September 20, 2021

Dear Families and Residents of Kamloops Seniors Village,

We appreciate your support as we know these are trying and uncertain times.

Our staff are working hard to keep your loved ones safe. We value our contact with families, however, a large volume of phone calls may detract from the staff’s focus on the residents’ immediate care needs. As always, any specific incidents or changes in a resident’s condition will continue to be communicated directly to the family contact, by either a staff member or by the doctor.

COMMUNICATION PLAN: 1B & 1C NEIGHBOURHOODS

 VIRTUAL VIDEO & PHONE CALL VISITS

Our recreation team continues to support resident families by assisting with Virtual Video and Phone Call Visits with your loved one. Visits are available from Monday-Friday.

In the future, our time slots for virtual visits will be changing as directives for our home changes. We are currently booking for the next two weeks. Thank you for your patience at this time. We look forward to connecting you with your loved ones.

Please contact ksv-rec@retirementconcepts.com or 250-571-1806 to book your virtual visit or phone call.

CARE TEAM SUPPORT

Our care team is here to support the families. Our Director of Care, Deena Aspinall and the care team will be available for scheduled phone calls to answer your questions, concerns, or to get an update on your loved one. Please email Deena at daspinall@retirementconcepts.com or call 250-571-1805 to book your care team support call.

We hope this will provide greater assurance to families and ensure you remain part of the care approach.

If you have any other questions or concerns please reach out to Cara Haughton, our Community Relations Manager at 250-574-0037, or via email, chaughton@retirementconcepts.com and she will look into your inquiry or request.

TODAY’S UPDATES

Our last positive case was on Friday, September 10, 2021, therefore, in accordance with the 28- day timeline, if there are no further positive cases in either unit, we expect the outbreak period to end in 18 days.

 As of today, Monday, September 20th, 2021, we have zero active cases.

We have had zero (0) further resident cases, therefore, our resident cases to date remain at ten (10), with zero (0) active cases.

We have zero (0) further staff member cases. Therefore, our staff case count to date is nine (9) cases, with zero (0) active cases.

Therefore, our home’s total number of cases to date remains at nineteen (19), with zero (0) active cases. Sadly, we have had one (1) COVID-19 related death.

On September 18, 2021, the Medical Health Officer permitted Complex Care 1B & 1C residents to come out of their rooms within their neighbourhood under certain conditions. Residents who are not on isolation that are double vaccinated can come out of their rooms.

We try to reduce the number of ambulatory residents that wander throughout the neighbourhoods during the day, however this can be very challenging. We utilize avenues to mitigate the risk by using wander strip equipment if prescribed and attempt to ensure residents are socially distanced and to performregular enhanced cleaning.

Residents can’t engage in group activities nor have exposure to other residents or staff. The common dining room remains closed and meal assistance will continue in their suites. Social visitation for 1B & 1C residents is still on hold due to the outbreak.

We are still continuing with low threshold testing in the event residents are showing any minor changes from their standard baseline behavior (i.e decreased appetite, lethargic etc). You will be contacted by phone if your loved one is to be tested.

What Does The Outbreak Mean?

Per the Interior Health and Medical Health Officer, the following Control Measures are in place:

All group recreation programming throughout all Complex Care neighbourhoods has been proactively cancelled and transitioned to 1:1 Visits with recreation aides until directed by the Medical Health Officer

 Social Visitations continue to be cancelled on 1B & 1C Neighbourhoods

• Social visitation continues on other remaining Complex Care neighbourhoods, as well as Independent-Assisted Living with standard screening protocols in place
• Visitors must continue to wear their medical grade mask to/from the suite through common areas & visits are only permitted in their loved ones suites or designated spaces (RC Courtyard, Front Gazebo Garden). The Assisted-Living Bistro and Patio are currently tenant spaces only and cannot be used for visits.
• As per the July 2021 Provincial Medical Health Order changes, ONLY fully vaccinated visitors can take their mask off while in their loved one’s suite; unvaccinated visitors must keep their mask on at all times while in the building
• Per the Interior Health Authority, if your loved one is unvaccinated, then masks must be worn at all times regardless of the visitor’s vaccination status

 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 through the MHO, who 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.

OUTBREAK RESPONSE

• Our staff continue to diligently monitor our remaining residents for symptoms. All residents are continued to be screened twice daily for COVID-19 symptoms including their temperature.
• 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.
• 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.

VACCINATION PASSPORTS

In light of the recent Provincial Health Officer’s mandate requiring a vaccination passport to access certain non-essential services, residents and tenants will need their own cards in the event they go out into the community. Please visit the BC Government Website for the complete list of these non-essential services.

For Complex Care Residents, Kristine O’Connor, koconnor@retirementconcepts.com is generating the passport for all residents and placing it on a lanyard so it’s easily accessible if they are to go out for outings.

As a side note, the vaccine portal was having some technical issues over the weekend in the event families were attempting to generate passports, but it seems to be working fine today.

For Assisted and Independent Living tenants, those tenants that received their shots at KSV, the original vaccine cards have been provided to the tenants &/or designate. Therefore, we first recommend tenants to seek family assistance to generate their own passport for printing, but if it’s not feasible, the tenants or families can reach out to Amy Suerink, Clinical Lead, at asuerink@retirementconcepts.com to assist in printing passports as well.

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.

Sincerely,

The Kamloops Team