March 22, 2020
Our heightened precautionary protocols remain in place and we continue to follow the advice of provincial and federal governments, our sector regulators and local Public Health agencies.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding regarding the Essential Visitors only mandate. While we appreciate that this can be hard on our residents and families, restricting visitors is crucial to the health of our team members and residents.
*NEW* On March 23, 2020, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) issued a directive to Long Term Care (LTC) homes, and has required all Retirement homes to follow suit. Effective immediately “residents should not be permitted to leave their [retirement] home” unless it is medically necessary. Residents who wish to go outside should remain on the retirement community property while practicing safe social distancing.
While we understand that this is an Ontario directive, in the best interests of all our residents including Albertans, Seasons Retirement Communities will require that all residents remain in our residences. The only exception will be those who must leave for essential medical appointments.
Please be advised that any resident who leaves our premises, for any reason, will be required to complete our health screening checklist upon their return and self-isolate in their suite for a period of 72 hours to 14 days.
We appreciate the seriousness of this decision and the impact to our residents. The health and safety of our residents and team members remains our highest priority and we believe this is the right action to curb potential exposure to COVID-19 at this time.
Thank you to everyone who has gone out of their way to praise, encourage and support our staff during this difficult time. These positive comments mean a great deal. Seasons Team Members remain committed to our residents and we as a company will continue to show our appreciation for their efforts.
As a demonstration of our appreciation, we are implementing a “Thank You Bonus” of an additional 20% to our front line team members’ regular wages, effective March 23, 2020. These bonuses will be paid out for the time period of Seasons’ heightened precautionary protocols around COVID-19. We believe this will go a long way to making sure our front-line team members know how much we appreciate the work they are doing to keep our residents safe.
We know these are complicated times and I understand that you may be worried. Please rest assured that we remain vigilant in our infection control policies and procedures. All decisions are being made with our staff and residents’ best interests in mind.
Thank you for the trust you have placed in Seasons Retirement Communities.
Sincerely,
LeighAnne Voll,
Chief Operating Officer
For details on the heightened precautionary protocols Seasons has put in place, please click here.
For additional online resources for COVID-19 you can visit the following sites:
Canada Health
Alberta Health
Alberta Health Services
Public Health Ontario
Retirement Home Regulatory Authority