Exciting news, proof of vaccination is no longer required for visitors and designated caregivers to enter our facility.

To enter the building you will to do the following:

• Sanitize hands remove old mask.
• Sanitize Hands put new mask on.
• Sign in with name/date/ answer the screening questions
• Press red button located on side wall to enter.

No limit to the number of visitors per resident at one time.

Mask must be worn in common areas.

Call nursing station 902-755-5780 ext 206 (1st floor) or 207 (2nd floor) for the following:

• Taking resident out for an appointment
• Overnight visits

When taking resident offsite make sure you sign out your resident at the nursing station.

To exit building just ask one of the staff the code for the main door.

Door will be open from 7:00AM to 7:00PM daily.

There will no longer be a phone at the front door.

Thank you for keeping our residents safe, we appreciate your patience and understanding.

Valley View Villa Management

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Designated Caregivers can now pick up consent forms for the 4th booster at the booking desk. These need to be filled out before your resident can receive their 4th booster.

If you would like it emailed to you please email lisaw@vvvilla.ca

Thank you

• DCG can visit by APPOINTMENT ONLY. You will need to book these appointments the day prior to visiting by calling 902-755-5780 ext 216.
• DO NOT come early to your appointment.
• DCG are NOT PERMITTED to leave the residents room during their visits.
• NO visiting in the common areas.
• Visiting hours are 9am – 5pm. NO visits on TUESDAY OR THURSDAYS.
• Visitors will not be permitted to EAT or DRINK during the visit.
• Mask, face shields & gloves are required to be worn correctly at all times during the visit.
• Must be DOUBLE VACCINATED to enter our building and have proof on you at all times.
• Residents are NOT PERMITTED to go offsite for site seeing drives.
• Only emergency medical appointments will be PERMITTED.
• If your resident is on isolation you will NOT be PERMITTED to visit.

Valley View Villa Management

Family & Friends:

Starting Wednesday March 9th 2022 both floors will be allowed to have both DCG’s & visitors.

• Visits will be by APPOINTMENT ONLY. You will need to book these appointments the day prior by calling 902-755-5780 ext 216.
• VISITS will take place in resident’s rooms.
• NO visiting in the common areas.
• Visiting hours are 9-5. NO visits on TUESDAY OR THURSDAYS.
• Visitors will not be permitted to EAT or DRINK during the visit.
• Must be DOUBLE VACCINATED to enter our building and have proof on you at all times.
• Medical mask will be worn at all times during the visit.
• You can only visit ONE resident per VISIT.
• NO walking residents in HALLWAYS during visits.
• Residents are permitted to have 2 visitors at one time.
• Offsite drives are PERMITTED. As long as Public Health regulations are followed. These need to be booked the day prior.

Valley View Villa Management

Dear Residents, Families, and Loved Ones,

The facility has been notified by public health that one resident at Valley View Villa has tested positive for COVID19. By provincial definition, one resident is considered a ‘Suspect Outbreak’. Any resident who is on the affected hall, the facility is already in the process of contacting each Substitute Decision Maker directly.

Further communication regarding new protocols for designated caregivers will be provided in a follow up memo found here. As we progress with the investigation, any resident who is directly affected, the facility will reach out to each Substitute Decision Makers.

Your loved ones are in excellent hands. When meeting with all staff today, they were poised, confident and exceptional. Stay kind with one another while we all work through these difficult times.

Sincerely,

Marcus Stephenson
Administrator

Dear Residents, Families, and Loved Ones,

Re: Restrictions

We are deeply saddened with the recent outbreak of the highly contagious Omicron strain of COVID19. I am sure you are all equally exhausted, fed up, scared and wish this would go away. However, it is not, and further restrictions are required to keep our residents safe. As announced today by Dr. Strang and Premier Houston, further restrictions include:

• All residents can only have 2 consistent visitors (which include Designated Caregivers). Meaning these two visitors cannot change and must remain the same.
• Residents are not allowed off site visits, unless it is for medical appointments. Sightseeing drives, with no stops, are allowed with either of the two assigned visitors.
• Residents without their booster vaccine are not permitted to congregate in recreational activities, or hair salons.
• Visiting hours will stay the same 9-5 Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday.
• No visits will take place on Tuesday or Thursdays.
• One visitor per double room at one time
• Two visitors per single room at one time.

