Family & Friends Designated Visitor Update — June 30, 2020

Dear Family and Friends,

We are writing to you today with an exciting update about visitation to our Care Homes. This afternoon, the Hon. Adrian Dix, Minister of Health for BC, and Dr. Bonnie Henry, Provincial Health Officer, outlined changes to visiting residents in long term care and assisted living homes. Essentially: the time is right to begin to carefully open up to designated visitors, and we are looking forward to welcoming you Home within the next couple of weeks.

As expected, there are guidelines that set out how visits will be methodically and thoughtfully managed, so as to balance the extraordinary importance of in-person visits with the need for safety. You and your loved ones have sacrificed much to ensure the health and wellbeing of all who live and work in our Care Homes, and as we begin to welcome you back, we must do so in a way that honours those sacrifices and continues to protect the most vulnerable among us.

Some Provincial guidelines have been announced, and others are being developed to support safe visits. The following are some of the new guidelines:

  • Residents will have a single designated visitor (“visitor”);
  • Visits will take place in outdoor or indoor designated areas;
  • Visits will be booked in advance to ensure spaces are appropriate, that physical distancing requirements are met;
  • A care home must not be in an active outbreak;
  • Visits will resume once the care home has developed a written safety plan and has that in place;
  • All visitors will be screened before entry. There will be designated staff to screen and provide guidance to those entering care homes; and
  • Visitors must bring and wear a surgical grade mask. Guidance about proper mask usage will be provided following screening.

More information is available on the BC Centre for Disease Control website. We will also provide you additional information through email and on our website prior to opening up to designated visits.

Schedule

We know how important your presence is for your loved one. We have been strongly advocating for a return to in-person visits, and are delighted to be able to share this information with you today. It’s exciting and very welcome news, and we ask for your patience for a little while longer so we can get our plans in place. We have been working on them in anticipation of this announcement, and will continue to update you as soon as we can. Island Health indicated today that care homes may be open to designated visitors by the middle of July.

Need a trim?

In addition, personal service providers such as hairdressers will be able to come in to our Care Homes. Before they are permitted to return, they will need to provide us with a completed safety plan that is aligned with WorkSafe BC Guidelines. As always, we are grateful for the ways you, your loved ones, and our staff have pulled together to keep our communities of care safe. You have shown resilience, determination, courage, and creativity in managing this unprecedented pandemic. You have made loving sacrifices to keep everyone safe, and in the spirit of those sacrifices, we will proceed to open to visitors conscientiously and carefully, and to continue to live in The Broadmead Way: with kindness, with gratitude, and with great love.