A Message From Your Executive Director
Dear Residents and Families,
I have excellent news to share. Our diligence in the fight against COVID is paying off. Our testing on Friday 1/28 returned no new positive cases. That, combined with new guidance from the state of Vermont regarding boosted residents, means we are able to reopen our assisted living dining room. Residents have been notified that the dining room will be open starting with breakfast tomorrow. We will also ease our way back into programming and activities over the next week or so. We are still not open to guests for dining.
Our Memory Care residents are no longer considered to be under quarantine either. All visitors should continue to wear a mask during visits.
We will continue to test staff twice weekly. We will test all residents tomorrow and assuming no new cases pop up we can stop our routine testing of residents. If a resident develops symptoms of has a known exposure to a positive case then we will test those residents.
January was a tough month for all of you and I appreciate your patience and your dedication to protecting those around you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
As always, I thank you all for your efforts and your support. Here’s to a much more normal February!
Nikki
Community Connection
During the time when group activities are paused, our life enrichment staff has been making one-on-one visits with residents as much as possible. We have also gone apartment to apartment delivering ice cream sundaes.
This Friday one of our neighboring businesses is hosting an exhibition opening of 3 Vermont artists. We will not be sending staff to this but for those who are able, the gallery is just across the street.
Exhibition Opening: Local Relations
Works by Joan Feierabend, Leda Nutting & Rebecca Morgan
Kishka is thrilled to have its first group show of artists working in Vermont. Joan Feierabend, Leda Nutting, and Rebecca Morgan all engage figurative representation with moments of humor, hyper-realism, and even the grotesque. Please join for the opening of “Local Relations” on Friday, February 4, 5–9PM. Masks are required.
“Local Relations” will be on view at Kishka through Sunday, February 27.
Dartmouth’s Aging Resource Center offers virtual poetry readings on Fridays at 3:00pm. Here is the information if you are interested in joining from your personal computer or iPad.
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. 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.
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
Interested in learning more about sundowning? Check out this article from the Alzheimer’s Association.
Team Member Spotlight
Ruth Turner – Cook
Ruth joined The Village kitchen team last week as a Cook. She brings an energy and dedication to good food and is a welcome addition to Peter’s team. When she is not working Ruth likes to spend her time reading, gardening, crocheting, and cooking for friends and family. He loves Halloween, Mexican hot chocolate, craft stores, cheesecake, and likes to collect cookbooks and seashells. Ruth is a native New Englander who loves the Green Mountains. Welcome aboard, Ruth!
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
Local health department website
From the Governor
