Assisted Living Guidelines for the Holidays

Mask Wearing & Hand Hygiene

Kiwanis Village recommends wearing a mask in all public spaces and common areas in the Village. Residents should be practicing regular hand hygiene with soap and water or alcohol based hand rub (ABHR) containing at least 70% alcohol. This includes regular hand washing, avoiding touching one’s face and covering coughs and sneezes.

Social Interactions & Holidays:

Residents of Assisted Living are NOT considered to be members of the same household. Residents are encouraged to meet up with the same small group of fellow residents for dining and activities within their building. Keeping your group small is an important way to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, along with frequent hand washing, coughing into your sleeve, and most importantly, staying in your room if you feel ill.

Residents are encouraged to limit visits into the broader community to essential visits only, no special allowances have been made by the Provincial Health Officer for the holidays. Virtual visits may be a good way to see more family members. Perhaps your essential or social visitor could bring in a device (if you don’t have one) and arrange a Facetime, Facebook Messenger, Skype or Zoom call.

Should residents choose to enter another home, they must self-monitor upon returning to their Assisted Living building.

Assisted living residents who develop symptoms while away from their home for an extended period (>24hr) should contact 811, Public Health at 1-844-901-8442, or their primary care provider to seek care, attention and consideration for testing prior to returning home to ensure safety of themselves and for all residents.

Residents should inform the Assisted Living Operator in this instance – please contact Heather Anderson (Recreation Coordinator) at 250-740-3689. To help ensure the safety of all residents, staff and visitors, operators need to know if any resident has COVID-19 symptoms – even if the symptoms are very mild – so they can be offered additional supports.

Most Common symptoms include:

• Fever
• Chills
• Cough or worsening of chronic cough
• Shortness of breath
• Sore throat
• Runny nose
• Loss of sense of smell or taste
• Headache
• Fatigue
• Diarrhea
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea and vomiting
• Muscle aches