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 28th & Sunday, May 30th 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:
We ask families and residents to keep in mind the following requirements:
DO’s
DON’T’s
SOCIAL OUTINGS:
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:
“In Building” Social Visitation Scheduling Reminders:
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:
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.