September 12, 2021
Dear Families and Residents of Kamloops Seniors Village,
We appreciate your positive support as we know these are trying and uncertain times. This Pandemic has already a toll on everyone’s well being, and outbreaks are taxing on everybody.
Our staff are working very hard to keep your loved ones safe. We understand that everyone wants to check in on their loved one, but every minute is valuable time to complete all necessary tasks throughout the day, especially with the impact of outbreak procedures on one’s shift. Their focus needs to be on the residents.
Therefore, can we please request that families now refrain from contacting the Nurses on the floor until further notice. Any specific incidents or changes in a resident’s condition will be communicated to the family directly, or by the doctor.
If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to Cara Haughton, our Community Relations Manager at 250-574-0037, or via email, and she will look into your inquiry or request.
Please see our updates below as a follow up to our previous daily communication regarding our current Complex Care/Long Term Care 1B & 1C Neighbourhood Outbreak that was declared by the Interior Health Authority Medical Health Officer on Friday, August 27, 2021. The outbreak will continue for a minimum for 28 days from the last positive COVID-19 Case.
TODAY’S UPDATES
As of today, Sunday, September 12, 2021, we have zero (0) further resident cases, therefore, our resident cases to date remain at ten (10), with only three (3) cases still active.
We have had zero (0) further staff member cases. Therefore, our staff case count to date is eight (8) cases, with only five (5) cases still active.
Therefore our home’s total number of cases to date remains at eighteen (18), with only eight (8) still active, and have had one (1) COVID-19 related death. Active cases are still considered within the infectious period.
One of our active positive asymptomatic residents now has developed mild symptoms, but is doing well, and sadly one our earlier positive residents is showing symptoms of decline, but is comfortable. Staff members are resting at home and regular check-ins have continued.
We re-opened the Complex Care 1A Neighbourhood to visitors as of yesterday, Saturday, September 11, 2021. It was closed for precautionary purposes since Thursday, September 2, 2021 due to a previously positive staff member that had worked on the neighbourhood. No staff or residents have become symptomatic since the exposure window, which has now ended. The 1B & 1C Neighbourhoods still remains on outbreak.
Please utilize our virtual visit appointments if you would like to speak or talk with your loved one, or coordinate for a window visit, or send our Community Relations Manager, Cara Haughton, an email and she will get an answer for you.
We are still continuing with low threshold testing in the event residents are showing any minor changes from their standard baseline behaviour (i.e decreased appetite, lethargic etc). You will be contacted by phone if your loved one is to be tested.
VIRTUAL VISITS
Our recreation team has begun their virtual visits to residents that are not actively sick or pending swab results.
As of Friday, September 3, 2021, we have proactively cancelled all group activities throughout all six (6) Complex Care neighbourhoods and are transitioning to 1:1 Visits with a recreation aide until further notice.
Please note, we attempt to provide all updates in a timely manner, however, since outbreaks can change quite rapidly, if anything is missed, we will provide details in the next communication.
What Does This Outbreak Mean?
Per the Interior Health and Medical Health Officer, the following Control Measures are in place:
– All Complex Care 1B & 1C Neighbourhood Residents are considered exposed with the recent positive resident cases, therefore they will continue to be isolated to their room and will enjoy tray service and meal assistance until further notice. This reduced contact provides increased protection to your loved ones and prevents exposure to the entire community.
– All group recreation programming throughout all Complex Care neighbourhoods has been proactively cancelled and are transitioning to 1:1 Visits with recreation aides until further notice
– Social Visitations continue to be cancelled on 1B & 1C Neighbourhoods;
– Essential Visitation (per the BC CDC Guidelines) is permitted on the 1B & 1C Neighbourhoods for ONLY Fully Vaccinated Essential Visitors. They must follow full PPE parameters (gowns/mask/face shield). There is an approval process as the MHO will determine if a visit is essential.
