COVID-19 Self-Monitoring – For Staff, Visitors and Residents in Independent Living

In our Independent Living Apartments (Pavilion, Terrace West, Primrose Gardens), we provided daily Active Screening for COVID-19 from the onset of the pandemic until 14 days after the 2nd dose vaccination clinics in those buildings. Active Screening is when another person asks you the COVID-19 screening questions in-person. This gives them the ability to look at your eyes, your face-color, your countenance in order to add their observations to the screening process.

Residents in Assisted Living and Long-Term Care continue to be screened for COVID-19 symptoms daily. Staff at Menno Place continue to be screened for COVID-19 symptoms daily.

As we’ve entered Step 3 of the BC Restart Program (July 1, 2021), it is important that all Independent Living residents and all visitors to the Menno Place campus practice self-screening and take appropriate action when they have symptoms, even mild, of COVID-19.

What do you do if you have symptoms of COVID-19? Follow the Fraser Health instructions for COVID-testing provided on this website – CLICK HERE.

How do you self-screen to ensure that you are safe to visit at Menno Place? Answer the following questions:

Do you have NEW ONSET of COVID-19-like symptoms? Follow COVID-19 testing instructions if you answer YES. Do not come for a visit.

• Fever (above 37.8C)
• Cough
• Nausea
• Headache
• Chills
• Sore Throat
• Loss of sense of smell
• Vomiting
• Loss of appetite
• Extreme fatigue or tiredness
• Body aches
• Loss of sense of taste
• Difficulty breathing
• Diarrhea

Do you have a risk factor for COVID-19 exposure?

Do not come for a visit if you say YES to any of these (unless an exception is made such as essential workers: long-haul trucker or healthcare worker who crosses the USA/Canada border regularly)

• In the past 14 days, have you returned from travel outside of Canada?
• In the past 14 days, have you been in close contact with anyone diagnosed with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19?
• In the past 14 days, have you lived or worked in a setting that is part of a COVID-19 outbreak?
• In the past 14 days, were you discharged from an acute care unit in a hospital that is on COVID-19 outbreak?
• In the past 14 days, have you been advised to self-isolate or quarantine at home by Public Health?
• Do you have a COVID test pending?

Dear Menno Place Resident/Tenant Families,

­­­­In response to the heat wave impacting our region, we have put several measures in place as part of our emergency preparedness plan, to ensure the health and safety of our residents/tenants.

As such, we are closely working with Fraser Health leadership to address heat-related challenges and access support and resources, including relief staff and air conditioning devices.

To protect our residents/tenants, we are proactively monitoring them for signs of heat-related conditions and mitigating their risk in the following ways:

• Ensuring they are regularly hydrated;
• Providing cooling cloths;
• Using ice machines and fans/air conditioning devices;
• Closing blinds and ensuring residents/tenants are wearing light-weight clothing.

To prevent heat exhaustion among our staff, staff mask and eye protection requirements have been temporarily relaxed given the extreme heat. We have removed the expectation for residents in the apartments to wear masks.

The risk of heat-related dangers to older adults at this time is more imminent than COVID-19 transmission. Thus, sites not experiencing an outbreak can relax certain COVID-19 restrictions at their site, such as grouping residents/tenants in cooling spaces and using fans/air conditioning devices. The relaxation of these restrictions is possible because of the protection residents/tenants/staff have received through widespread vaccination in long-term care and assisted living sites, and the decreased risk of COVID-19 transmission in our community.

We encourage you as families and friends to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to keep your loved ones safe. If you have the opportunity to get fully vaccinated (2nd dose + 14 days), you are bringing a significantly high layer of protection to your loved one, other residents and our staff when you visit.

Once the heat warning has ended, we will work with Fraser Health leadership to re-evaluate our approach.

If you have any specific questions about your loved one, please contact the nurse on their unit, or the Manager of Community Enrichment in the Apartments.

Sincerely,

Menno Place Leadership

Effective immediately, these are the updates from Fraser Health for social visits in Menno Home, Menno Hospital and Terrace East:

1. Visitors can sing indoors with their loved one while wearing their mask
2. Outdoor gatherings. (long-term care) for visitors and residents remain at a maximum of 10 visitors due to space and staff capacity. These must be pre-booked for the tent in the courtyard.
3. Visitors may share food with a resident in their room/apartment suite or outside. Social distance must be maintained with other residents and staff.
4. Visitors may not share food with staff. From time to time, there are requests to bring food for the staff (example: birthday cake). This may be arranged for the other residents in the unit with your loved one. At this time, staff are excluded from sharing food.