Mask wearing for Care Home Visitors – On July 19th, all care homes were ordered to change the masking mandate for social visits, allowing the fully vaccinated visitor to remove their mask when alone with their loved one. At the same time, the fully vaccinated staff were no longer required to wear mask and goggles in the workplace. Staff reported proof of vaccination and were given a green name tag to indicate full vaccination status, allowing them to not wear mask or goggles. With the current outbreak at Menno Home, all staff in every building are once again required to wear a mask regardless of immunization status.
Menno Place implemented this change for visitors by creating a visitor badge/sticker system that many of you have enjoyed using in Menno Home, Menno Hospital and Terrace East. A green badge/sticker indicates to staff and residents that you are fully vaccinated and (at that time) permitted to be without a mask when alone with your loved one. With the current outbreak at Menno Home, masks are now mandatory for all social visitors regardless of immunization status or building in which the visit takes place.
*Note of interest – Since social visiting began (unsupervised) on April 1, 2021, our Visitation Hosts have screened 14,215 visits! Incredible! Thank you, all, for your vigilance and your visits!
Mandatory Vaccination for Staff – On August 12, Dr. Bonnie Henry announced that all staff in Long-term care and Assisted Living will be required to be fully vaccinated by October 12th in order to work in a seniors care home.
Since that time, all staff in BC care homes have been ordered to provide their Personal Health Number to the employer and we are ordered to report these numbers to Fraser Health. These PHNs will be cross-matched with the Fraser Health Immunization Record to provide an accurate account of vaccination status for all care homes in British Columbia.
The PHO also states that unvaccinated staff are ordered to do a rapid test prior to their shift effective September 8. Menno Place has provided rapid test kits at all staff entrances since July and provided training for staff and encouraged rapid testing for all staff. These rapid tests have protected our residents as asymptomatic staff have discovered a COVID positive and not entered the workplace to put any resident or co-worker at risk.
With the Menno Home outbreak, Menno Place has asked ALL staff in ALL buildings to do a rapid test before EVERY shift, regardless of immunization status. Rapid test centers are set up with kits, instructions and guidance on what to do if the test is positive for COVID. The test is really easy to do and Sharon Simpson, Director, Community Enrichment has done a quick video for staff to show how to do a self-test.
The BC Ministry of Health will be providing the parameters for unvaccinated staff to have a vaccine exemption for either medical or religious reasons. We have not, yet, received those parameters.
The number of staff at Menno Place who are unvaccinated is a small percentage of our staff team. Exact numbers of unvaccinated staff will be made available to us through the Fraser Health. We do not, yet, have that information.
Social Visitors Vaccinated? – We have not heard if there will be any changes to the requirement for visitors to be vaccinated in order to enter care homes.
Service Providers Vaccinated? The PHO includes service providers and contractors among those who must be vaccinated in order to enter care homes.
Reduction of Symptoms – As you know, the vaccination does not prevent an individual from contracting COVID. The possibility of contracting COVID increases with the prevalence of COVID in the community and with the type of COVID that is present. Currently, 95% of all COVID cases are the Delta variant which is among the most contagious virus known. As the rate of COVID in the community increases, so does the risk of contracting COVID. As you know, the rates of COVID in BC and the Fraser Valley are increasing. This is why we encourage the use of all layers of protection – masks, hand hygiene, social distancing.
We are encouraging all of our residents in the Apartments to, once again, use these layers of protection, regardless of immunization status. This is also extended to the visitors who are visiting in the Independent Living Apartments. Be vigilant and use every protective tool we have – for the sake of the vulnerable who call Menno Place their home. If your loved one attends church, encourage them to wear a mask as an additional layer of protection.
The current outbreak with its relatively mild symptoms for the vaccinated staff and residents has been an encouragement to us that the vaccination is a layer of protection without which we would be re-living the experience we had last winter in Menno Home E2 where 14 of the E2 Home residents succumbed to COVID and 65 residents and staff contracted COVID. (Note – there were 2 other residents who succumbed to COVID who were not residents of Menno Home E2 for a total of 16).
Please continue to pray for Menno Place – for protection from the COVID virus and for the leadership as we continue to put into place the Provincial Health Orders.
