Local nursing home institutes “soft lockdown”

The Communities of Wildwood Ranch, a retirement and assisted living facility at 3220 S. John Duffy Drive in Joplin, has voluntarily instituted new procedures to make sure elderly patients and those with compromised immune systems are kept safe.

Acting on the advise of the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services,  Wildwood is taking voluntary, pro-active steps to deal with the potential threat of COVID-19, according to Director of Community Development, Mandy Kinsley:

“As a corporation, we decided to put our facilities on what I would consider to be a soft lockdown – so that anyone who is non-essential to the patient’s care . . . we are restricting their visiting time at this point,” Kinsley said.

Kinsley says visitors and non-essential vendors are requested to not enter the facility at this time.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Joplin Health Department says no cases of coronavirus have been reported in the Joplin area.