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Thursday, November 12th

Good morning Family and Friends of Rosemary Heights:

Today, we are happy that Rosemary Heights remains with no new staff or residents with COVID 19 symptoms. We want to thank our families for their kind words and patience getting to this point. While we are cleared of active cases in the building, we are still under strict Outbreak Precautions to ensure no new cases arise.

We will be commencing the Step Down Phase through this week as long as no further residents or staff show symptoms related to COVID.

The Step Down Phase doesn’t mean our Outbreak is over, it means that Fraser Health Authority & the community will be moving forward with implementing day to day operations very slowly and can only remove the droplet precautions for now.  That means that staff no longer needs to don PPE gowns, but must still wear masks, safety eye goggles & gloves when providing care. Residents will continue to isolate in their suites, as much as they can be, for another 14 days per Fraser Health, as long as there are no more symptomatic residents, & until the Outbreak is officially declared over by Fraser Health Authority.

If your loved one becomes symptomatic or needs to be swabbed, we will call the family and inform them immediately.

Our long term care dining room will remain closed, family visitations are cancelled – and all group activities are paused. Unfortunately, we will not be able to permit family visits during step down. After the outbreak is declared over in 14 days, we will resume these visits with precautions. ,

We are thrilled to report that we will commence zoom, skype, & FaceTime calls starting next week.  Call’s will resume Monday and some changes will occur. Jaylene, our recreation Manager will contact only the people whose schedule needs to be changed. If you don’t hear from Jaylene today or tomorrow, and if you had a pre-existing scheduled call, these calls will resume as previously scheduled.  Please allow the team to get this restarted and we will let you know when you can reach out to the team for booking timed slots.

Flu shots cannot commence until after the Outbreak has been declared over. We do have the vaccines already at the community and will administer the flu shots to all residents once we get the approval to do so.  Please be assured that intense safety precautions will be implemented to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Communication

We will continue to communicate with all families via email on a daily basis until further notice.

In the event of a positive Covid-19 test result for a staff member or resident, we will provide all families of residents with a daily email update that will also be posted under Retirement Concepts COVID 19 updates on our website. We also phone the families of residents if their loved one has tested positive.  Should the condition of any specific resident change, their family and loved ones will be notified immediately.

For your knowledge, here is an example of what would happen if a resident becomes symptomatic over the next two weeks:

1) Resident will be isolated to their suite and placed on droplet precautions.

2) Resident will be swabbed for Covid-19 as well as the Flu, and family will be informed.

3) Resident will have cohorted care.

4) If the results are negative, the resident will be lifted off droplet precautions as long as their symptoms resolve.

5) If the results are positive, we will begin our 28-day Outbreak Protocol and follow the directives of Public Health in order to minimize and contain the spread.

Protocols

In an effort to prevent another Outbreak at Rosemary Heights, we will increase our infection control practices and revisit how our staff interact with residents in cohorts.  Families will be informed once the Outbreak is declared over, at which point family in-person visits can be resumed, with precautions. Over the next 2 weeks, we will retrain our team on Covid-19 Protocols frequently to ensure that they are aware of all procedures to be followed should a resident become symptomatic.

We are following protocols established by the Health Authority, the Office of the Provincial Health Officer and BC Center for Disease Control.

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

Deliveries

Monday – Friday 10am-2pm, and Saturday 1-3pm only, closed to all Sunday deliveries

All deliveries for all resident floors 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.  Deliveries for all areas including Long term care 1st & 2nd floors along with Independent/Assisted Living can now be delivered.

When dropping items off, we would ask that families please follow the following guidelines to ensure loved ones will receive their deliveries in a timely manner:

  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.

Acknowledgements

We know this continues to be an anxious time for everyone and we need to resume pre-COVID routines VERY slowly & safely.

We would like to take a moment to thank all our families & friends of RHSV for being so supportive in this challenging time. We truly appreciate the collaboration with families as procedures change so quickly as more knowledge of this virus develops. Together we work to provide quality of life in these uncertain times, making the most of what we can together.

I’d also like to acknowledge the entire Rosemary Heights Team, I am eternally grateful for all the hard work, time, compassion, humility and dedication that you bring day after day to support and care for residents during this unprecedented time in history.

Wishing each of you continued safety and excellent health.

Stay Safe, stay calm, & stay kind.

– Your team at Rosemary Heights Seniors Village (RHSV)