Xin Nian Kuai Le- Happy Chinese New year, wishing you and your family happiness and prosperity!

Hello families and friends of Rosemary Heights Seniors Village,

At this time, our Assisted Living building is still deemed on an enhanced monitoring on the Assisted Living building and must continue with ceasing in person visits, residents remain in their rooms with meals being served via room service and group activities are halted as per Public Heath & Fraser Health.  We are continuing to monitor staff and residents daily, as well we are continuing with our enhanced sanitization plan.   Please know that if your family member tests positive, you will receive an immediate phone call and they will continue these calls daily to keep you updated.

We have been instructed by Fraser Health that we will be retesting all the staff & residents in the Assisted Living building again on Monday Feb 15^th to ensure everyone remains healthy before we resume daily activities.

We have encouraged all residents to call the staff with any concerns or needs should they need anything 24/7. With the changes to meals being delivered via room service, times may be slightly delayed

Please continue to communicate positively with your loved one daily.

The care and safety of residents is our number one priority, and we are treating the situation very seriously.

Long term care 

For all residents in Long term care, dining rooms are open, small group activities are still occurring as well as zoom, FaceTime, & skype calls however we cannot proceed with in person visits as the space we use is located in our Assisted Living building.  Any deemed essential visitors for the long term care residents should continue with your schedules.

 COVID Vaccinations Update

We have been informed from Fraser Health Authority, that the 2^nd does of the vaccine for COVID-19 is being scheduled for around 42 days following the first does and that the date for 2^nd dose vaccines is yet to be determined however we are calculating that wit will be Feb 24th.  We will keep you informed when we learn of when Fraser health will proceed.

Communication

While we are any outbreak, I will communicate to families/friends on Monday, Tuesday, and Fridays.  When we are not on an outbreak we will provide families with a weekly email update (RHSV we send/post every Thursday) that will also be posted under COVID updates on our Retirement Concepts website: https://www.retirementconcepts.com/category/rosemary-heights-seniors-village

Please you are welcome to and encouraged to share this update letter with your other family members.

 Recreation:

February is Therapeutic Recreation Month! This month we recognize the importance and diversity of TR and will be celebrating the amazing team we have here at RHSV. This week we are spotlighting 2 more of our outstanding team members:

Susan has been with RHSV since 2015 and loves engaging our seniors with leisure activities they enjoyed in their early years and the joy it brings to the seniors when they realize that they still CAN do these activities.  Susan loves the smiles and stories that are shared with her and choose therapeutic recreation because she was lucky enough to spend time with her own grandparents as a child and love that she gets to give back to the seniors who have worked so hard to give us the country we have.  A couple of really cool, fun facts about Susan is she has met the Queen twice, and visited sharks from the safety of a shark cage.  If she can overcome the fear of being in waters with Sharks, then TR is a breeze!

Tammy has graced us with her huge personality at Rosemary Heights since 2019, and she enjoys the ability to be creative, to be yourself, the diversity, the challenges, and the endless learning opportunities and knowing that at the end of the day you made a difference in someone’s life.  Why I chose TR?  Tammy says “I really didn’t chose it, it choose me and I’m sure glad it did”. And so are all of us!  If any one has met Tammy before, she claims she is usually heard first before being seen and we love hearing her bright, cheery voice & songs when she comes into work every day! 

This week, every day we have had a fun themed day and will be throughout February. This week we had wacky hair day, British Evasion day, Laughter is the best medicine day, today was think about it Thursday and tomorrow is Chinese New Year and of course to wrap up the week Valentine’s day, just to name a few!  We are so very lucky to have such an amazing group of ladies to bring the fun to our world inside RHSV. THANK YOU!!

We will continue to offer scheduled video calls for those families who live out of town or are unable to come in for any reason. Please connect with Jaylene Smillie in our recreation department by emailing jsmillie@retirementconcepts.com or by calling 778-545-5000 ext. 1007

Dining

What’s cooking?  Looking forward to a few of the month’s home-made dinners, that include:

Chinese New Year Dinner on February 12th. The Food Service team is preparing Kung Pao Chicken (Stir fry chicken with Szechuan Sauce), or classic Sweet and Sour Pork, Chow Mein/Steam rice, Oriental Mixed Vegetables, Spring Rolls, Mango Pudding and no meal is complete without a famous Fortune Cookie.

The team is also preparing for Valentine Day dinner on February 14th, herbed baked salmon with lemon dill sauce or Chicken Florentine with sun dried tomato sauce with Dutch potatoes/rice pulao, roasted vegetable medley and dessert will be Red Velvet Cake.

Protocols

We are following the direction of our public health officials and have full infection prevention and control precautions in place. Staff continue to monitor residents closely and are ensuring the following protocols are being adhered to:

• Restricting ALL visitors from the premises/only those who have been deemed essential may enter the building at this time
• Ensuring no staff member is working in multiple facilities
• Staff are screened for their temperature upon entrance to the building, and midway through their shift
• Social distancing is occurring among residents in each facility, including during mealtimes
• Ensuring ongoing, environmental cleaning and increased frequency of high touch surface cleaning in order to break the chain of infection
• Staff and residents are committed to regular/proper hand hygiene to break the chain of infection, and wash their hands with soap and water and apply hand sanitizer frequently.

We will continue to act upon their latest advice, and will adapt our operations as necessary and recommended. 

 Deliveries

**Delivery hours are between 9am- 3pm, Mon-Sat and closed Sundays**

All deliveries will be received at the lobby entrance vestibule. This includes medication deliveries from pharmacies, other gifts and mail. All items will be sanitized and delivered directly to the residents’ suite.

1. Please use plastic bags, not reusable bags;
2. Please label all bags with the resident’s name and suite number;
3. In consideration of staff-to-resident priorities as well as infection control, please try to limit drop offs to essential items; and.
4. If possible, please sanitize the items before dropping off. We will re-sanitize as well to be safe.

Please do not drop off items after hours, we do not have staff to be able to accept it and may be left outside until the designated time listed, if you do, you will be taking your chances & we will not be responsible for anything that is left after hours.

 Thank you to many of our extended families for your words of inspiration during some tough times, & your thoughtful gestures.  We are thankful for cards of well wishes, gratitude and the many sweet & savory treats. As we all continually adapt to the world around us, we are humbled & comforted by the kindness expressed by resident families, our team and community outreach partners.

Thank you to this outstanding team that I am blessed to be a part of- Thank you to all of our Front Line Hero’s for being part of our team at RHSV and serving our residents with pride & dignity in these trying & difficult times. Your efforts do not go unnoticed-we love you all and appreciate what you do beyond belief.  Thank you so much for your unwavering commitment, hard work and support during these past 11 months (wow).  Your humility, kindness, and strength are greatly appreciated.

Take care, and let’s take care of each other.

Stay Safe, stay calm, & stay kind.

– Your team at Rosemary Heights Seniors Village (RHSV)