Ensuring the health and well being of our residents and employees is always our highest priority. In response to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), VRS is committed to protecting our senior’s population, employees and service providers. As outlined below, we have implemented Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) strategies in all of our Independent and Assisted Living Residences across British Columbia and Alberta.
To date, we are fortunate to not have any known or confirmed cases of COVID-19 within our resident populations including staff and family members.
Our leadership team is mobilized to provide each location with medical advice, clinical direction, emergency preparedness plans, and business continuity plans. We are ensuring that we have staffing plans in place as well as adequate supplies of medical and pharmaceutical products, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and food.
VRS is following all recommended guidelines from the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) and we regularly monitor these guidelines for updates and developments related to COVID-19 (coronavirus). According to the BCCDC, the immediate health risk from COVID-19 is currently low but because our resident population is more vulnerable than the general public, we are intensifying our preventative measures in order to mitigate the spread of the virus.
In response to the continued spread of COVID-19, and in addition to our routine practices and precautions, the following additional protections are effective immediately:
- Postponing or canceling all community events.
- Limiting group activities, including recreation, fitness programs, and social programming.
- Eliminating all community bus trips and excursions to public gathering spaces, including grocery stores, religious services, shopping malls, theaters, and casinos.
- Directing visitors and employees to enter the residence through one main entrance where each person will be actively screened. Active Screening means an employee will ask all persons entering the building pre-determined screening questions.
- Reception staff will direct all visitors to wash their hands and/or utilize available hand sanitizer whenever they enter or exit the residence.
- Closing all resident self-service dining venues.
- Strongly recommend family members refrain from taking residents out of the residence to visit public gathering spaces, including grocery stores, religious services, shopping malls, theaters, casinos, etc.
- Strongly recommend that residents cancel or postpone all upcoming travel, including cruises and/or all flights.
- Limiting corporate, regional and field-based personnel location visits to only those that are essential.
- Continue to ask additional screening questions to new residents to ensure they have not been exposed to COVID-19 or visited affected areas.
- Those diagnosed with COVID-19 or those who have reason to believe that they, someone in their household or someone they have close contact with has been exposed to COVID-19 are prohibited from entering our residences.
- Anyone who has traveled outside of Canada in the last 14 days, or anyone sharing a household with a person who has traveled outside Canada in the last 14 days are prohibited from entering our residences.
Additional cleaning protocols include:
- Increased frequency in disinfecting high-touch areas like doorknobs, elevator buttons, faucets, and handrails.
- Increased cleaning of high-traffic common areas such as dining rooms and activity spaces.
- Reinforcing hand-washing and infection control training for all VRS employees and residents.
- Providing additional personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies.
We are regularly updating both VRS residents and family members via email and our website, but if you have an urgent question, as always, please reach out to the General Manager at each of our locations.
For media inquiries or more information please email Martin Gardner at martin@vrs.org.