Merry Christmas Eve! 

Happy to report that Rosemary Heights Seniors Village continues to be free of COVID-19! Should the status of our community change in any respect, please know that we will immediately inform all residents and tenant’s families or primary contact.

Rosemary Heights has received lots of love and support from family, friends, and the community surrounding our facility. We thank you all for your efforts in providing presents, cards, treats, and well wishes to residents and staff during this holiday time.

Christmas in the Village:

The 12 Days of Christmas are wrapping up with Christmas Day just around the corner! We are happy to report, with the lovely snowfall we got the other day, our residents, tenants and staff will be enjoying a white Christmas after all here in South Surrey!!

 Christmas isn’t a season it’s a feeling!

The feeling of Christmas is stronger than ever this year at Rosemary Heights Seniors Village!  Through the generosity of an abundance of strangers including children, students and adults shows the Spirit of Christmas that exists in the Surrey/White Rock area.  We promise to make Christmas Day special for our resident’s despite this pandemic!   Rosemary Heights elves had the tremendous task of organizing and wrapping over 100 gifts kindly donated by our community of South Surrey/White Rock through London Drugs.  The elves from Recreation will be assisting with gift opening today & tomorrow.

We had a very special visit from a lady with a huge heart. Delores reached out to us in November asking if she would be allowed to write a letter of encouragement and well wishes for the coming year to all of our residents and tenants for Christmas. The past few weeks, Delores has been sending multiple letters to Rosemary Heights for us to deliver her heartwarming notes. We have been delivering these letters to our residents and tenants. 

As far as we are aware, there was no contact with our independent living or assisted living floors. At this time, Independent and assisted living residents are still able to attend to their essential needs, medical appointments but social visits are discouraged.  If you are selecting to take your loved one that lives in Assisted Living for Christmas dinner, we wish you an enjoyable time.   Please note this could all change should any residents or staff become symptomatic.

Please know that the care and safety of residents is our number one priority. We will always act swiftly and with purpose to keep everyone safe.  

We will continue to offer scheduled video calls for those families who live out of town or are unable to come in for any reason. Please connect with Jaylene Smillie in our recreation department by emailing jsmillie@retirementconcepts.com or by calling 778-545-5000 ext. 1007

For all long term care units 1^st & 2^nd floors, if you have an in person visit scheduled from now until Dec 27^th, these are now all cancelled and all group activities have been paused for 2^nd floor. We have already started booking in person visits from Dec 28^th on wards.

Also, please keep in mind that we will be limiting all zoom, skype, FaceTime calls on Dec 25^th to 15 minutes max to ensure we are able to get as many people as possible. Thank you for your understanding! 

Designated Visitor schedules will now be accepted in our designated meeting areas. There is no change in Mandate of number of visitors (one only) as per Health Authority – protocols remain as is:

• Each tenant and/or resident will be allotted one assigned family member for their visitations.  
• Our priority is protecting the residents/tenants. Family/social visits are limited to a maximum of one designated family member or friend at a time (we are not permitted to have alternative visitors per the Provincial Health Officers).
• Please note that all visitors are now required to wear a medical mask when coming to Rosemary Heights and/or to visit their loved one. Cloth masks are no longer acceptable.  
• To request  visit times/dates email this address  rhsv-familyvisits@retirementconcepts.com  for visitation.  Please include your name, contact telephone number, and name of resident your email.  Allow 48-72 hours for reply. Keep in mind that we will initially hold monthly visits only in order to accommodate everyone and it will be first come first serve.  
• Please arrive a maximum of 5 minutes before visitation appointment to complete pre-screening requirements
• All visits will be held indoors now that the Fall/Winter weather may be unpredictable.
• Visits will be 30 minutes and will not be able to accommodate extended times. Please adhere to social distancing and sanitization protocol at all times. * No food or drink are permitted during these visits*. 
• AND PLEASE NOTE: Should the community have any type of outbreak, visits will cease immediately

Communication

As a result of the one confirmed case of COVID-19, we will provide families with a daily email update that will also be posted under COVID 19 updates on our Corporate website. Should the condition of any resident change, their family will be notified by phone immediately.   

Protocols 

We are following protocols established by the Health Authority, the Office of the Provincial Health Officer and BC Center for Disease Control. 

We will continue to act upon their latest advice, and will adapt our operations as necessary and recommended.  

Deliveries

**Holiday Deliveries**

**We will happily deliver any of your loved one’s holiday deliveries every day (except Sundays) including Dec 24^th   and Dec 25th between 10a- 2pm, and Dec 26^th   from 1-3pm and closed Sunday Dec 27^th **

All deliveries will be received at the lobby entrance vestibule. This includes medication deliveries from pharmacies, other gifts and mail. All items will be sanitized and delivered directly to the residents’ suite.

1. Please use plastic bags, not reusable bags;
2. Please label all bags with the resident’s name and suite number;
3. In consideration of staff-to-resident priorities as well as infection control, please try to limit drop offs to essential items; and.
4. If possible, please sanitize the items before dropping off. We will re-sanitize as well to be safe.

Please try not drop off items after hours, we do not have staff to be able to accept it and may be left outside until the designated time listed, if you do, you will be taking your chances & we will not be responsible for anything that is left after hours.

Acknowledgements

We want to thank everyone for their cooperation and patience during these ever-changing circumstances. We can’t thank you all enough. This year has been hard, and this year’s struggles will undoubtedly carry into the next year, but we can all agree that we’ve remained steadfast and strong, and that our love, our companionship, and our support for one another have tripled. We sincerely wish you all a safe and healthy Christmas and Holiday Season! Best Wishes in 2021!

To this outstanding team that I am blessed to be a part of- I can’t but help but feel a huge sense of pride & emotion when I talk about this team.  Thank you to all of our Front Line Team members for being part of our team at RHSV and serving our residents with pride & dignity in these trying & difficult times. Your efforts do not go unnoticed-we love you all and appreciate what you do beyond belief.  Thank you so much for your unwavering commitment, hard work and support during these past 9 months.  Your humility, kindness, and strength are greatly appreciated.  Thank you for being Rosemary Heights guiding light in the face of this adversity.- Much love & respect, Maggie  

Wishing you a wonderful warm and cozy holiday and very best wishes for health and happiness in the coming year.

With Love,

– Your team at Rosemary Heights Seniors Village (RHSV)