Limestone Health Facility found itself among the hardest hit by the pandemic earlier this year, but officials are relieved to finally be on the other side of that spike, reporting only two cases among employees and residents as of Monday — a sharp decrease from the nearly 100 reported just five weeks ago.

Wade Menefee, director of nursing at LHF, attributed the decrease to the facility’s dedication to following state health guidelines. Staff wore full protective gear when working with patients, patients wore cloth face masks while receiving care and those who tested positive for COVID-19 were placed in a wing separate from the rest of the facility.

That unit has all but been shut down, as only one resident remained positive for the disease. Menefee said the other confirmed case is a contract employee.

They’ve also been able to reopen admissions. LHF serves as a short-term rehabilitation and long-term care facility, serving patients who are recuperating after a fall or surgery as well as patients needing extended care due to dementia or other disorders.

When hospitals stopped performing elective surgeries during the pandemic, fewer patients were being admitted for short-term rehab. At the height of the outbreak in LHF, the facility put a temporary halt on admissions of any kind, Menefee said, so “we could put our focus on the patients we have here.”

They were fortunate to have also planned ahead, as best a facility can, for just such a situation. Additional PPE was ordered when the pandemic first started causing concern, so LHF didn’t face the same shortage worries that other facilities experienced.

“I know a lot of facilities have struggled with that, not having access to the PPE that they need,” he said. “I think that was one good thing we did on the front end of this, was prepare as much as one can prepare for this.”

Having well-trained staff also helped. Some disorders affect a resident’s approach to hygiene, from their understanding of why masks are important to whether they can wash their own hands or cover a sneeze or cough.

Furthermore, what works for one patient may not work for another and rarely works for all. Menefee praised the staff at LHF for finding what works best for each resident to ensure all residents and employees remain as safe as possible during the pandemic.

“That’s where the staff’s training comes into place,” he said. “… Obviously, we can’t tie the mask onto them. We just have to redirect and keep reapproaching. Try to keep them socially distant.”

He stressed that no facility could fully prepare for a global pandemic, and many facilities are getting a bad rep for something they just couldn’t avoid.

“You do everything you can, you follow the guidance you’re given from local, state and national leaders, and you absolutely give it your best and take care of the patients you have,” Menefee said.

When Menefee last spoke to The News Courier, he said nothing he’s dealt with in his health care career has come even remotely close to going through a pandemic.

“To go from a room full of people surrounding a patient to ‘we only allow two people at a time to prevent transmission,’ it’s very different,” he said in July, at the height of the LHF outbreak. “I think most health care people will tell you right now that dealing with this is something that we’ve never dealt with before.”

Now, seemingly on the other side, he said they “kind of went through war for a bit” but are grateful to be gradually reopening and welcoming new residents for the same skilled care and treatment that got the facility through one of the biggest battles it’s ever faced.

“We are still the same locally owned and operated, skilled facility that we’ve always been,” he said. “That is one big thing that separates us from a lot of facilities in the state.”

Visit limestonehf.com or call 256-232-3461 to learn more about LHF and the services available.