These will take place as off tomorrow Wednesday December 22nd 2021

If further restrictions are outlined in the Long‐Term Care Directive, we will communicate such changes.

These lockdowns are difficult on everyone’s mental health, especially our residents. I do ask that everyone remain kind and respectful with one another. Our care team will remain committed and compassionate and will be sure to make the most of a very difficult situation.

Take care, stay safe, and Happy Holidays.

Family/Friends

As cases rise in our province we will be implementing stricter rules around visiting & off site visits. Effective Tuesday December 21st 2021 until further notice we will be implementing the following:

• Residents who are going out with their families will need to self isolate for 72 hours upon returning and will have to have a negative COVID test before coming off isolation. You can still visit during their isolation period but will have to wear full PPE during the entire visit.
• If your resident lives in a double room they will only be allowed ONE visitor during their visit.
• Visitors are NOT PERMITTED to leave the residents room during their visit for any reason, when your visit is over you are to go directly to the exit.
• No visiting in common areas. If your resident is in a common area when you arrive you are to take them directly to their room to have your visit.
• NO homemade food will be permitted. Pre packaged food with expiry date will be the only food allowed in, take out will be permitted as long as the resident eats it during the visit, it will be disposed of once visit is over.
• Visiting hours will be changing to MONDAY, WEDNESDAY,FRIDAY,SATURDAY SUNDAY 9-5. There will be no visits on TUESDAY OR THURSDAYS.
• Visitors will not be permitted to EAT or DRINK during the visit.
• Masks are required to be worn correctly at all times during the visit, if at any time during the visit the facility rules are broken you will be asked to leave.
• All visitors must be DOUBLE VACCINATED to enter our building.

Thank you & Happy Holidays
Valley View Villa Management

TO: Long-Term Care Facilities
FROM: Paula Langille, Director, DSLTC
DATE: October 4, 2021
RE: Vaccination Requirement for Visitors to LTC

Thank you for your patience as we work to clarify all the details of the Phase 5 changes to Long-Term Care that come into effect today, October 4, 2021. We anticipate that the COVID-19 Guidelines for Long-Term Care Facilities will follow later this week.

Following the release of CCIR 21-150.0 Mandatory Vaccine September 29 we have received several questions. Please find clarification below.

Effective today, October 4, 2021:

• All visitors to long-term care must be fully vaccinated. Proof of vaccination must be provided by visitors who wish to visit a loved one in LTC. This does not include designated caregivers, professionals (such as lawyers or financial advisors), or children under 12 years of age.
• Residents may not leave the facility with visitors who are not fully vaccinated. This does not include designated caregivers.
• All LTC residents throughout the province may leave their facility to participate in activities in the community. All residents may attend overnight visits except when the overnight visit will occur in Central zone. This means residents of any zone (including central zone) may attend overnight visits that occur outside of the Central zone.

Facilities may make exceptions to visiting restrictions for non-vaccinated visitors in instances where the resident is palliative. Non-vaccinated visitors who attend LTC facilities to visit a palliative resident must wear a mask and follow all PPE and distancing guidelines.

Mandatory Vaccination Policy – all Service Providers

Vaccination protects residents, clients, designated care givers, employees, team members, and visitors from SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19). Vaccination will help prevent the introduction and transmission of COVID-19 and decrease the risk of outbreaks in health-care and home-care settings across the province.

Dr. Robert Strang, the Chief Medical Officer of Health for Nova Scotia, announced on September 29, 2021 there will be mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for various sectors in Nova Scotia. This includes all workers, professionals and volunteers in licensed and unlicensed long-term care facilities.

