Community Update, Williams Lake Seniors Village, January 21 2021
Dear Families of Williams Lake Seniors Village:
Yesterday was an exciting day at the Williams Lake seniors Village! On January 20, 2021 we were able to administer 143 Moderna vaccines to our most vulnerable. The focus of yesterday’s vaccination clinic was on our Long Term Care residents. We are delighted to announce that all those who gave consent received their first dose. 94% of all our Long Term Care residents now have their first dose completed!
With the remainder of the vaccines we were able to complete 10 front line staff and 33 Assisted Living residents that were highlighted for medical reasons. As you know we like to provide as much notice as possible with this information and with the availability of the vaccine, notice period from Public Health and the time frame to administer we were left with less than one day to roll it out.
The remaining Assisted Living and Independent Living residents will receive their first dose in the coming weeks. Our residents are deemed priority and we are hopeful we will receive more notice when Public Health comes to conduct the next vaccine clinic. The next vaccine clinic will be focusing on our Assisted Living and Independent Living residents needing their 1st dose.
As of Monday January 11, 2021 we no longer have any active COVID- 19 cases. We continue to remain stable with no additional cases or persons presenting with symptoms. We are still on track for having our community outbreak declared over on January 23rd, however we ask that everyone remain diligent as we continue to see the COVID-19 positive clusters in our city climb. Please remember this date is a guideline and can change given any new situations. Until that time, we do remain under certain outbreak protocols. Regular scheduled visits will remain suspended but we are continuing with virtual visits. All residents that were on isolation are now off isolation and their dining rooms reopened. Once the MHO has declared the outbreak over we will be reaching out to all of those designated visitors and essential visitors to welcome back into our community.
As per the directive of the MHO, all Independent Living and Assisted Living residents returning from Cariboo Memorial Hospital MUST self-isolate for 14 days. This directive will change when the outbreak at Cariboo Memorial Hospital has been declared over. UPDATE: Residents going to CMH for lab or diagnostic procedures are exempt from this order and DO NOT have to self-isolate when they return home.
We are beyond proud of the hard work and commitment from all our staff, leadership teams, residents and families during this very challenging time. Thank you to all of you who provided encouraging letters, delivered flowers and stood tall for us and all we do to keep everyone safe. Please continue to remind your loved ones to wash their hands, wear their masks, social distance and avoid any social gatherings.
Our next communications will be on a regular scheduled Thursday unless we have any additional outbreak information.
The below information may seem repetitive but we do include it in every email so that you have any information you require readily available.
December 28th we had a resident living in the eagle view unit, test positive for the COVID-19 virus. As a result of this, we have been declared on outbreak by the health authorities.
We are well prepared to look after this situation as we have been involved in COVID drills and preparedness programs since early in the pandemic.
We have put into action a number of protocols below, with the goal of protecting our residents as best we can:
Contact tracing between the individual and any other staff or residents and appropriate swabbing/testing will be done.
If your family member requires testing, you will be contacted by phone.
Please remind your loved one to reach out to us if they are feeling at all unwell. We know sometimes people don’t want to feel like they are disturbing anyone or feel that it’s a nuisance to call us over a sore throat but it never is. We are here to be there for them. Nothing is too little and we want to ensure we are on top of everything.
We have closed the dining room to reduce contact, and asked our residents to isolate themselves in their rooms, where meals will be provided by tray service.
We are grouping our staff into cohorts, responsible for designated areas of our Community. This means a specific set of staff will care for the same small group of residents, and not be exposed to the entire residence. This reduced contact provides increased protection to your loved ones.
Unfortunately, we must also cancel all family visitations and pause any recreation or social activities. Unless medically essential, we ask all residents to cancel any outside appointments.
We have notified our health authority and will work together with them for further testing, monitoring and prevention protocols. These events will 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
We would like to thank you in advance for all for your understanding, patience and support as
we may not be able to answer your calls or emails right way. Staff are focused on the safe care of our residents.
Deliveries
All deliveries continue to be received. All items are sanitized and delivered directly to the resident’s suites.
When dropping items off, we ask families to please follow the guidelines below in order to ensure that your loved one gets their deliveries in a timely manner:
Teamwork
We wish to thank staff, residents and families for their cooperation and understanding, we will continue to keep you updated and informed.
Sincerely,
Your team at the Williams Lake Seniors Village