vulnerable to this new virus,” said Carl Vinson VAMC Director David L. Whitmer, FACHE. “Ensuring the safety of our Veterans and staff has meant new and stringent rules that prevent COVID-19 from entering our medical center. But we must strive to keep families connected during this challenging time and using technology is one way for us to help our Veterans cope with isolation.”

Some of the safety measures to protect CLC Veterans include a temporary ban on outside visitors, temperature checks periodically throughout the day, and due to VA’s modernization investments, many single-bed rooms that provide both privacy and isolation. In the event a CLC resident starts to run a temperature, they are isolated from the rest of the community to mitigate the spread of possible contagion. Other safety measures include restricting access to the facility’s entrances at buildings 1 and 5, and the new mental health facility, screening staff daily by checking their temperature, asking a couple COVID-19 related questions, and then providing a sticker that must be always visible verifying the screen. Employees must use the hand sanitizer station prior to proceeding into the facility.

Environmental Management Services (EMS), responsible for cleanliness and sanitization of the entire facility totaling 4.2 miles of hallways including the five CLC communities, increased the level of services to CLCs ensuring residents’ safety. Housekeepers, armed with VIREX 256 and bleach-based Super-Sani-Cloths, scrub high-touch surfaces approximately every two hours to kill germs and bacteria along with carrying out their cleaning regimen. Housekeepers are specially trained to clean these critical areas and to identify areas where improvements can be made and implemented.

Since EMS devoted significant personnel resources to keeping CLCs as clean as possible, leadership consulted with Vocational Rehabilitation and Union leadership about enlisting willing domiciliary residents to the Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) program temporarily. More than 25 Veterans eagerly signed up for the program to assist EMS in housekeeping duties in less critical areas of the facility and other duties as needed in line with their scope and skillsets. Providing domiciliary residents with an opportunity to work while continuing treatment boosts their morale, enhances their treatment, and provides leadership a supplemental workforce ready to help prevent COVID-19 from entering the facility.

“I think we’re lucky to be as safe as we are,” said Monteleon, a retired nurse with a half century of expertise in healthcare. “Having the ability to stay in touch with family during this time is wonderful and important.”

When it comes to safeguarding America’s national treasures and the staff charged with their healthcare and treatment, Dublin VAMC remains COVID-19 free by implementing best practices from agencies like CDC and learning from tragedies when the virus first presented. Once COVID-19 runs its course – and it will pass – Dublin VAMC looks forward returning to business as usual celebrating Veterans, like Meta Monteleon’s, birthday in August.