Dear Residents and Families,
We remain committed to providing updates to our residents, families, and staff at AgeCare. As such, we are providing weekly updates to keep you all informed on what is happening at our communities and organization-wide.
This weekly update includes:
- Post-Vaccination Safety – Why continuing to follow public health guidelines remains important.
- Recreation & Activities - An update on our return to safe recreation and activities as the need to stay active, intellectually stimulated, and socially connected never ends.
Thank you all for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Cindy Kahlon,
Administrator
Harmony Court Estate & Care Centre
Post-Vaccination Safety
As this weekend marks the one-year anniversary of living with COVID-19, it is understandable that many people may feel exhausted from following the rules and worrying about the well-being of their friends and family. It's no surprise that families are eager to return to "normal" when visiting with their loved ones especially now that most of our residents have received their vaccines.
We want to take this opportunity to clarify why we can't return to how life was pre-pandemic just yet.
- The vaccine is not 100% effective. Unfortunately, we have seen in practice fully vaccinated people become infected with COVID-19. While this number is small, we cannot ignore that our residents remain the most at risk for poor outcomes should they contract COVID-19.
- It is unknown if a vaccinated person can still transmit COVID-19. Because both the vaccine and the virus are new, data is still being collected around how long the vaccine lasts and how it impacts spread. As of now, there is no data to show that a vaccinated person cannot still be a carrier. This means you and your loved ones who are not vaccinated could get sick.
- Effectiveness on variant strains. While early studies indicate that the current vaccine is effective against the three major known variants, there is still more information that needs to be confirmed. It simply is not worth the risk to assume the vaccine will protect against known and potential unknown variants.
While these are the major concerns around relaxing your behaviour while visiting your loved ones, there are a variety of others not covered here. With so many unknowns, we must continue to be vigilant and mindful in our fight against COVID-19.
As the vaccination roll-out moves forward and more people become vaccinated, we hope to see provincial case counts continue to drop. It is only as our vaccination numbers increase and our case count decreases that we can look forward to the loosening of restrictions. Until then, we ask that families continue to follow the provincial restrictions and public health measures.
Recreation & Activities
Our recreation team is working hard to create engaging activities that enrich the mind, body and spirit. We are taking a measured, phased approach to recreation activities. Each week we will be reassessing how these are going and make any adjustments that may be required.
In both Harmony Court Estate (Independent Living) and the Care Centre (Long Term Care), we are cohorting residents into groups. They may enjoy the activities with the same residents each time. All cohort recreation programs will involve no touching of each other or shared objects.
During all interactions, staff continue to practice exceptional hand hygiene, wear Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), and are using extreme diligence in enhanced cleaning and disinfecting procedures.