The Village Update February 14, 2022

A Message From Your Executive Director

Dear Residents and Families,

We have continued to have great success with combating COVID cases. We have not had a positive case since January 21st. I will consult with the state department of health this week and I expect they will now consider us to be out of outbreak status. This is excellent news. I will continue to monitor positivity rates in our area over the next week or two and we will make decisions about guests in the dining room as well as resident outings as we go.

Last week we welcomed Kathleen March as our new Director of Memory Care. I’m excited for you all to meet her. Kathleen is getting to know our residents, the staff, and our procedures and will continue to spend more and more time with our Memory Care residents over the next couple of weeks. She is excited to bring more activity and engagement to the 2nd floor. When you see her please give her a big welcome.

Thank you to Martha McNealus, daughter of resident Nancy Shuell, for gathering residents on Saturday afternoon to make crepe paper flowers for Valentine centerpieces in the dining room. I hear it was a great group and everyone had a fun time!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Nikki

Community Connection

We have been seeking creative ways to host activities safely and while we are down a staff member in the Life Enrichment department. Last week we added online learning by Master Class twice per week. Residents will start with classes titled The Science of Better Sleep on Fridays and US Presidential History and Leadership on Wednesday afternoons. So far, the response to these courses has been very positive. The sleep one is fascinating!

We also have introduced weekly showings of Metropolitan Opera performances. The first one is this Tuesday – we’ll be showing Carmen. Our goal is to eventually transition these showings to Saturday afternoons, per resident request. 

Also new to the schedule are Balance classes with Tammy on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Geography classes with Nikki on Monday afternoons. We are restarting Happy Hour as well. Our next one will be Friday at 4pm in Teddy’s Pub.

Virtual – Food for Your Soul: Reading Poetry Together

Fridays 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm

This is a virtual event. If you have questions about how to connect to the event, please contact the event host. Leader: Lori Fortini. 

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.

We continue to offer the booster to all eligible residents and staff. We offer a Pfizer booster for residents and staff regardless of which type of vaccine they originally received. The CDC and FDA both have approved mixing and matching the booster dose.

CDC Frequently Asked Questions

Memory Care Minute

We welcome Kathleen March as our new Director of Memory Care. Stay tuned for an upcoming meet-and-greet for an opportunity for families to gather and get to know Kathleen.

This Week’s Menu

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.
  • No communal dining for Assisted Living
  • 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; fully vaccinated visitors may remove their mask when in a private area with a fully vaccinated resident.
  • 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
• 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

• www.lcsnet.com/covid-19-update/

Local health department website

• https://www.healthvermont.gov/local/white-river-junction

From the Governor

•   https://governor.vermont.gov/covid19response