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Tuesday November 10th

Hello Family and Friends of Rosemary Heights:

UPDATE: we have received an update today from Fraser Health clarifying that in person visitations at all Long Term Care and Assisted Living sites can still proceed as designated visitors are considered to be part of our resident’s social bubble, however not during an outbreak and these visits will still be on hold until Rosemary Heights is considered cleared from outbreak. For the next 14 days as per the PHO, residents should only be leaving the building for essential medical appointments only not on any social visits. 

Today we are happy to report 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 have commenced the readiness checklist from Fraser health to be able to enter the Step Down Phase by Wednesday Nov 11th as long as no further residents or staff show symptoms related to COVID.

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.

The Step Down Phase doesn’t mean our Outbreak is over, but it means that Fraser Health Authority will allow us to hopefully remove the droplet precautions from all our residents who tested negative. Residents will continue to isolate in their suites for another week 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.

For those inquiring, 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.

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

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

Let us all pause to honor the men and women who have served and continue to serve Canada during times of war, conflict, and peace. More than 2,300,000 Canadians have served and more than 118,000 made the ultimate sacrifice.

The poppy is the symbol of Remembrance Day. The reason that the poppy is worn for Remembrance Day is a Canadian physician and poet noticed how quickly poppies had grown over the graves of soldiers who had died during the Battle of Ypres. This symbolism of the blood-red flowers was beautifully captured by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in his 1915 poem “In Flanders Fields.”

 

In Flanders Fields

BY JOHN MCCRAE

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

 

We wish to thank families and loved ones in advance for their anticipated patience and cooperation.

A big thank you to all of our team members for your hard work, grace and persistence!

Stay Safe, stay calm, & stay kind.

– Your team at Rosemary Heights Seniors Village (RHSV)