P-J file photo by Jay Young

Heritage skilled nursing and rehabilitation communities in Chautauqua County said it will temporarily cease all admissions beginning next week in response to the New York state mandate that all nursing homes must regularly test its employees.

The announcement was made Friday by Jeremy Rutter, Heritage chief clinical officer. The temporary admission halt — which begins Tuesday — will affect The Village in Gerry, The Park in Jamestown and The Green in Greenhurst.

The mandate requires twice-weekly COVID-19 testing to all nursing home workers. No resident of a facility in Chautauqua County has tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Starting Tuesday, we will not be accepting admissions into our skilled nursing communities until we have sufficient test results indicating that our staffing will not be negatively impacted by our compliance with the executive order.” Rutter said.

Lisa Haglund, newly confirmed Heritage Ministries President and CEO, shared, “The health and safety of our staff and residents are of the utmost importance. As we have been directed to move into mandated testing for all employees by Governor Cuomo’s office, we needed to determine how we could comply with all regulations and prevent any impact to resident care. Our COVID-19 response team is committed to acting in the best interest of all staff and residents.”