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Coronavirus COVID-19 Updates

JULY 23, 2020 - Changes to Visitor Restrictions at AgeCare Communities

Posted by AgeCare on July 23, 2020 at 1:27 PM

An updated public health order will come into effect on Thursday July 23, 2020, following Dr. Hinshaw's consultation with residents, families, and facility operators.

 

The Safe Visitation Policy was written to accommodate a less restrictive visiting policy that balances the care community, residents, family and loved ones collectively mitigating risk. The policy is intended to help people remain socially and emotionally connected in a safe and measured approach – as congregate living residents remain uniquely vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19. 

 

In keeping with AgeCare’s mandate to strive for resident and family centered care; each AgeCare community identified residents and family members to participate in AgeCare's consultation of a revised Safe Visitation Policy. This consultation occurred over the last couple of days and we would like to extend our sincere thanks to those who participated. Please know that this consultation was for our initial launch of the policy and that more consultations will occur with the resident and family councils as we move forward in the coming weeks and months. We are continuously seeking feedback on these processes and would ask that if you have feedback that you provide through your regular channels at the site level.

 

The new Safe Visitation Policy provides guidance on 3 types of visiting including Indoor Visits, Outdoor Visits, and End of Life (Palliative) Visits. Please see the below summary for ease of reference on the types of visitation outlined in the recent order – along with options such as Community Walks and Virtual Visits.

 

Indoor Visits

Indoor Visits

Download the guide & checklist (PDF)

Outdoor Visits

Outdoor Visits

Download the guide & checklist (PDF)

 

End of Life Visits

End of Life

Download the guide & checklist (PDF)

 

Community Walks

Community Walks

Download the guide (PDF)

 

Virtual Visits

Virtual Visits

Download the guide (PDF)

 

 

We are incredibly thankful for our current COVID-free status across our communities during this pandemic. The safety of our residents and staff would not have been possible without the support of every family member and loved one. We are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that the status of our sites continues and your loved ones remain safe.

While the visitor policy has moved from “Restricted Access" towards a "Safe Access" policy, we urge all families and loved ones to use extreme caution, to assess their own risk of unknown exposure to COVID-19, and consider the impact that such visitations may have on those who live and work in our communities. Our residents continue to be the most vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19 with the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and even death if they contract the virus.

For our larger buildings, opening up indoor visits could mean upwards of 600 visitors into just one community in a single day. We have identified maximum capacity within each community to allow some control over the number of people moving about the building to ensure our risk of COVID spread remains as low as possible. We also strongly encourage families and loved ones to continue to choose virtual and outdoor visitation options for a majority of their visits, so that we may limit the number of individuals coming into our buildings and help keep our AgeCare communities COVID-19 free.

Additionally, we encourage families and loved ones who choose to visit, to ensure they are doing all that they can in their day-to-day to remain safe and healthy to reduce the risk of bringing potential infection into our communities. This continues to be a time of much transition as we move forward with new visitation guidelines and we ask for your patience. We will learn over the coming days and weeks the effect increased visitation, while so important, must be balanced with safety for all residents and staff.

We wish to thank all our residents and families for their continued support during this transition. We remain committed to doing all we can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our communities and keep our residents and staff safe.

Sincerely, 

 

The AgeCare Leadership Team

 

* Download letter in PDF format

Topics: Alberta