Vaccination will also be required for the following in long-term care: visitors, volunteers, designated caregivers, contractors, hairdressers, and delivery and repair workers, etc. The expectation is to be fully vaccinated (first and second dose of COVID-19 vaccine) by November 30, 2021.

Nova Scotia Health has developed a mandatory vaccine policy that will be shared and will provide a framework for service providers to adapt as their mandatory vaccine policy. The policy will be applicable to existing staff and new hires. Full vaccination will be a hiring condition for new staff. There will be additional information on best practices to support service providers in managing employee vaccine records. It will be the responsibility of the sites to keep accurate and current vaccine records for their staff.

The vaccine mandate allows for a medical exception process for staff and Designated Caregivers who are unable to be vaccinated. However, the medical reasons required for an exception are very specific and limited. An exception letter can only be issued by a nurse practitioner or physician.

Definition of fully vaccinated

A person is considered fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) 14 days or more after receipt of the vaccine schedules listed below, following minimum dosing intervals.

• 2 doses of a 2-dose series of a Health Canada authorized COVID-19 vaccine (Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech,AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD). This is inclusive of mixed vaccine schedules.
• 1 dose of a 1-dose series of a Health Canada authorized COVID-19 vaccine(Janssen/Johnson & Johnson).
• Complete series of a non-Health Canada, World Health Organization authorized COVID-19•vaccine (e.g., Sinopharm or Sinovac)

An individual is considered not fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 if they have not received a COVID-19 vaccine series as described above, including only one dose of any two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series. More information can be found: Coronavirus (COVID-19): vaccine – Government of Nova Scotia, Canada

In addition to the mandatory vaccination policy effective November 30, 2021, the following changes are effective Monday, October 4, 2021 at 8 a.m.:

• Medical masks will continue to be mandatory for all visitors, Designated Caregivers and staff.
• Residents are permitted to leave the facility and stay overnight at a family home, Designated Caregiver’s home, or home of a friend (within Atlantic Canada), in accordance with the Guidelines dated August 4, 2021, except where prohibited. This will be based on zone epidemiology.
• Long-term care residents residing in Central Zone are not permitted to leave the facility and stay overnight.
• Residents residing in other zones may not stay overnight in Central Zone.

Additional information

We continue to have resources and protocols in place to support you in your work. Continue to follow COVID-19 safety protocols including staff self-screening, and pre-screening and Point of Care Risk Assessment for clients. Continue to practice good hand hygiene, universal masking, and use of PPE as recommended. Also, please be advised that soon there will be an updated document for families posted at https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/resources/ — scan down to “Long-term care visiting guidelines.” You may wish to provide this link or document to your families and residents

To Staff, Families, Designated Caregivers, Volunteers, and Contractors

Attached is a release of information from the province of Nova Scotia mandating vaccination for all Long Term Care Facilities across the province. Attached is all relevant information that pertains to Valley View Villa which has been outlined in CCIR#21‐150.0 issued from the Province of Nova Scotia. We have not learned anything beyond this memo. Further communication will be posted as we learn more on how the rollout of this mandate is developed.

Sincerely,

Marcus Stephenson
Administrator

Dear Families & Friends;

Effective Thursday July 1st 2021:

For residents who are fully immunized against COVID-19:

• Designated Caregivers are able to book indoor visits for family & friends to visit the resident in their room. These visits must be booked in advance and you will need to screen in at the main door prior to visiting residents. When visiting inside we are allowing 2 visitors at a time with 1 resident. Visiting hours are still 10-6.
• Full community access is now permitted. Residents can only go into the community with their designated caregivers. This includes: stores, restaurants, etc. As per restrictions in the Public Health Order. (mask is to be worn at all times by DCG while in the car, also by resident if they can tolerate mask)

For residents who are partially immunized or not immunized against COVID-19:

• Visits outdoors without physically distancing are now permitted. Residents are encouraged but not required to wear a mask and physically distance when possible.
• Residents may now access outdoor public areas such as boardwalks & public parks with their designated caregivers. The resident must maintain physical distancing (except with their designated caregiver) and is not permitted to come in contact with others during the outing.

