Dear Residents and Families,

Welcome to our new readers!

This August, our AgeCare family grew with the addition of four communities in interior British Columbia. Please join us in welcoming the residents, their families and the staff of AgeCare Brandt’s Creek Mews, AgeCare Cariboo Place, AgeCare Monashee Mews and AgeCare Mount Ida Mews.

We are pleased to share that we now have five amazing communities located in British Columbia. As such, we are moving to a provincial version of our weekly update. While there may be a few changes to the look of this update, we remain committed to providing important information on what is happening in our province, our communities, and organization-wide.

This weekly update includes:

1. Rapid Antigen Screening for Staff - Information on rapid testing coming to AgeCare.
2. Living with a COVID-19 Positive Person – Tips for staying safe if you live with a COVID positive person.
3. Visitation Guidelines – How to stay safe during your visits
4. Recreation & Activities - An update on our recreation and activities as the need to stay active, intellectually stimulated, and socially connected never ends.
5. Weekly Shout Out - Sharing good news stories and gratitude for our residents, staff and community.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Sincerely,

AgeCare Communications

Rapid Antigen Screening for Staff

This week, in accordance with the Public Health Order (PHO), AgeCare began testing all unvaccinated/partially vaccinated staff using Rapid Antigen Screening (RAS) before they began their shifts. Unlike traditional lab Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests, rapid testing can be done onsite and produce results in as little as 15 minutes.

The goal of introducing Rapid Antigen Screening is to detect asymptomatic COVID-19 positive staff as early as possible. This will lead to less spread throughout our communities.

As this is a new program, we wanted to take the time to answer some questions that you may have.

Q: Who will receive rapid testing?

A: PHO has mandated that this program is only intended for unvaccinated/partially vaccinated asymptomatic staff of continuing care facilities. Visitors do not yet qualify for rapid testing and will continue to be screened as usual prior to visits.

Q: If staff have a negative rapid test will they still wear their usual PPE?

A: YES. As we have seen in practice, the window to COVID-19 to infect can be up to 14 days. All routine and additional PPE is still required. A negative screen does not exempt staff from following public health measures.

Q: I’ve heard rapid tests can give false positives – what will happen when staff test positive?

A: Because rapid testing can produce false positives (showing someone is COVID positive when they are not), any staff who received a positive rapid test will be asked to isolate immediately and book in for a PCR lab test to confirm the results.

We are pleased to offer Rapid Antigen Screening as another tool to prevent COVID-19 from entering our communities.

Living with a COVID-19 Positive Person

As provincial cases continue to rise, you may find yourself living with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Here are some tips to stay safe if you find yourself in this situation:

Protect yourself and others

• Monitor yourself for symptoms daily and isolate yourself immediately if you start to feel unwell. Then, take the online COVID-19 self-assessment to determine whether you should be tested.
• Limit your contacts. Avoid unnecessary outings and appointments until Public Health clears the COVID-positive person in your household.
• Visitors should not come to your home.
• When possible, try to ensure the ill person has their own bathroom and bedroom. Do not share items such as towels, toothbrushes, utensils or electronic devices.
• Maintain physical distance from the ill individual as much as possible.
• If you need to be within 2 metres of the ill person, wear a mask, disposable gloves and eye protection.
• Do not re-use masks or gloves.
• Clean your hands often for at least 20 seconds, especially after contact with the ill person and removing gloves, mask and eye protection.

Keep your environment clean

• Wear disposable gloves when touching the ill person, their environment and soiled items or surfaces.
• Advise loved ones to cover their coughs and sneezes with their arm, not their hand, and to practice good respiratory etiquette at all times
• At least once daily, use household disinfectants or diluted bleach (1 part bleach and 9 parts water) to clean and disinfect surfaces that people often touch (e.g., toilets, laundry containers, bedside tables, doorknobs, phones and television remotes).
• Clean touch screens with 70% alcohol wipes.

Visitation Guidelines

Please note – communities on outbreak may have different visitation restrictions in effect. Contact your community or sign up for email updates to stay informed on the latest information.

Visits no longer need to be booked ahead of time. All visitors will continue to be screened upon entry to the building. If your visit occurs outside of reception hours, please submit your screening documents to the nursing station.

Fully Immunized

• Must wear a medical mask in all indoor public/common areas, including to and from the resident’s room.
• Can remove mask while visiting the resident in their suite.

Not Immunized or Partially Immunized

• Must wear a medical mask at all times, including visiting with the resident in their suite or indoor public/common areas.

During your visit, it is STRONGLY recommended that visitors:

• Wear a mask when visiting, including in a resident’s suite.
• Be fully vaccinated with two doses (the second dose received a minimum of two weeks prior).

During your visit, visitors are required to:

• Wear a medical mask when in common areas or while travelling around the building.
• Maintain physical distancing while in groups.
• Practice proper hand hygiene frequently.
• Whenever possible, residents residing in shared suites-(semi-private), visits should occur in a designated area or outside. If the visit occurs in a shared suite, the number of visitors may be limited to maintain physical distance from the other residents.
• Continue to self-screen for COVID-19 after your visit. Notify AgeCare if any symptoms arise within 14 days of the visit.

Location:

• Visits can occur in the resident’s suite, designated areas, or outside.
• Residents residing in shared suites-(semi-private):
  • Only visitors for one resident can be in the room at any one time;
  • Visits for each resident must be staggered in the multi-resident room.

When entering, visitors must be screened and follow ALL safe visiting practices and COVID-19 protocols.

Harmony Court
Time:

Recreation & Activities

Our recreation team is working hard to create engaging activities that enrich the mind, body and spirit. We are continuously looking for ways to reduce the risk of transmission while having the least impact on resident well-being.

PLEASE NOTE: At this time, visitors are not permitted to attend indoor recreations programming, including concerts. Thank you for your understanding. 

Check out our September Calendars!

Weekly Shout-Out

This week we’re shouting out one of our new communities Brandt’s Creek Mews, and their fabulous staff and residents!

Recently, residents enjoyed a fun-filled Hawaiian event! Thanks to our incredible recreation team, residents were taken on a journey to the Hawaiian Islands, complete with tropical food and beverages!

No Hawaiian vacation is complete without a luau, and the Brandt’s Creek Mews team delivered just that – complete with a hula dancing video!