Hello Everyone!

Welcome to our latest updates at Kamloops Seniors Village! Where did the Month of May Go? It just flew by with the snap of a finger! We hope you all had a fantastic Victoria Day Weekend! The sun was shining for most of the weekend here with some intermittent rain showers which we desperately need!

With current Covid 19 numbers & risk of new variants, restrictions will remain in effect for our tenants, residents and families.  We will be continuing to follow the direction of our provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry. Current BC Provincial Medical Health Orders can be found here and provincial travel restrictions can be found here. Current Medical Health Orders have Travel restrictions for non-essential travel in B.C. in place to stop the spread of COVID-19 through JUNE 15, 2021.

Current Events: Recreation & Dining Programs

Our KSV Gardening Clubs have continued this week planting patio planters and starting to plant their vegetable gardens. We also just received our butterfly larvae kits where tenants and residents get to watch the progress of caterpillars growing, cocooning and flourishing into Butterflies that we will release at the end of next month, so stay tuned!

Our Seasonal Outdoor Live Entertainment commenced last week with Strange Brew entertaining our Independent-Assisted Living tenants on the Dining Room Patio. This week our Complex Care Residents will be enjoying the music stylings of Gary Mockford outside in the Complex Care Indoor Courtyard.

This week is jam packed with other events as well. On Friday, May 28, our tenants will enjoy a Fundraiser Breakfast cooked by the leadership team with delicious pancakes and sausages with proceeds going to the Alzheimer’s & MS Societies. On Friday, May 28^th & Sunday, May 30^th respectively, the KSV community will be participating in the annual Alzheimer & MS Walks with tenants & residents walking the KSV Loop around the building. Next week, tenants and residents will be enjoying a parade from the Vintage Car Club (weather permitting), enjoying all the fancy classic cars.

Save the Date! We are planning to kick off summer in style with a neighbourhood Charity Drive-Thru BBQ at the end June with 100% proceeds going to charity! The BBQ will be held in our Main Parking Lot! More details to follow in the coming weeks!

We are continuing to provide scheduled virtual visits for residents & tenants. Please reach out to Erica, our Recreation Manager, by e-mail at ebuckingham@retirementconcepts.com or call 250.571-2958 to set up a time via Skype or FaceTime. We will be happy to confirm a date and time to connect you with your loved-one.

INDEPENDENT-ASSISTED LIVING COVID VACCINATION UPDATE

 We are happy to report that we have received a tentative date for the COVID-19 Vaccine second dose of our Independent-Assisted Living tenants. It will be on Monday, June 7, 2021 pending any changes from Interior Health. We will update families and tenants if there are any changes.

CODE GREEN-EVACUATION DRILL

It’s that time of year with the threat of Wildfire Season is looming in the BC Interior. In the event of a full building evacuation, we need to be prepared. Therefore we practice annually with a Code Green-Evacuation Drill so our tenants and staff can be prepared in the event of a real emergency.

We completed the annual drill yesterday, Wednesday, May 26, where we had tenants go through the motions of packing an overnight bag with their essential items they need and had staff on the Complex Care side do the same for residents, reviewing their responsibilities and the evacuation process. It was a great learning process for everyone and we celebrated with Ice Cream.

In the event we ever have to evacuate the building, we will evacuate on the ‘Evacuation Alert’ and utilize local transportation resources to our designated evacuation centre through partnerships with the City of Kamloops and fellow Retirement Communities in town.

CURRENT VISITATION GUIDELINES

Here is a summary of the “In Building” social visitation guidelines as of April 1, 2021:

• All residents will be allowed regular, frequent, and routine opportunities for social visitation
• Visitations have been expanded to offer 60 minutes (but they still must be booked in advance)
• Number of visits per day to the community will be designed to continue to meet operational health and safety requirements in keeping with the sanitization and screening guidelines.
• Additional family and friends can now visit through appointments booked in advance for in building social visits.
• The number of visitors has been expanded, allowing up to two visitors, plus a child (defined as 18 or younger) at any one time;
• Visits will be supported in the resident’s room, a designated visiting space, or on outings with no requirement for isolation afterwards. On outings, residents will be offered a mask before exiting
• Visitors will be asked only to visit with one resident at a time, and to limit their group activities.
• Physical contact—including hugging—will be allowed, provided visitors wear a mask and follow proper infection control procedures (e.g. hand hygiene and cough etiquette)

• Social visitation will be suspended during outbreaks and enhanced monitoring periods
• Essential and compassionate visitation remains in place and any resident who requires this is supported
• Should any family member not adhere to the safety parameters that we have in place, they will be asked to leave.

We ask families and residents to keep in mind the following requirements:

DO’s

• Pre-Book your “In Building” social visits. Social visitation still requires advanced booking
• All visitors will continue to be screened upon arrival for signs of illness. If there are any concerns in regards to COVID-19 symptoms the visitor may not be permitted.
• Wear Medical Grade Masks & practice frequent hand hygiene. A new mask and hand sanitizer will be provided at the entrance and visitors must don a mask and perform hand hygiene.
• Sanitize your hands, belongings, and gathering spaces frequently. Strict adherence to Infection Prevention & Control practices are essential.
• Keep your mask on at all times while in the building throughout the entirety of their visit and are asked to frequently perform hand hygiene
• Recommend to follow current Medical Health and Emergency Plan Orders. Stay in your home community as Medical Health Order states to limit travel for medical and essential travel only
• Limit your visits to one care home per day to ensure limited cross contamination
• Arrive no earlier than 5 minutes prior to your “in building” visit due to the higher amounts of people in our building
• Wait for an Escort. Escorts to and from visits are still required. If you would like to leave prior to the end of your 60 minute visit we will provide you with contact information upon arrival to connect with the screeners to ensure you have an escort out of the building.
• Take Your loved one out for SOCIAL OUTINGS on our KSV Grounds for example if you are unable to make an ‘in building’ social visit
• Please let us know if you need to cancel or change your in house/in building visit to an outing instead as we do have a waitlist