Please remember outside visits are still available Monday to Friday between the hours of 9-5. You can do this by calling 902-755-5780 ext 216. The limit of people allowed during an outside visit is 5 this includes 4 visitors & the resident.

Please note rules & regulations change daily. Thank you for understanding in these difficult times.

Take Care & Stay Safe

Valley View Villa, Management Team

IPAC Recommendations for Facilities Receiving Resident Belongings from Home & Other Deliveries

During the COVID-19 pandemic, client/residents may need essential or non-essential items from outside the facility or belongings from home. These items may include clean or seasonal clothing, food items, personal care supplies, and gifts/flowers. This guidance document was developed to offer suggestions to long term care facilities (LTCF) on how to accept these items while abiding by infection prevention and control practices. This guidance pertains to accepting gifts from family/support person(s) or designated caregivers during a visit with a client/resident, family members & individuals who wish to drop off items at a LTCF for a client/resident, and/or commercial delivery personnel.

INDIVIDUALS DROPPING OFF RESIDENT BELONGINGS OR ITEMS WILL:

1. Follow provincial guidance for self-screening for signs and symptoms of COVID-19. Items should not be brought in from a home where individuals are on self-isolation or symptomatic
   individuals are present.
   a. Delivery of the personal items/belongings should be deferred until the isolation period has lapsed and/or symptoms have resolved.
   b. If a client/resident requires an item on an urgent basis, arrangements should be made, in conjunction with the facility, to have an alternate person who is not on self-isolation and who does not have symptoms to pick up and deliver items to the facility.
2. Ensure all resident clothing items are freshly laundered.
3. Place resident clothing and personal items in a clean, disposable plastic bag for delivery, instead of a suitcase, duffle bag, etc. The bag should be labelled with the resident’s name.
4. Ensure food items are pre-packaged, non-perishable commercially prepared food items, or single-serving homemade food items. Food items must not require refrigeration or heating, and must be in a disposable container. Containers and leftovers will be discarded.
5. Wear a face mask when entering and in the facility.
6. Arrive at the designated visitor entrance and report to the screening desk or other designated area.
7. Perform hand hygiene upon entry and exit from the facility.

STAFF AT THE LTCF WILL:

1. Develop a written internal process for accepting deliveries for a client/resident and for family/support persons bringing in personal items from home during scheduled visits.
2. Assign a designated individual(s )to be responsible for maintaining and providing to the security/registration desk a list of expected deliveries, to allow for coordination of staff and ensure timing between deliveries if needed.
3. Staff receiving the items will perform hand hygiene and put on clean gloves before handling any items being delivered.
4. Designated staff members should deliver items to the resident.
5. If the resident is unable to manage unpacking the delivered items, assistance may be provided. The staff member should put on gloves before helping the resident, discard the bag after removing the items, then remove the gloves and perform hand hygiene.
6. If the resident is on Additional Precautions, staff may accept and deliver items using the correct
   PPE as outlined on door signage.

Dear Families and Loved Ones,

Thank you everyone for your patience and understanding during our recent precautionary closure. This pause has allowed us to evaluate our current operation and ensure safety for residents, family, staff, and community. It is our intention to remain open to designated caregivers throughout this wave, to continue with psychosocial and emotional needs of your loved one.

Over the next few days, we will be refreshing all designated caregivers with their training and updating agreements to best reflect current protocol and procedure. Please call (902)755‐5780 ext 216 to book your training to take place Wednesday Thursday and Friday starting at 1:00PM with the last session beginning at 3:00PM in the gazebo. These sessions are a half hour with a capacity of 8 DSGs per session. Once you complete your refresher and signed agreement you can begin booking your appointments as early as Friday April 30th for the following week.

