Oklahoma Nursing Homes Increase Sanitation Amid Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak

Oklahoma nursing homes and assisted living facilities said they're trying to keep their residents safe from the COVID-19 virus.

Some nursing homes are requiring extra cleaning and others decided to cancel visitation hours.

The Franciscan Villas in Broken Arrow are requiring people to stop at their sanitation station before entering their facility.

"As we were watching the news, we saw that this was not going to get any better and we take protecting our elders very seriously, so we decided to take a more assertive approach," said Kimberly Green, Chief Operating Officer of Diakonos Group.

Green said they own 20 assisted living facilities and nursing homes in Oklahoma. She said all 20 facilities have a new policy.

"Which includes lysoling your shoes. Sanitizing whatever you're bring in, wiping everything down, sanitizing your hands and then you have to wait five minutes for all of that to work," said Green.

While you wait during those five minutes, you'll also get your temperature taken. Anyone with a temperature above 100 degrees is not allowed to go inside.

"So, the healthy people are who is going to bring that to our door step so we have to prevent those healthy people from bring that to our doorstep. Not only did we implement our sanitation stations and visitation hours. We also have stopped vendors from entering the building," said Green.

Green also said they're checking the temperatures of all their employees before they enter the building.