Williams Lake Seniors Village, Community Update, July 17 2020

Dear Families, 

We hope you are all staying safe and healthy!

There are NO cases of reported outbreak nor signs nor symptoms of COVID-19 in any of our residents or staff here at Williams Lake Seniors Village.

Visiting Information

Please note that when visitations start to happen you will be required to bring your own mask. This means a mask, cloth or medical, is appropriate. Masks will NOT be provided and if forgotten you will unable to enter the building for your scheduled visitation time. 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 

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 surfaces in order to break the chain of infection
• Staff and residents are committed to regular/proper hand hygiene to break the chain of infection, by washing their hands with soap and water and applying 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, reading etc. back and ready 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 the Therapeutic Recreation Manager will be contacting the chosen visitor of LTC residents and Alex the Marketing 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

As of 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.

We are excited to announce the launch of our summer menu! Our summer menu has a new feature that we are thrilled to announce. We are calling it “Residents Choice”! This is a great opportunity for residents, both Assisted Living and Long Term Care, to submit ideas for our chefs. The menu ideas don’t have to be something already on the menu but rather a resident favourite! This will be happening 8 times over the course of the summer, 4 times for lunch and 4 times for dinner. Please encourage your loved one to look out for the colourful boxes in their dining room and to submit one of their favourites for our kitchen team to make!

Meal ideas must be submitted by July 22 at noon as the meals will be selected at the Silver Spoons meeting in the afternoon to give our chefs time to prep and learn the selections.

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 – Fridaybetween 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