General Procedure for Designated Caregiver Visits during 3rd wave

• Visits will be 30 minutes in length
• Each DCG will receive one visit a week
• Each visit will consist of the resident and one caregiver.
• 6 foot social distancing at all times
• Masks must be worn at all times
• 1 strike policy. If you are not following Public Health Directives you will be asked to leave
• Education and signed agreement is mandatory to visit
• Food from home is allowed, but must be brought in a wipe able container
• Do not leave assigned visitation area while visiting your resident
• Conduct must be respected and adhered to at all times
• Visits will only be Mon‐Fri 10:00‐5:15 until epidemiology improves

We recognize that these are stressful times. Emotions are heightened for all stakeholders, so we must be patient, courteous and always show mutual respect when interacting with each other. You will be asked to leave our facility if you do not adhere to our conduct policy. All stakeholders deserve a respectful environment at all times. Anything less will not be tolerated.

If an issue does occur, we do encourage you to proceed through a complaint process. Ask to speak to an RN, who will be able to assist you. If your complaint is about staff conduct, policy, etc. you will be provided a complaint form that you are to fill out. This form will be given to the appropriate manager or director and a response will be provided with 72 hours. A resolve should happen at this stage. However, if your complaint is not resolved, please address the complaint to the administrator to make a final decision, determination/resolve regarding the issue.

Thank you all for your continued understanding and support through these difficult times.

Today is the last Day for Designated Caregivers to be vaccinated. Thank you all for participating in the vaccine rollout. We had an incredible turnout and our compliance rate with both residents and designated caregivers is greater than 95%. Again, this is a major layer of protection that will help reduce the severity of a potential COVID19 outbreak within the facility. We are looking to ease our restrictions, but this is completely dependent upon current epidemiology and public health restrictions.

As you are all aware, we are beginning to see spikes in our epidemiology provincially as well as locally. For these reasons we are going to take the following actions.

1) Close all visitations from April 24-26th . This will allow a short period of time to pass to see how our community is impacted with recent exposures at a provincial hockey tournament over April 16th‐19th here at our local wellness center and neighboring establishments.

2) On April 27th we will be opened to designated caregivers only. Due to our inability to socially distance, only one caregiver can visit at a time. This rule will be in place for 2 weeks, but will be assessed daily to either shorten or extend this restriction.

3) Medical appointments are still allowed. But we must stress that no person is to stop along the way. You are to only drive to and from your appointment. Full list of rules and a log sheet will be provided and signed off by all residents, or delegates, to ensure compliance.

4) Any person from the Halifax area or live in a community that is restricted by Public Health must respect the provincial directives. You are not permitted to leave your community, especially to come to a long‐term care facility. If you arrive on our property, we will report to the appropriate authorities.

Our greatest measure of protection is through limiting community spread. You, along with most of Nova Scotia, has been nothing but exceptional. I have full confidence you and your loved ones will do the right thing by limiting your social gathering and travel in order to curb the spread of this deadly virus within our province. Once we get ourselves on track, we will reevaluate the situation and assess from there.

Thanks,

Marcus Stephenson
Administrator

Dear Families and Designated Caregivers:

It is with great excitement to announce that we officially have the Moderna COVID‐19 Vaccine onsite. Tomorrow morning residents will begin their vaccinations. This is expected to finish Wednesday the following day. Thanks to all those who quickly completed consent forms and submitted them back to the facility in a timely manner.

Designated Caregivers will receive their first vaccine here at Valley View Villa on March 22, 23, 26 with the second dose administered April 19, 20, 23. Health Association Nova Scotia (HANS) will be in contact with
all designated caregivers to schedule appointments. Please note that the space used for visitations will be our vaccination clinic, therefor all scheduled visits will be cancelled on these days.

Vaccinating residents and caregivers will be a huge milestone to begin loosening restrictions here at the Villa. We will announce details once we complete the vaccination clinics.

Sincerely,

Marcus Stephenson
Administrator

Dear Families,

With yesterday’s announcement from our provincial leadership and Dr. Strang, Valley View Villa has made changes to the visitation restrictions over the holidays. It is our intention to continue with the Designated Caregiver visits that are already booked, but during these booked visits VVV will accommodate one additional visitor. The additional visitor does not have to be a designated caregiver. In addition, we are also going to increase the volume of visits to accommodate families to reconnect with their loved ones over the holiday season. These changes take effect on December 21, 2020.

