May 26, 2021 – Letter to Parents & Guardians about Bridgewell Residential & Day Programs

May 26, 2021

Dear Families and Guardians,

The State of Massachusetts is reopening and lifting more and more of its COVID restrictions as people continue to become vaccinated. With the reopening, many of you have been questioning what this means for people who live in our residential programs and attend our day programs.

Bridgewell-operated day programs continue to follow the guidance issued by EOHHS and MassHealth. Restrictions remain in place for six feet of social distancing at all times, mask wearing, as well as cleaning and screening protocols. We are not yet aware of any changes with transportation.

With that said, we want to open our day programs to all of our people who reside in our residential programs as soon as possible. In addition to the social distancing requirements and the uncertainty with transportation services, the major hurdle we face is the inability to hire staff to work at our day program sites. As we hire, we will bring back residential programs one at a time. We have begun to work on transition plans for people in our residential programs so they are ready to return safely to our residences when we have sufficient staff on board. Your Residential Manager will notify you of the return date once it is established.

For people in our residential programs who do not attend Bridgewell-operated day services, we have made contact with the current day program providers and are actively working on establishing a return date for people individually.

In our residences, COVID restrictions remain in place in alignment with Governor Baker’s reopening plan. These restrictions include mask wearing by staff and visitors as well as cleaning and screening protocols.

Bridgewell’s goal is to start bringing people who live in our residences back to day programs over the next three months. Staffing challenges have made this difficult and we continue to work closely with our Human Resources Department in their recruitment efforts.

Thank you for your patience; we will continue to update you over the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Christopher Tuttle

President and CEO