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 and 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 and 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 and tenants are wearing light-weight clothing.

To prevent heat exhaustion among our staff, staff mask and eye protection requirements may be temporarily relaxed given the extreme heat.

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 and 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.

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

Filming at Menno Place – July 16th from 12:30pm to 5:00pm

Menno Place will be the star of the show on Friday, July 16th when we film a drone video in the afternoon. The video will start over Mill Lake Park and will zoom through our campus, featuring all the amazing outdoor places that our residents, family and staff enjoy. The completed video will be made public.

Filming will take place at the Apartments and in the central courtyard. Recreation, Dietary and Community Enrichment teams are setting up the people who will showcase the many ways that we engage with each other in this amazing community. Participants will provide signed permission.

Before COVID, we had HUGE parties – do you remember Grandparent’s Day? 600 guests! Stilt walker, clowns, dunk tank… there are so many fun memories. You can check out some of the pictures from our 2015 Grandparent’s Day Fair here – CLICK HERE.

We are hoping that this video will capture some of the energy that we have experienced in the days before COVID. We look forward to showing it to you when it’s complete!

Some residents and families will be phoned to participate in the filming. Staff will have them sign a video permission release.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve had filming at Menno Place!  Here’s the day that Telus came to film a commercial at Primrose Gardens!

There will be a day – it will be soon – that we can enjoy these fun times again! We look forward to that day!

 

From the Wicking Dementia Research & Education Centre, Australia:

We are just getting in contact regarding our next free online dementia course. The course is a MOOC Course – Massive Open Online Course – a free online course that allows unlimited participation through open access on the web.

The July 2021 Understanding Dementia MOOC is about to open. 

We are accepting enrolments until 30th July.

Course duration: 7 weeks
Estimated effort: 3 hours per week
Course access: Day or night, on your smart phone, tablet or computer
Course closes: 17th September, 2021 (content is accessible across 10 weeks)
Completion certificate? Yes, there is a personalised certificate on completion
Cost: FREE

Course content includes how the brain is affected by the diseases that cause dementia, symptoms, diagnosis, stages and management, and personal and carers’ perspectives of living with dementia.

Click here for more information about the Understanding Dementia MOOC.

Click the button below and follow the prompts to login and enroll at mooc.utas.edu.au