Zoom Calls Continue as Booked for Home E1, W1, W2
Zoom calls continue as booked. We apologize for any confusion.
November 22 – No additional positives – Total=3 residents in Menno Home E2
COVID OUTBREAK UPDATE – Nov. 22, 2020 – Menno Home E2
NEW COVID POSITIVE CASES = 0 (for both residents and staff)
TOTAL COVID POSITIVE CASES = 3 residents in Menno Home E2; 0 staff
SWAB RESULTS
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All of the resident results for Home E2 have been returned. 3 positive / remaining are negative. Residents will be swabbed again this week.
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Most staff results have been returned. All that have been returned are negative. Staff with pending results are on isolation at home.
MENNO HOME (ENTIRE BUILDING) IS ON FULL PRECAUTIONS
The Medical Health Officer has ordered full precautions for every unit in Menno Home. This means that all residents are in isolation in their own room. There are no window visits that require staff assistance as the residents cannot leave their rooms. Staff tasks have shifted to take on additional duties during this full precaution period. Safe visits and Zoom visits are cancelled for all of Menno Home at this time. Residents who are actively dying are permitted visits.
November 21 – No additional positives
Today has been a big workday for Leanne (Manager, Housekeeping) and her team. They have disinfected all the new isolation carts and are filling them with PPE to fulfill the full precautions for every unit in Menno Home. Full precautions are being rolled out throughout the units this weekend, finishing with the BSTN (Behavioural Support and Transition Neighbourhood) in E1.
All residents are being served their meals in their own rooms – great work Angela and team! There are more overbeds coming – they’ve been ordered!
On this morning’s call with Fraser Health, we heard the logic behind the full precautions throughout Menno Home. As we do not know the INDEX case for this outbreak, we have to behave with all caution and protect all residents and staff in all units until the INDEX case is discovered. When we are able to confidently say either that everyone (staff and residents) is COVID-negative or that we have done contact tracing through the INDEX case, then we will be able to lift the full precautions.
Most of the staff COVID-19 swab results are in. All that have come in are negative. Our PPE and sanitizing supplies are doing well. Bas (Manager, Environmental Services) and his team are ordering from Fraser Health every three days. His team was able to secure another 1000 COVID-19 swab tests through the Center for Disease Control. Great work, Stores Team!
We have started the auditing that is required, including Hand Hygiene audits, PPE audits and Environmental Audits. For this audit, we’ve trained an auditor on our team. They put some gel onto surfaces and leave it for 24 hours. Housekeeping does their enhanced cleaning. The auditor returns to those surfaces and reveals whether or not the gel has been removed with the cleaning.
The Menno Home E2 staff are entering through a door that was designed as an Emergency Exit at the bottom of a set of stairs. Bas and the Maintenance team set up a PIN pad for the door so that it can function as an entrance. The Active Screener meets each staff at the top of the stairs and does the Active Screening before they are in the space with any of the residents.
Some staff are doing overtime – thank you. We are short in some departments due to the staff who have tested negative not being able to return to work in other units, yet. Many are eager to get back to work. Thank you!
If you see Leanne, give her an air hug and an air high-five. She was doing the Terrace East laundry last night.
We are thankful for a very cohesive leadership team who are collaborating together to make this all happen – and thankful that we are seeing the return of negative results for the staff.
For all the past daily updates, go to www.MennoPlaceStaff.com
November 20 – No additional positives
Good morning. Five days ago, we received the first positive COVID result for a resident living in Menno Home E2. Since then, we have received 2 more positive COVID results for residents for a total of 3 residents who are COVID positive.
We do not have any staff who are COVID positive. Most staff results have been returned. We are waiting for several COVID tests that are pending. Staff whose test results are negative are not permitted to come back to work to work on another unit or elsewhere on the campus. We are waiting for Public Health to give us more clarity on when this will be lifted. This has created some stress on various departments who have able workers waiting at home in isolation. Thank you for your willingness to return to work.
We meet daily with the Fraser Health liasion. This is our entire COVID team that gathers on Skype each morning at 9am. Fraser Health has asked us to put full precaution protocols in place in each of the other Menno Home units – W1, W2, E1. This means that residents will receive their meals in their rooms and we have signage and PPE supplies on each of the units rather than in our central Stores. It also means that staff can no longer enter more than one unit in a shift. This has been true since March for the care staff (care aides and nursing). They have been cohorted to one unit per shift with separate staff rooms.
Ther are pieces of our operations that are based on staff being able to enter more than one unit in a shift – for example, the delivery of goods each day from Stores. One staff member brings the goods to each unit each day. An example of what they bring is incontinence products. This staff member is doing the internal deliveries. Another example is our maintenance team. Bas, who manages the team has done an excellent job of hiring skilled maintenance. For example, one of the maintenance team is a Red Seal plumber. He is called on to use his skills in all of the units as needed.
These are the types of operational tasks that are no longer able to move in and out of a unit due to full precaution protocols. As you can imagine, there are a lot of logistics that change on the spot. That is what we worked on getting ready yesterday.
We purchased overbed tables so that the residents can eat in their own rooms. We purchased isolation carts (they contain the PPE) for outside of the rooms where full PPE are required. We needed to purchase 50 of these and we don’t have time to order them for delivery. We need one large garbage can per room for PPE disposal. The team phoned all Walmarts, Canadian Tires and Home Depots to find out their stock and we deployed our wonderful bus driver, Peter, to drive around the Fraser Valley to pick up the purchases. Peter misses taking residents out on bus trips so he said he’d love to get back in the bus. He said that it was 106 days from the last bus trip (March 12) until they began in the apartments again earlier this month.
