This memo will be handed out to Independent Living on December 15, 2020.
MEMO
Date: December 15, 2020
To: Menno Place PAVILION, TERRACE WEST, PRIMROSE GARDENS Independent Living Apartment Residents, Family & Friends
Re: New Infection Control Guidelines for the Holiday Season 2020 in effect until at least January 8, 2021
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The holiday season this year will be challenging for all of us as we face unprecedented COVID-19 positive case numbers in our community. Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has released infection control guidelines for this season, until at least January 8th. As you live in a congregate living environment, we have outlined some additional protocols that will serve to keep you safe.
How does this affect you, a resident of Pavilion, Terrace West & Primrose Gardens?
- Essential Outings Only
Essential outings do not include: visiting family homes, shopping, going out to restaurants or cafes, attending church, or receiving external salon services (the TE hairdresser and on-site foot care are still be available). They do include essential medical appointments. This is NOT the time to be out and about.
- Essential Medical Appointments Only
If a medical appointment could prevent an eventual visit to the ER, it is considered essential. An example of a non-essential medical appointment is a regular visit to the dentist.
- Groceries delivered Registered Visitors
Groceries can to be delivered through the Registered Visitor. Residents may leave the Menno Place campus for essential supplies. i.e. to pick up medications that cannot be delivered. Groceries can also be ordered online and delivered through a Grocery Delivery Service.
- Walks Off-Campus are Permitted
If you go for a walk with someone else, remember to wear your mask and stay 6-feet apart.
- Christmas Celebrations – Christmas dinner can be brought to you by your Registered Visitor(s). It should be in a wipeable container. They may join you for your Christmas meal. You are asked to stay in your apartment suite with your Registered Visitor(s) as your household bubble. Wear masks when you aren’t eating. Sit 6 feet apart when you are eating together.
- If you go to a family home over Christmas, you will be required to self-isolate in your apartment for 14 days upon your return to your Independent Living Suite. [su_highlight]THIS IS HIGH RISK and not recommended by the Provincial Health Officer.[/su_highlight]
You will be billed for the isolation process and required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
- Christmas gifts and decorations can be brought in by the Registered Visitor. All gifts will need to be quarantined for 48-hours.
- Hospital Visits and Returning to 14-Day Isolation – All residents who go to hospital will be on 14-day isolation upon returning to their apartment suite. This includes day procedures, ER visits, overnight stays. There is no minimum time in the hospital visit to qualify for 14-day isolation.
What continues?
- The regular meal rotation in the dining room will continue.
- The Terrace East hairdresser and Pavilion are still open.
- Foot care is still available – three footcare nurses.
- Flower deliveries are being received as long as they are in a wipeable container.
Orders can be made through Buckets Fresh Flower Market in Abbotsford at abbotsfordflorist.com
What is the process if a resident has been in contact with a COVID positive person?
As the prevalence of COVID in the Abbotsford community grows, so does the risk that a resident in the Menno Apartments will be infected with COVID. Since August, we have three instances of a COVID positive person entering our Independent Living apartment buildings. Two were Fraser Health Home Support workers and one was a Registered Visitor.
What happens after we discover that a visitor to an apartment suite is COVID positive?
- Enhanced Cleaning: We continue our enhanced cleaning around the apartment buildings – high-touch points (elevator buttons, door handles, railings, smash bars on the doors) are being cleaned multiple times per day.
- Isolation for 14 Days: The resident in isolation must stay in their suite for 14 days while they MIGHT be infectious.
- Isolation Cart: We immediately put an isolation cart outside the apartment suite of the resident who has been in contact with a COVID positive person.
- COVID Swab Test: If they have any symptoms, they will be swabbed. For independent living residents, the registered visitor will take them to the COVID testing site for the swab.
- Rely on Registered Visitors: Registered Visitors play THE primary role in supporting a resident who is in isolation. They may enter the suite in full PPE to provide essential services for the resident. The Registered Visitor supports the resident with food, daily active screening for symptoms and social contact. If they develop symptoms that require additional support (vomitting or diahrrea) these are supported by the Registered Visitors or Home Support (privately contracted by the resident or Fraser Health Home Support contracted through Home Health). Menno Place does not have the staff to provide care, laundry or housekeeping support for those who are not already clients.
- Full PPE to enter the suite: Any entrance into the apartment suite during isolation (symptoms or not) MUST be done in full PPE. The PPE is in the isolation cart beside the apartment door with donning and doffing instructions (gown, gloves, mask, goggles).
- Appropriate Disclosure to keep all safe: If there is a COVID positive in the apartment building, we will share this with the residents in the apartment building, staff who work in that apartment building and all of the Menno Place campus (staff, residents, families). We protect the privacy of the individual, so we don’t communicate the name of the COVID-positive individual to those who do not need to know.
Keep yourself and others safe this holiday season! Remember to wear a mask over your mouth and nose outside of your apartment. Stay 6 feet apart from others. Use hand sanitizer or wash your hands with soap and hot water regularly. Do not touch your face. Practice proper respiratory etiquette.
If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact Cheryl Dawes, Manager of Community Enrichment for Apartments at Cheryl.Dawes@mennoplace.ca or 604-851-4020.
