September 8, 2020
I hope you were able to enjoy a safe, healthy long-weekend.
As you may be aware, Seasons Owen Sound was officially placed in COVID-19 outbreak status last week by the Grey-Bruce Health Unit. At this time, we continue to have just one resident case. I want to thank the team members at Seasons Owen Sound who have been working diligently to ensure the health and safety of our residents during this challenging time.
This was our first outbreak since May 2020 and is a good reminder for all our team members, residents and their families that we must continue to work together to keep COVID-19 out of our retirement residences. We trust that all residents and families, during onsite or offsite visits or excursions practice continuous masking, good hand hygiene and proper physical distancing, in order to protect the collective safety. It just takes one visit without a mask or physical distancing for someone to become infected.
We continue with our many Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) protocols, including but not limited to enhanced cleaning of high-touch points, screening of staff, residents and visitors before they enter our residences and the enforcement of our visitor policy.
It is imperative that families schedule visits with our residents versus showing up unplanned. This assists us and local Public Health with contact mapping should we have a case of COVID-19. It is a challenge to our physical distancing procedures when unplanned visitors arrive, at the screening checkpoints, in the elevators and throughout our buildings.
We encourage people to not visit us if they feel unwell and we want to remind residents to please remain in their suites if they feel sick in any way. Please inform a member of the Seasons Health & Wellness team who will follow up with you. Team members, a reminder that this applies to you as well; please do not come to work if you are feeling ill. If staff or residents find yourselves exposed to or at risk, please notify a Seasons Service Team Leader immediately so we can implement heightened protocols to limit the risk to the greater group.
We will continue to cohort staff and residents for the time being. When we were first placed in outbreak status at Seasons Owen Sound, all residents were isolated to their suites for 48 hours; then the Grey-Bruce Health Unit advised that our robust cohorting efforts meant that residents who are not in the affected cohort could continue to enjoy meals in our dining room.
Seasons continues to evolve as a company to best meet our staff and residents’ unique needs. As I noted in my last Memo, we are negotiating a new communications platform to improve communication and our residents’ in-suite experiences with dining services and activities. This will be accessible by residents via app and TV channel, and includes a portal for families. We are partnering with new vendors to assist with enhanced in-suite meal delivery as needed in the future and we have implemented an online app to enhance efficiency for staff to pick up additional shifts.
Please rest assured that we continue to follow all guidelines and documentation from Alberta Health (AH), Alberta Health Services (AHS), Ontario Ministry of Health (MOH), the Retirement Home Regulatory Authority (RHRA) and our Local Public Health Units to promote the health and well-being of our residents and team members.
We appreciate that you have many choices when it comes to living and working in the retirement living sector. We take our responsibility to our staff and residents very seriously and we thank them for choosing Seasons Retirement Communities.
Sincerely,
LeighAnne Voll
Chief Operating Officer
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