DON’T’s

• Please don’t come if you’re not feeling well. Visitors are asked to stay home if they are feeling unwell.
• Visitors, DO NOT Remove your mask at any point during your visit.
• Visitors cannot partake in any food or drink as masks must remain on at all times, however you can still bring a treat for your loved one to enjoy.
• Visits will not be permitted in common spaces such as the dining room, Bistro, on the back deck or in any other common resident spaces.
• Please don’t book an “In Building” Social Visit for outings

SOCIAL OUTINGS:

• For those on Complex Care, if you would like to take your loved one out of the building we request:
  • A minimum of 2 hours’ notice to ensure that your loved one is set up for success for their outing. A Pre-Booked Social Visit appointment through Carollyn is not required for an outing
  • Please contact the nurse on your loved one’s floor to arrange the outing.
• For those on Independent-Assisted Living – remember tenants will need sign out prior to leaving for their outing and for extended visits, inform the AL team in the event they need medications

WINDOW VISITS

With the warming weather, Window Visits are a great alternative for larger family visits. Window Visits are continuing with the same following guidelines:

1. Please plan visits with a limit of up to 6 people (Window Visits only)
2. No open windows, please use telephones
3. For all residents in Complex Care, window visits can still be safely scheduled and supported through the care staff.
4. Contact your loved one’s nurse to facilitate the window visit.

“In Building” Social Visitation Scheduling Reminders:

• The May 2021 & June 2021 Visitation Schedules are underway. “In Building” Social Visits can still be scheduled every 7-10 days depending on availability within our visitation hours.
• Email is the preferred method for these reservations. Please submit visitor requests to Carollyn Anderson at canderson@retirementconcepts.com
• We must know 48 hours prior to the scheduled visit, the names of all persons who will be attending that visit. We ask that you contact Carollyn to confirm this information.
• The monthly schedule opens on the 15^th of each month for the following month. Email Carollyn with requested date(s) for visitation which are filled on a ‘first come, first served’ basis and allow 72 hours for reply. A waitlist will be set up for cancellations.
• A reminder, visits still MUST be booked every month, there are no standing visits for the same time slot month to month
• At this time, time slots will be booked in one hour time slots to operationally support the safe visit parameters.
• Should you need to cancel your visit, please let us know, as we have a waitlist for most dates
• We ask that our resident/tenant families give your very best effort in reducing community outings 14 days prior to your scheduled visit and be mindful & aware of your immediate bubble to keep your loved ones safe
• New Screening Process: There is a new form to be completed at the time of every visit.
  • We will check and document your temperature upon arrival. The reason for the additional information is due to contact tracing now that we have more visitors.  Every individual visiting, aside from young children must complete the screening questionnaire.  Small children can be added to one of the adult’s forms.
  • Please ensure you have your vehicle license plate (if applicable) ready when you arrive for your visit, as it is required on the new screening form

You, as family members play a key role in the continuing success of this Visitation Plan.  As we all work together to closely follow Health Authority protocols,

Complex Care Family Council

Kamloops Seniors Village’s Family Council is made available to Family Members of Complex Care residents. We invite new resident’s families to join the council, participate in the meeting, and provide a voice for your loved one! Meetings are held on the 4th Monday of every month via ZOOM during COVID, excluding December July and August. The Zoom link and minutes are sent out the week prior. The meetings are self-directed by the families with KSV Leadership present for support. Our next meeting is on Monday, May 31, 2021 at 10 AM via ZOOM.

Deliveries and Drop-offs:

All deliveries will continue to be received at the front desk and will be sanitized, bagged and we will call the tenants &/or resident care staff to come and pick up their items right away.  Please ensure you label all items with a name and room number to ensure all packages are received as quickly as possible.

For floral deliveries, please ensure there are no LILIES in the arrangement for allergy precautions.

Reminders for your loved one to Stay Safe:

Please help us by reminding each resident daily of the following four items:

1. Practice social/physical distancing (6 feet apart) when required
2. Perform proper Hand Hygiene (Wash hands frequently for 20 seconds with the alcohol-based sanitizer or soap and hot water) 20 seconds or greater is so important.
3. Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth
4. If exhibiting any symptoms (fever, cough and difficulty breathing) please alert staff immediately.

 We ask that families share this information with all parties you believe will be in contact with your loved one. We have all worked so hard together over the last year to keep COVID out of our building. Please remain diligent in your current practice to help keep our home a safe place.

Thank you all for your support and patience as we roll out this new visitation process.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

SUPPORT & RESOURCES

As a caregiver, you are not alone and you what you do is incredible. As the Pandemic continues on, remember to take care of yourselves and get that much needed self-care and support.

Family CareGivers of BC and Provincial Agencies such as the Alzheimer’s Society have great resources and workshops to handle your loved ones diagnosis & offer support. Family CareGivers of BC also has a Caregiver Support Line for emotional support at 1-877-520-3267, Monday to Friday, 8:30 am – 7:00 pm.