Williams Lake Seniors Village, Community Update, August 7 2020
Dear Families,
We hope you are all staying safe and healthy!
On Monday July 13th we started the process of one-on-one visits. If you are the chosen visitor, a member of our team will be reaching out to schedule a date and time for you to come in for a visit. If you have not received a call or email yet please reach out to Andrea, 250-305-3314, to book your visit. There are a number of protocols you must adhere to during this visit. We thank you in your compliance and cooperation with these regulations.
Please see attached to this email an information poster from Interior Health regarding the procedure for coming in to visit your loved one.
General Visiting Information
These visits are physically distanced and there can be no touching or close contact of any kind for the safety of our residents. Our spaces will have the safe distances marked to make these protocols easier to follow. Staff will facilitate each visit and be present for the duration of your visit which will be 20-30 minutes in length, and staff will also sanitize the space thoroughly after each visit.
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. We anticipate that as we start we will be able to offer one visit a month, but we hope to increase our capacity in the future. At this time, to ensure that our recreation aides can still offer physically distanced small group programming, we can only offer one chosen form of visit per resident with one contact.
We are excited to be implementing these processes, and thank you for your understanding and patience as we learn and grow with these changes.
Please do not hesitate to call Andrea with any questions you may have regarding visits, essential delivery drop offs for residents, or anything resident-focused. She will be happy to help! If you are the designated visitor for LTC, AL or IL residents, and have not scheduled your next visit, please contract Andrea at 250-303-3314 or ahodgetts@retirementconcepts.com to do so.
For Long Term Care Visitors
During the phone call we will confirm your email address and send you a confirmation email with the date and time of your visit, along with the instructions to go to our website and answer the self-screening questions prior to the visit. Please reply to our email confirming your appointment time and that you will self-screen prior to your appointment. When it is time for your visit, please enter our main doors and approach the pre-screening table. Please make sure your mask is on correctly and is covering your nose before you enter the main doors. You will be greeted by one of our staff members who will walk you through the pre-screening process and to the designated visiting location. For Long Term Care you will have a choice of having the visit outside on our ground level outdoor patio, or inside in our hair salon.
For Assisted Living/Independent Living Visitors
When it is your time to visit your loved one, please make your way to our Assisted Living entrance. Jolene will be there to greet you, walk you through our pre-screening process and escort you to the visiting space. For Assisted and Independent living you will have a choice of having the visit outside in the Dog Courtyard or Inside in the Country Kitchen.
Please note that when visitations start to happen you will be required to bring your own mask. Either a cloth or a medical mask is appropriate. Masks will NOT be provided, and if forgotten, you will unable to enter the building for your scheduled visitation. At this time, isolation gowns and gloves are NOT required. Please see attached to this email education on donning and doffing PPE (personal protective equipment). Please familiarize yourself with these procedures before coming in for your scheduled visit. Our teams will be here to assist during your scheduled visit, should you have any questions.
Protocols
Aside from the single visitor policy, we are following the direction of our public health officials to the letter 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
• Ensuring no staff member is working in multiple facilities
• Staff are working strictly within an assigned unit and not multiple units
• Staff are removing outside clothing and footwear upon entering the premises. They are bringing their work clothes in a sealed bag as a precautionary measure.
• 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
• Appropriate application and removal of personal protective equipment (PPE), and the use of individual slings (cloth component of a personal lift).
• 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.
Recreation Program
In Assisted Living, our Recreation Aide Jolene will be reaching out to schedule these activities directly with your loved one, and each resident will be prescreened before participating. All events will be facilitated by Jolene to make sure all precautionary measures are met. Music Groups, Fitness, News and Views, etc. are among the list of activities we are hosting in our Bistro Courtyard while enjoying fresh air and sunshine!
In Long Term Care, our Recreation Aides have begun small group therapeutic recreation activities. These activities will be hosted by our LTC Recreation Aides and will be adhering to all precautionary measures such as prescreening questions, social distancing, and thorough sanitization of the activity space before and after each activity. Residents have been so happy to have activities such as exercise, charades, music and reading back for them to participate in each day!
To the extent staff are able to facilitate Facetime and Skype for residents they are doing so, amidst their other duties, and will begin to support with offering one to one visits next week. Andrea, our Therapeutic Recreation Manager, will be contacting the chosen visitor of LTC residents and Alex, our Community Relations Manager, will be contacting AL/IL resident’s chosen visitors to set up a date a time for a one to one visit. If you have questions in the meantime, please utilize the information in this document or contact Andrea at 250-305-3314 or ahodgetts@retirementconcepts.com
Friendly Outreach Support Program
A volunteer from an organization known as NICE (National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly) has reached out to our community to offer their free services to our residents and their loved ones during this difficult time.

This organization responds to the issue of social isolation among older adults and persons with disabilities.
Over the phone, they offer free, friendly outreach and brief counselling services. They are a team of social workers and social work students that are trying to address the isolation and loneliness that are too commonly experienced across the country. The initiative is called “TALK2NICE”.

Please reach out to www.nicenet.ca or 1 (844) 529-7292 if you would like to connect with them.

Dining Room
On Wednesday June 24th, we re-opened our Assisted Living Dining Room for lunch and dinner. Tenants have been asked to join for their seating at 12PM/1PM for lunch and/or 5PM/6PM for dinner. All social distancing and strict sanitization procedures will be executed before and after each meal. We can offer a maximum of two people per table, as per our Provincial Health Officer’s guidelines, and for the safety of our tenants we have removed table clothes, center pieces and are using reusable condiments at this time. Tables will not be pre-set to ensure safety and cleanliness before residents sit down to enjoy their meal. If you have any questions about the transition of meals being served in the Dining Room, please feel free to contact our Support Service Manager, Kirstyn, at kjorde@retirementconcepts.com or 250-305-3309.

If Required:
All deliveries will be received at the front door. This includes groceries, medications, flowers, and gifts. All will be sanitized and delivered directly to the resident’s suites.
Dropping items off: We would ask that families please follow these guidelines as I am sure you want your parent or loved-one to get their deliveries in a timely manner.
1. Please use plastic bags, no reusable bags
2. Make sure to label all bags with resident full name and room number
3. Try to limit drop offs to essential items. There are days when staff are overwhelmed trying to keep up
4. Please sanitize, if possible, the items before dropping off. We will re-sanitize as well to be safe
5. Please leave all items on the white cart label “DROP OFF LOCATION” outside the Front Door. Our staff will receive the items once you are back in your vehicle.
6. Items may be dropped off Monday – Friday between 8:00am and 3:30pm.

Please DO NOT drop off items on the weekends or after hours, they will not be accepted and will be left outside until the designated time listed above. Due to high volumes of items being dropped off our drop off hours are set to accommodate thorough sanitization processes and timely deliveries to your loved one’s suite while we are fully staffed. We ask that ALL deliveries be dropped off on the white cart by 3:30pm Monday-Friday.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during this time.
Reminders for your loved-one to Stay Safe: Again, the following four points are so critical to discuss with your loved ones. Please help us by reminding each resident daily of the following four items:
1. Practice social distancing (6 feet apart)
2. Perform proper Hand Hygiene (Wash hands frequently for 20 seconds with the alcohol-based sanitizer or soap and hot water) 20 second or greater is so important.
3. Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth
4. If exhibiting any symptoms (fever, cough and difficulty breathing) please alert staff immediately.
We want to thank everyone for their cooperation and patience during this difficult period.
Thank You
Your Team at the Williams Lake Seniors Village