Photo By G. Anthonie Riis | In an attempt to adhere to HPCON Charlie and CDC guidelines, Knox Hills has changed...... read more read more
Knox Hills is committed to maintaining the same level of service to all its Fort Knox residents despite the COVID -19 pandemic, though that service may look different.
According to Knox Hills Project Director John Bredehoeft, maintenance crews must now balance customer service with current Health Protection Condition CHARLIE guidelines as well as a company policy to adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strategies.
“We’ve sent educational materials to customers that lines up with CDC regulations and describes what our operations will look like, what they can expect, and how they can continue to work with us,” said Bredehoeft. “This is their home and we will continue to serve them, but the current HPCON [dictates] that we must suspend some routine services and postpone some of our minor work orders.”
Bredehoeft said the changes have led to innovation in an attempt to both facilitate customer needs and to keep their own workloads manageable.
“We’re looking to support families in whatever way we can. If that means getting creative in how we serve certain work orders, we’ll try it,” Bredehoeft said. “We’ve basically started a process where we drop items off which lets the family take care of it without having to enter the home during [social distancing].”
Emergencies or major work orders make for bigger changes.
“We want social distancing to protect both the family and our workers, but if it’s an emergency or urgent work order, we need to get in there to provide that service to the family,” said Bredehoeft. “We’ve built up additional safety protocols, [which could require] our technicians to don protective suits, filtered respirators, face shields and gloves. [Our workers] would also practice social distancing by asking the family to stay in another part of the house while the crew worked.”
He said there are also processes in place for those who might be ill and moving out of their homes.
“We would actually wait 14 days after the move out of any [sick] family before starting our maintenance activities,” said Bredehoeft. “It’s almost a second round of quarantining the house to ensure any hint of the virus has died out, and we’d do a whole series of cleaning in addition to our regular maintenance before we would reoccupy the home.”
Bredehoeft said communal areas may be just as hazardous and, as such, are currently prohibited to residents.
“In accordance with recommendations from the CDC and local health authorities, all public community spaces, including any Knox Hills playground, dog parks, tennis court, basketball court or athletic fields are closed until further notice,” he said.
Fort Knox Garrison Commander Col. CJ King agreed with the move to close these areas and said that he felt the closure of the post's playgrounds and sports areas was also warranted given the increased HPCON measures.
"Naturally, people are seeking out recreational opportunities during this time of decreased social freedom. While most people have been respecting proper social distancing measures at our playgrounds; soccer, football, and baseball fields; and basketball courts, that hasn't always been the case," said King. "In an effort to help flatten the curve and in keeping with current HPCON CHARLIE guidance, we felt it was yet another prudent measure we needed to take to help prevent the spread of the virus."
King asked that residents abide by the guidelines and warned that DES will be on the lookout for those not obeying the rules.
"While we're currently not planning to dedicate law enforcement patrols to enforcing these closures, I have asked DES to engage violators during the course of routine patrolling,” said King. “To be clear, there is an expectation the public will fully comply with this effort and parents will ensure their children, who understandably need exercise and activity, stay away from these spaces for their own protection."
| Date Taken: | 03.31.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 03.31.2020 17:36 |
| Story ID: | 366278 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 243 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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