Please pray today for two of our managers who are providing leadership for the operational changes.
- Bas, our Manager of Maintenance and Facilities. He supervises all the purchasing of PPE and product for the campus as well as the Maintenance team.
- LeanneTanner who is our Manager of Housekeeping and Laundry.
- Also, pray for Ursula, our Receptionist at Menno Home. She made hundreds of posters and laminated them all yesterday. These are required for full precaution.
- Pray for our CEO,Karen Axelson Biggs as she leads while her husband is in hospital.
- Pray for our Medical Director, Dr. Ken Dueck as he provides medical leadership for the Physicians group and several long-term care homes.
November 19 – TOTAL COVID positive = 3 residents in Menno Home E2
Good morning! This is a quick report to let you know how we are doing as we work through our COVID-Response Plan. The COVID Leadership Team is meeting twice a day for a huddle and to support each other in both morale and practical ways. We do this on Zoom. Housekeeping, laundry, maintenance, dietary, human resources – we are all involved. We have excellent communication and friendship in our leadership team which is so important in times like this.
We are very well prepared, particularly with PPE supplies. Staff morale is good. The staff who are working on E2 Home bring an incredible strength and confidence to their work. We immediately set up a separate entrance/exit that is exclusive only to this unit so there is no opportunity to mingle with other staff in Menno Home or the rest of the campus of care. Fraser Health was with our Infection Control Lead Nurse yesterday for several hours. They bring knowledge and practice that has evolved over these months since the pandemic began.
All families of Home E2 residents have received a phone call to inform them about the COVID positive residents. The families of the two COVID positive residents were informed immediately. When we receive all the swab results, we will phone all the families again to let them know what the results are for their loved one. Safe visits for all of Menno Home are cancelled for two weeks. Families have been gracious and understanding.
We so appreciate your prayers from across the campus – for protection, for wisdom, for strength. Our Menno Place prayer circle is a group of prayers who come together socially distanced on Tuesdays (cancelled for now) and by email to pray for Menno Place. If you would like prayer during this time, please let us know by filling out this web form: ICouldUseAPrayer.com
We are grateful for you, our staff who are working diligently to fulfill your tasks with compassion and skill. Thank you.
COVID-19 Update – TWO COVID Positive Residents in Menno Home E2
Menno Place Staff Memo – WEDNESDAY, NOV 18, 2020
Nov 18 – A second COVID positive resident was confirmed today – Menno Home E2
Total COVID Positive Residents – 2
Total COVID Postive Staff – 0
The families of the COVID positive residents have been notified.
We are waiting for swab results for the rest of the residents and staff.
ONE COVID positive resident – Menno Home E2
Nov 17 – On November 17th, a COVID-19 positive result came back for one (1) resident in Menno Home E2.
All of the Menno Home E2 staff and residents will be swabbed (tested) for COVID-19.
What if you were in the E2 Menno Home unit but don’t exclusively work there?
If you have been on E2 Menno Home in the past 3 days, you need to be swabbed. Please call Smitha Varghese, DOC, Menno Hospital (604.851.1337) to indicate that you need a swab done.
What are we doing?
- We are awaiting further instruction from the Medical Health Officer and our Medical Director, Dr. Ken Dueck, and will keep you informed.
- We are phoning all of the primary contacts of the E2 Menno Home residents so that those families are aware of the situation first
- We have put up appropriate signage to inform staff that only E2 Menno Home staff may enter that unit
- We are swabbing all E2 Menno Home staff for COVID
- We are swabbing all residents on E2 Menno Home
- We are letting you know that we have enough stock of PPE to keep you safe.
- We have cancelled all essential and social visits on E2 Home
- We have distributed Infection Control Carts, garbage cans and PPE to E2 Home
- We are restricting staff to only work on East 2 Home if they work there
- We are implementing our Covid Response Plan
- We are meeting daily to decide next steps
- We are closing fire doors on the unit to try and contain any spread
- We are putting red laundry bags on East 2 Home
What do you need to do?
- Continue to provide loving and skilled care for the residents
- Continue your vigilance with infection control protocols – masks at all times except when eating, goggles, hand hygiene, physical distancing
- Do not go from one unit to another or one building to another – ask your Supervisor for guidance if your work tasks require this movement (eg: Maintenance)
- Do not come to work if you show any signs of Covid, do your screening when you arrive and part way through your shift
- Make plans at home in case you have to self-isolate away from your family members
What will we do next?
- We will await instruction from the Medical Health Officer
- We will follow our COVID-19 Response Plan
- We will continue to practice vigilant infection control protocols
- We will keep you informed through email and through our website – www.MennoPlaceStaff.com
- Following communication with E2 Menno Home families, we will communicate with all families who have loved ones living at Menno Place
From the CEO, Karen Biggs
“Unfortunately I can’t be on site with your right now as my husband is Covid positive and I have had to self-isolate as I was with him all last week during his radiation treatments. I am very proud of how well you have all done during this pandemic. We are in this together. Together we can do this. I and the Leadership Team are confident in the strength of our each of you. Together we have protected our seniors and campus for 8 long months! Please continue to be kind, be calm and be safe. With the Lord’s help, we will get through this together.”