Dear Friends of Agrace,
One very long year ago, we were hopeful COVID-19 would be contained in just a few weeks. Looking back, I can promise you Agrace has done everything possible to continue to care for our patients and clients safely. And now, better days are coming.
Most of our staff have received a COVID-19 vaccine. We also vaccinated many of our volunteers early on. Our clinicians are still routinely tested for COVID and use protective gear when visiting patients and clients, because we do not yet know whether people who are vaccinated can pass the virus to others.
So many folks at Agrace deserve praise for their efforts over the past year, especially our Infection Prevention and Supply Management teams, and those who led our coronavirus response and staffed our vaccination clinics. Working under such uncertainty and stress, they have been resourceful, patient and very effective.
In December, Agrace underwent a required tri-annual state review of our practices and facilities, and the result was a deficiency-free survey! We are very serious about providing quality care everywhere and having clean, safe buildings for our patients, visitors and staff. In fact, throughout the pandemic, we have allowed visitors into our inpatient units, as long as they follow safety precautions. Seeing loved ones is often essential to a hospice patient’s quality of life, so we have let families come and say goodbye while so many hospitals aren’t able to have any visitors.
Serving the community is our mission. Toward that end, in February we were able to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to local senior center members and Hmong elders. Our staff has also donated to and volunteered time with Second Harvest Foodbank, because food insecurity is a risk for some Agrace patients.
Through all of the trials of this past year, donors like you have been very generous to Agrace when we most needed extra funds to meet these challenges. I thank you most sincerely and wish you the best of health in 2021.
Lynne Sexten
President & CEO