APARTMENTS DINING EXPERIENCE – UPDATE – NOVEMBER 25, 2021

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APARTMENTS DINING ROOM UPDATE – NOVEMBER 25, 2021

PAVILION – Residents in the Pavilion will begin having meals in the dining room on Monday, November 29, 2021. This will begin one floor at a time. A memo will be distributed tomorrow to the residents with details.

TERRACE WEST – Residents in Terrace West will begin having meals in the Terrace West Bistro on Monday, November 29, 2021. This will begin one floor at a time. A memo will be distributed tomorrow to the residents with details.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE WITH DINING EXPERIENCE

The Community Enrichment team will be meeting next week with our Infection Control Lead to discuss how we can improve the dining experience in the apartments while maintaining safety for residents.

Factors that we will consider are:

  1. The percentage of each apartment building that has 3 doses of COVID vaccine.
  2. The percentage of unvaccinated residents in the apartment building.
  3. The prevalence of COVID in the community, particularly in the churches. COVID in our Apartments has been traced back to church events.
  4. The installation of air-scrubbers to mitigate the possibility of airborne transmission.
  5. The social needs of the residents and the risks residents are willing to take.
  6. Commitment of the residents to vigilance with layers of safety from COVID.
  7. Creative ways that we can bring groups of residents together – similar to a restaurant environment.

As you know, we saw in the Terrace East Outbreak how very quickly COVID can spread. It was clear to us and to Fraser Health that the dining rooms were high risk environments for the residents of the Apartments. We continue to grieve the loss of life that happened as a result of that COVID outbreak.

We are very cognizant of the staff resources required to manage an outbreak and keep the rest of the seniors who live in the apartment safe. We developed cohorted teams of staff, moving 4 staff full-time to cohort in Terrace West and then in Pavilion. In order to allocate these staff to one building, we had to hire coverage for the other work that they did previously. All of this takes logistics and management. The demands and the responsibilities are heavy for the leadership. We continue to feel the impact of our Manager of Community Enrichment resigning her position after working 28 straight days during the Terrace East outbreak.

Our team will meet with hopefulness and understanding of the desire that residents have to “go back to normal”. We share that desire.

Thank you for your patience as we carefully plan for safe and meaningful dining experiences for those who call Menno Apartments their home. We will continue to keep you informed about these decisions. We will send out a memo about this to residents tomorrow.

Please send any input you have to Leonard.Klassen@MennoPlace.ca (Life Enrichment Coordinator).