A Message From Your Executive Director
Dear Residents and Families,
The question I get most these days is when about when we will offer the 2nd booster that was recently approved. I am working with our pharmacy, Health Direct, to schedule and plan a booster clinic ASAP. Health Direct is meeting with officials at the state this week to plan their rollout and they estimate we could have a clinic here around the end of April or beginning of May. If any residents or staff don’t want to wait until then I believe you could find a booster at a local pharmacy or perhaps through your PCP. As soon as we have a clinic date, I will let everyone know.
As you know we had a few staff members test positive for COVID last week. We are following guidance from the state to test our staff and residents as appropriate and hopefully will be in the clear very soon. As we consider when to open our dining room to guests, I am closely watching the transmission and positivity rates in our county and surrounding areas. We are tentatively looking to reopen the dining room on 4/18/22 should the rates keep trending downward. We will return to a reservation system with reservations required at least 24 hours in advance as we will have limited capacity in the dining room. Stay tuned for more information.
I have heard from some residents that they sometimes have issues with wifi strength. As we investigate the issue and potential solutions I’d like as much data as possible. If you experience wifi issues, would you please let me, Geoff, or Sheila know? We’ll need to know where in the building the issues occur. Thank you for your help with this.
Many of you have been taking advantage of the foot care we have been providing monthly. As of 4/1/22 the cost of that service will increase to $35 per visit.
Spring is definitely here and our residents are enjoying being outside more. Be sure to check out the photos below to see some of our fun activities.
Be Well,
Nikki
Community Connection
We continue to meet with residents to build our programming around what speaks to their interests and to assure that everyone has a say in what is offered here at The Village.
We are starting the month of April off with our first annual Resident Exhibit which will be taking place in the Crockwell Art Gallery during the month of April – what precious and interesting entries we have received. The response has been overwhelming.
Our weekly Saturday afternoon showings of Metropolitan Opera performances, Broadway musicals, and world-class plays have been a big hit. This month we will enjoy the MET’s Turandot and Aida, Musicals Carmen Jones and West Side Story, and play The Little Foxes.
Master Classes this month will include Gardening, Design and Architecture with Fran Gehry, Inclusive Leadership with Bill Clinton, and Philosophy with Cornel West.
The ongoing Rick Steve’s Europe series has also been a big hit and a great opportunity for residents to share their own personal travel stories.
This month we will “virtually” enjoy the annual Boston MFA Art in Bloom show. Our first High Tea is scheduled this month with the hope of it being a monthly tradition if received well.
In order to assure that we are meeting all residents interest we have a movie theme (based on residents’ interest) for every day of the week. Genres include History, Classic B&W Movies, Comedies, Documentaries, Travel Shows, Period Films, Mysteries, Romance, Westerns/War and History. If we are missing a category please let us know and we will add it to the mix.
Due to great interest, we are rescreening the first 5 Jazz episodes on Saturday mornings to allow those who missed an episode on Thursdays Documentary and Discussion night to catch up.
This week’s documentary, Fastball, was about professional baseball will be followed up with Baseball historian Stephen Castellani presenting The History of Baseball and sharing his beloved antique uniform and baseball collection on April 4th.
Native son David Briggs will be joining us to present “White River Junction – Cycles of Community” on April 18th.
Virtual – Food for Your Soul: Reading Poetry Together Fridays 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm |
| Register Here |
This is a virtual event. If you have questions about how to connect to the event, please contact the event host. Leader: Lori Fortini. See all of their virtual events here. Poems offer ways to look at our world that are relevant for our time and give rise to deep thoughts and feelings. Join us as we read poems together. We will share and discuss our responses to the poems to feed our souls. You will receive a zoom link for this class 60 minutes before the class starts. The zoom link will be sent directly to the email you registered with. |
Community Connection – Vaccines
We implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all staff effective 10/16/2021. We believe this will go a long way to keeping us all safe this winter.
CDC Frequently Asked Questions
Memory Care Minute
March was a busy month for us in Memory Care. Residents have enjoyed attending entertainment by Jim Hollis, Jes and Jakob, as well as traditional Irish music for St Patrick’s Day. We were able to attend our first outing in a long time for lunch outing to Koto Japanese Steakhouse. We’re hoping to be able to do more community-based outings as the weather is getting warmer. In the month of April, we will start gardening as well as a walking club.
Team Member Spotlight
Lisa Garcia – Quality of Life Specialist
Last week at our monthly All-Staff Meeting we honored Lisa Garcia as our Employee of the Month. Lisa was nominated and chosen based on several factors. She is a loyal employee who has been with The Village for over two and a half years. She is helpful with covering open shifts and helps us train new staff. Most importantly, she always comes to work with a smile and a good attitude. Recently Lisa has made efforts to plan staff gatherings in an effort to increase staff connectedness and morale which is so important and so valued. We appreciate you, Lisa!
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, the following protocols for visitation are in place:
- We will gather name and contact info for contact tracing for every visit.
- Visits may occur between 8am and 8pm.
- Currently we do not allow guests to eat in the dining rooms.
- 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; It is currently recommended that fully vaccinated visitors keep their mask on when in a private area, even with a fully vaccinated resident.
- 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
- Coordinating best practices across our large partner network
- Group activities are held
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
