Wednesday October 28

Hello Family and Friends of Rosemary Heights:

Today, we remain with the 2 confirmed cases of COVID 19 in our resident population on the Long term care 2^nd floor-West Wing.

We have received the 2^nd round of Point Prevalence tests from yesterday and it has been confirmed that ONE other resident has tested positive on the Long term care 2^nd floor-EAST wing.  Families of this resident have been notified.  This resident is showing no symptoms related to COVID 19 & is resting comfortably.

As hard as this was to learn, we will remain vigilant and look at this as a slight set back, the team is optimistic and feeling positive.

All other residents that reside on the 2^nd floor that were tested yesterday on the EAST & WEST floors have all had results that are negative.  There are no other residents experiencing symptoms.  All staff that were tested during the 2^nd round of Point Prevalence has all come back as negative.

Please know that we will only contact family members by phone that have loved ones that test positive.

All residents remain isolated in their rooms with meals being delivered via room service, and they are being monitored closely.  We have isolated 2^nd floor Long term care residents under droplet precautions, meaning that every team member that enters a resident room must place on new PPE, and then when they come out they have to take off all the PPE and repeat it before entering any other residents room.  We continue to monitor all residents for any symptoms.

We have cohorted staff to work only on their designated floors and units to avoid cross contamination.  As far as we are aware, there was no contact between long term care and independent living or assisted living floors.  At this time, Independent and assisted living residents are still able to come and go (but no inside visitors), although that may change according to Fraser Health protocols for outbreak communities.  If there are changes to Fraser Health Authority protocols, we will let you know.  Currently, all in-person visitations have been halted, and in-person, skype, zoom and facetime visitations are currently on hold during the outbreak.

Flu vaccinations are postponed for all Long term care residents until the Outbreak has ended.  Please rest assured all precautions are being taken to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Flu vaccinations for Independent/Assisted Living tenants will occur on Nov 9^th. If the status of Rosemary Heights IL/AL building changes, this too will be postponed.

Our 2 staff members with confirmed cases of Covid 19 are at home in isolation.

Communication

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.

Protocols

BC’s Medical Health Officer and CDC have been notified.  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 will be received at the lobby entrance vestibule. This includes medication deliveries from pharmacies, other gifts and mail. All items will be held in isolation for 24 hours, sanitized and delivered directly to the residents’ suite.  Groceries for Independent and assisted living may still 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 wish to thank families and loved ones in advance for their anticipated patience and cooperation.   Emails or calls may not be returned as quickly as normal as we work with health authorities to ensure constant care for the residents.  Please join us in extending our sincere appreciation to the Rosemary Heights Seniors Village team, who are dedicated to keeping your loved ones safe and in good spirits.

We would also like to extend our sincere thanks & appreciation to the families who provided our staff with love through food treats:  pizza, subway sandwiches, chocolates, and of course we can’t forget the coffee/tea & sweets that have given us strength along with caffeine & sugar. Thank you for your generosity, it really makes the team feel supported & cared for.

Stay Safe, stay calm, & stay kind.

– Your team at Rosemary Heights Seniors Village (RHSV)

“One word of encouragement can be enough to spark someone’s motivation to continue with a difficult challenge”