Dear Resident or Family Member,

We remain committed to providing updates to our residents, families, and staff at AgeCare. As such, we are providing weekly updates to keep you all informed on what is happening at our community and organization-wide.

These weekly updates will include:

1. Information and announcements – this week, we are sharing a guide to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
2. Recreation highlights as the need to stay active, intellectually stimulated, and socially connected never ends.
3. A weekly shout-out to celebrate the great work and activities happening at our community.

These updates are sent Friday each week. We hope that you find them helpful. Thank you all for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Matejah Kovacs, LPN
Administrator

 

Guide to Personal Protective Equipment

AgeCare’s Safe Visitation Policy allows residents, families and loved ones to remain socially and emotionally connected while staying safe and healthy. All designated persons and visitors must understand and accept the risk of unknown exposure to COVID-19 and work with us to help minimize the spread of the virus in our communities. This means wearing the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during your indoor, outdoor, and end-of-life visits.

While most circumstances will only require a procedural mask, to help you feel more comfortable and informed, we have outlined the different types of PPE that you will see in our communities, who will be wearing them, and when.

 

Procedural Masks

Masks should be brought and worn by designated persons and visitors for all indoor, outdoor and end-of-life visits. Staff also wear masks throughout their shifts and when providing resident care.

• A procedure or surgical mask is sufficient protection
• You must avoid touching your face even if wearing a mask
• When you are out in general public, a procedural mask will provide protection from COVID-19
• To put on a mask:
  • Put the loops over your ears
  • Bend the soft piece at the top over the bridge of your nose and pull the bottom down to cover your chin

FREE masks are still available for the general public at select A&W, McDonalds and Tim Horton’s locations in Alberta.

 

Gowns, Eye Protection & Gloves

If your loved one is on ‘contact and droplet precautions’ within their room because they are new to the community, or because they have returned from the hospital, then you may be required to wear a gown, eye protection, or gloves when visiting.

 

Gowns

Gowns are worn by staff when entering a room of a resident on isolation as a contact/ droplet precaution.

 

• Should have long sleeves that cover your arms to your wrist
• Should be closed using both ties at the neck and the back
• They should not be worn backwards and tied at the front.
• They should not be left open at the back or the front.

 

Eye Protection

Eye protection is worn by staff when entering a room of a resident on isolation as a contact/ droplet precaution.

• Staff put on eye protection after their mask.
• Eye protection is cleaned and disinfected between uses.
• Safety glasses, Face shields, and occlusive eye goggles are all adequate to use as eye protection.
• Regular eyeglasses are not an effective alternative.

 

Gloves

Gloves are used by staff when entering a room of a resident on isolation as a contact/ droplet precaution.

• Gloves are not used as a substitute for hand hygiene.
• They can’t be washed.
• Gloves are changed between residents and between care activities for the same resident.
• Gloves are never worn to cover the cuff of a gown.
• Staff do not wear gloves in the hallway.

 

N95 Masks

N95 masks are used by staff when entering a room of a resident on isolation as a contact/ droplet precaution and using an aerosol-generating medical procedure (AGMP).

• An N95 mask is a negative pressure air-purifying respirator.
• When you inhale, a negative pressure is created in the mask, and the surrounding air flows through a filter which removes the contaminants. The clean air continues into the mask and the lungs.

Visitors do not need to wear an N95 mask, and would not be present in the room when a specific aerosol-generating medical procedure requiring an N95 mask is conducted.

For more information on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), read AgeCare’s One Minute of Learning.

Alberta Health Services also provides a quick video on how to use personal protective equipment.

 

Recreation Highlights

The need to stay active, intellectually stimulated, and socially connected never ends – even during these unprecedented times. Our recreation team is working hard to create engaging activities to enrich the mind, body and spirit that maintain physical distancing.

• Download our recreation highlights of the week (PDF)

 

Weekly Shout-Out

With a bumper crop of cherries, Recreation staff is picking cherries first thing in the morning to avoid the hot temperatures we’ve had this week; this morning four buckets of cherries were picked. To date cherries have been made into pies, sauces, and smoothies. Residents have also suggested we make wine…what do you think? With an abundance of cherries, we’ve also invited staff and families to help themselves to the cherries. Enjoy!