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Hello families and friends,

It’s hard to believe that this will be our 6th week of precautionary measures at the Summerland Seniors Village. To say that I am proud and grateful to be part of such an incredible community is an understatement.

I want to continue my thanks to each one of you for your continued trust and faith in our teams to continue keeping each of your loved ones safe, healthy and happy. As it has been some time, we can see a real positive shift in their demeanors, they have become more settled and relaxed with their new normal. They are all in new routines and have all adjusted as well as can be expected.

I am always in awe of our team’s commitment and genuine love and compassion for all they care for or get to interact with, it’s such a beautiful thing to watch and I look forward to the day we can celebrate everyone in one location with a giant part.

Our recreation team are still doing one to one’s wherever possible, doing their best to make sure that all our LTC clients are having daily interactions and emotional needs being met. From the feedback I have received, the face time and skype visits are a hit, we will continue these barring any unforeseen issues or staffing challenges.

For our Assisted Living and Independent Living clients, our bistro coffee bar continues to be closed but they can come down and grab a coffee, tea or hot chocolate, there are also pre-wrapped individual snacks available twice daily and I am happy to report are being eaten.   If you have any concerns of loneliness/depression that your loved ones are sharing with you and may not be not sharing with us, please do not hesitate to reach out.

BC Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie has implemented a virtual friendly visit initiative that all our seniors can participate in. Any resident in our care home can call 2-1-1 between the hours of 0800-1900 daily and they will be able to register to receive a virtual “friendly visit”. 2-1-1 is active throughout BC and a staff or family member could call on a resident’s behalf. All that is required is for the resident to have a personal phone number.

 

Once they register with 2-1-1, the resident will be referred to the COVID19 hub community agency that is nearest to you and the resident will be matched with a volunteer, who will call them up and have a chat. This program is funded by the government but it is delivered by the United Way Better at Home program and all volunteers are screened through the provincial criminal record review for those working or volunteering with vulnerable adults or children.

Deliveries of essential goods for our LTC/AL/IL clients can be dropped off outside of main entry door please be sure to have in a sealed labeled bag. We will be able to sanitize and deliver Monday-Friday 8AM to 4 PM only. We cannot accept homemade food, beverages or clothing for any of our LTC clients at this time.

There have been inquires of window visits as the weather warms up, at this time we are following the recommendations that this does not happen, and we will not be able to facilitate at this time.  If we encourage those loved ones to come here for a window visit then we are going against the directive of you all staying at home. The more we comply with that directive the quicker this will be over. We will continue with the recreation door visits as long as we are able again, barring any unforeseen issues.  Please leave a message on the Recreation phone line to schedule these meetings at 250-404-4311.

In closing, I would like to celebrate that our community remains COVID free, our entire team has worked tirelessly and will continue to work to do so. Your loved one’s safety is our number one priority, we are committed to getting through these uncertain times with dignity, respect and love.

Stay safe, stay healthy, together we can stop this virus.

Sincerely,

Christy Baker, GM Summerland Seniors Village