– Palliative Visitation is permitted on the 1B & 1C Neighbourhoods, but visitors must follow full PPE parameters (gowns/mask/face shield) within the neighbourhood. Unvaccinated visitors must isolate 10 days from the date of the most recent visit date
– Urgent Appointments for 1B & 1C Neighbourhoods can continue, but must be approved/deemed urgent by their Medical Practitioner
– This outbreak DOES NOT affect our Independent & Assisted Living Apartment side of the building, nor the remaining 1A, 2A, 2B, & 2C Complex Care Neighbourhoods at this time. This may change upon future developments.
What Are the Next Steps?
– Our staff continue to diligently monitor our remaining residents for symptoms.
– Our Clinical Team continues to have routine calls three (3) times per week with the Interior Health and Medical Health Officer to review our outbreak response plan & to communicate further developments.
– Our staff continue to wear appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in all the right places. Any time staff are going into a COVID positive resident’s room to provide care they will be wearing full PPE (gown, gloves & goggles or face shield). All other times staff will be wearing masks and goggles or face shields other than when physically eating.
– We continue to be attentive to our hand hygiene practices. Hand washing, hand washing, and hand washing.
– Our housekeeping team continue to perform enhanced cleaning through the community including using our handheld electrostatic disinfection system throughout common areas & resident rooms as it’s able to spray larger surfaces more efficiently.
– We are diligently working to keep everyone safe and content during these unprecedented times.
CURRENT EVENTS
UPCOMING FEDERAL ELECTION
Kamloops Seniors Village will be hosting an onsite advance polling station for our Assisted-Independent Living tenants. Our station is arranged for Monday, September 13th from 9:30-3:00pm, in the lower level Multipurpose Room.
Due to the current outbreak situation on our Complex Care side, Long Term Care residents will not be able to participate & vote in person at the polling station. However, they will be able to vote by mail.
Therefore, Complex Care Residents’ families can go online and request a vote by mail package no later than the 14th of September, 6:00PM. The package is to be addressed to the resident’s Kamloops Seniors Village address, and then the recreation team will facilitate their vote, and mail the package on the residents’ behalf. If you have any questions, please reach out to our new Recreation Manager, Kiara Janzen kjanzen@retirementconcepts.com.
All updates will continue to be communicated to you in daily communications such as this, which will also be posted to the Community Update Section of our Website after it is sent out to you. If you have other family or friends who would like to be updated, please feel free to direct them to www.retirementconcepts.com
Deliveries
All deliveries continue to be received. All items will be sanitized and delivered directly to the resident’s suites.
Teamwork
We would like to thank you all for your understanding, patience and support. It takes a village and we appreciate all the kind words of support we have received thus far. They mean so much to us and especially the staff.
Staff COVID-19 Vaccination Information
We also wanted to provide some further information regarding the current mandates for staff vaccinations. As a licensed Long Term Care (Complex Care) and Assisted Living community, we follow the mandates of the BC Provincial Health Officer. The current health order stipulates that the COVID-19 vaccine is encouraged, but not mandatory.
Recently on August 12, 2021, Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Medical Health Officer, announced a new upcoming mandate where all Long Term Care & Assisted Living staff must have a Covid-19 vaccine by October 12. The details of the news release is found here.
We continue to promote immunization to our staff, but they have until October 12 to comply with the new mandate. We have provided our staff with a memo with these parameters. Staff will need to receive their first dose by Monday, September 13, in order to be in compliance by October 12 with both doses. All staff continue to wear masks and proper PPE in addition to stringent hand washing protocols.
If you are looking to stay up to date on current COVID-19 information, we encourage you to look at the following resources. They are concise, accurate and informative.
To provide some background knowledge of our community, Kamloops Seniors Village is a Campus of Care where we offer all three levels of care under one roof.
On the West side of our building, we have 114 Complex Care/Long Term Care Studio Suites within six (6) Neighbourhoods. Three (3) Complex Care Neighbourhoods are located on the first floor (1A, 1B, &1C), and then three (3) Neighbourhoods are located on the second floor (2A, 2B, & 2C). And then on our East Side of the building, we have 101 Assisted-Independent Living apartment style suites.
Sincerely, The Kamloops Team