A Message From Your Executive Director
As I let you know in my email on Friday afternoon, we are working with the Department of Health regarding another possible exposure in our building. In response to the exposure, we will test all staff and all assisted living residents on Thursday 4/15. I will report the results to you on Friday night.
I urge you to read further down in this newsletter to find the section about The Kind Boys. Our residents are an inspiration to me every day. Check out our community in action.
We continue to hire new people in many different positions. As you see more new faces around the community don’t be afraid to introduce yourself. We are bringing on new nurses, QLS staff, and kitchen staff. We are focused on finding the best people in the Upper Valley to care for and feed our residents.
Thank you for your continued support, enjoy the Spring weather, and we will see you soon!
Nikki
Community Connection
Last week at The Village residents enjoyed chair yoga with instructor Swan, daily movies, scenic drives, and a shopping trip to the Co-op Food Store and Walgreens. On Wednesday vibraphone player Rich Araldi performed in Miller Stage for both Assisted Living and Memory Care residents. On Thursday Director of Health Services Danielle Yoder instructed some of our assisted living residents about falls prevention, a topic near and dear to all of us.
This week residents can look forward to daily group walking and fitness sessions, our weekly Monday Margarita Bar, scenic drives, a Waffle Bar breakfast on Wednesday, and our first Summoning Summer cookout night on Thursday! We are also excited to welcome back Matt Seiple for an evening music performance on Saturday, April 17th at 7:00 PM.
NOTE: As always, Skype calls are available to keep everyone connected. To schedule, please sign up at https://teamup.com/kszegtj8g4jco615xw and reach out to Sam with any questions.
Community Connection – Vaccines
Our pharmacy has announced that they now have access to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and that is what they will be distributing to long term care communities at this time. This is a single dose vaccine and we can get a vial for every 5 residents and/or staff who would like to be vaccinated. We are excited about this development as a one dose vaccine eases some of the burden of logistics for providing 2 doses.
We understand that you may have questions about this process as well as the vaccines themselves, for that reason we are sharing below the links to the CDC and Johnson & Johnson websites to help answer some of your inquiries.
Memory Care Minute
By Gretchen Cole, Director of Memory Care
Hello everyone,
It is exciting for me to begin having input into the newsletter and let you know about the wonderful things that are going on in our Memory Care neighborhood.
What is Memory Care?
There are many wonderful people in this world who have learned that they have a diagnosis of Cognitive Impairment. This involves memory loss that is significant enough to affect their daily activities of living. Dementia is the primary diagnosis with some specifications including Vascular Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia related to Parkinson’s Disease, Lewy Body Dementia, Traumatic Brain Injury, and many more. The Village offers specialized support to our residents who are living with a form of Dementia.
Our staff are trained in the Heartfelt Connections program which has a focus on memory care and life enrichment. As my role as the Memory Care Director evolves, so will our specialized programming. Our staff build life enrichment into every day. This may mean that they provide manicures, take someone out for a walk, have a dance party, or play a game that is not scheduled on the calendar.
Residents in memory care take part in life enrichment programming both in the MC neighborhood and with the other residents living at The Village. We are a community. Memory Care residents take part in scenic drives, Yoga classes, walking outdoors, daily movies, and the live music on Miller Stage. During Covid-19 there were restrictions within our building related to group activities and movement throughout the building, but I am happy to say that these restrictions have been lifted. We are now back to enjoying the use of the gym, Teddy’s Pub, the library and join monthly resident council meetings.
Attendance and participating in life enrichment programming is individualized and varies according to someone’s interests, abilities, and comfort levels. As someone’s dementia progresses, their world becomes much smaller and familiar surroundings may become more comforting and reassuring than going somewhere new. These changes may affect their participation in group programs. Heartfelt Connections is designed to provide as many individualized programs as possible with adaptations. This will ensure success with someone’s declining cognition.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have questions about memory care, memory impairment, and the program that is evolving.
Gretchen
Resident Spotlight
The Kind Boys
Members include Bill Birkmaier, Lee Miller, Joe Ammatuna, Jon Appleton, and Anne Harris.
The Village has tremendous residents and we are thankful every day to have the opportunity to work with them. Last week I was made aware of a resident group that has been formed and I couldn’t wait to share it with you.
Bill Birkmaier shares:
“In response to the violent and hate-filled group called The Proud Boys, a group of concerned citizens at The Village at White River Junction has formed The Kind Boys.
Our goal is to turn a season of fear, discontent, and uncertainty into a season of joy, hope, and love. In sickness and in health we choose to love one another. If you are feeling low, sad, or depressed, we are here to help you get through it. We’ll talk to you, we’ll walk with you, we’ll hold your hand and sit with you. As the Buddha said, “Don’t just do something, sit there.”
We stand ready to ease your pain. Together we are witnessing the greatest outpouring of love and understanding in human history! We will do this for our children, for our grandchildren, and for each other.“
I am so proud to know that these folks are looking outside of themselves and focusing on helping others. What an amazing example to set.
Tips For These Times
Nashville-based singer songwriter Megan Davis first made a name for herself posting acoustic covers and mash-ups on YouTube before releasing her first album about a year ago. A classically-trained guitarist, Davies studied guitar and songwriting at Belmont and has savvily built her career from the ground up, filming her early videos with borrowed gear before a growing following allowed her to diversify.
Enjoy her cover of Time After Time
Talk Time
Join Nikki every Wednesday at 10:00 am via Zoom for COVID and community updates and have an opportunity to ask questions.
This Week’s Menu
This Week’s Activities
COVID-19 In Our Community
We are committed to keeping you informed of how COVID-19 is impacting The Village at White River Junction. We continue our robust commitment to following the guidelines from both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities by:
- Based on our current Phase and the positivity rate in our county, visitors will be allowed beginning 2/26/21
- All visits must be scheduled ahead of time. We need to record the time you enter the community and the time you leave.
- Limit of 2 visitors per resident at a time, up to 4 visitors per day
- We will gather name and contact info for contact tracing for every visit.
- Visits may occur between 9am and 7pm.
- Core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention will be enforced. These include:
- Screening before each visit
- Hand hygiene
- Mask use for all visitors and staff
- Physical distancing when possible
- Visits can occur in the resident’s apartment or outside.
- Requiring all staff to wear surgical or procedural masks and adhere to screening processes
- Maintaining the frequency and rigor of cleaning and sanitizing all surfaces
- Reviewing our emergency preparedness and response program
- Asking residents and employees to adhere to the State of Vermont travel restrictions
- Coordinating best practices across our large partner network
- Group activities are held following social-distancing guidelines
Helpful Links
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
- www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/index.html
LCS COVID-19 website
Local health department website
From the Governor