Note, we are seeing exposure sites within our own community. We are monitoring this situation very closely, and for this reason we want to make it clear that all rules are subject to change without notice. This virus has the greatest impact on our vulnerable population, and we fully intend to take all necessary measures to maintain safety.

Vaccines are coming and will be issued to all residents, staff and designated caregivers from now until March. There is an end to this pandemic through vaccination, but until then, we cannot let our guard down.

2020 has been a year to remember. Although it has been faced with great difficulty, I can say there are silver linings. Priorities are better aligned with values, community is everything, and Nova Scotians are truly strong. For us healthcare workers, it has been extraordinarily busy, stressful and worrisome, but it has also been a blessing and incredibly rewarding to be part of this journey. I want to thank everyone for being so supportive, patient and kind. We are fortunate to have such an amazing community that cares for each other and our beloved residents. Your support and encouragement means everything and a reminder why our commitment continues to be unwavered.

Stay safe over the Holidays and look forward to your return in 2021.

Thanks,

Marcus Stephenson
Administrator

Dear Families and Loved Ones,  

We are monitoring the increasing epidemiology within our provincial borders. Today 37 new cases have been announced, with one new case in our zone. Taking the advice of Public Health, Valley View Villa will be closed to all visitors for a 2 week period starting Thursday November 26th. We will take this opportunity to reinforce our safety protocols, staff awareness, and make small infrastructure changes to enhance safety measures. This is a difficult decision, but it is one that will provide vulnerable population the most protection.  

If you have any questions, please contact the management team and we will be happy to assist you.  

Thank you for your understanding,  

 Marcus Stephenson 

Administrator 

Dear Families and Loved Ones,

We are closely monitoring the active cases within our province. We are noticing increases in COVID19 cases, and with a large volume of exposures in our central zone, we suspect community spread will be inevitable. With this evolving situation, our leadership team decided this to be an appropriate time to implement restrictions to ensure the safety of residents, family, and staff.

Effective November 14th:

• Families visiting residents in private rooms will have to book appointments with the front desk and have the visit in our designated areas.
• Offsite visits are now going to be restricted to medical appointments only.

Effective immediately

• Any person who left the Atlantic bubble in the past 14 days, or, any person who has visitors staying with them from outside the Atlantic bubble in the past 14 days will be restricted from entering the facility.
• Fast food items (Tim Hortons, McDonalds, etc.) will not be permitted inside the building.

Christmas gifts should start to be considered now. We will be accepting gifts, but the cutoff date will be December 20th.

These small changes can make a huge impact on the safety of those we care. We are working our best to avoid a full lockdown, but this will require compliance from all stakeholders and members within our caring community. I thank you all in advance for your understanding on this matter.

Thanks,

Marcus Stephenson
Administrator

The Guidelines for Resident visits with Family in their Homes for Long Term Care Facilities in Nova Scotia has been developed to support long‐term care facilities to safely support residents to enjoy off‐ site day visits with family in their homes. Please note that this is a supplement to the COVID‐19 Management in Long Term Care Facilities. 

For complete information please review the Family Visits at Home & Community Access documents or contact us for more information.

Dear Families and Loved Ones,

We are pleased to inform everyone that our phased approach to opening the facility to Designated Caregivers has been successful. Once our package is reviewed by our pilot group and out of draft form, we will share with all Substitute Decision Makers (SDM). We are targeting for Tuesday September 29th. This package will outline our expectations and how to proceed with booking your orientation and visits. We look forward to this positive change.

We are also aware that starting Monday, September 28th, the province is deeming it safe for residents to leave the facility. Once again, we received this information the same time as the public. Our priority is to open the facility to Designated Care Givers and have this operating safely and smoothly. Once we have this in place, we will review the guidelines for offsite visits. We ask for everyone to remain patient on this matter, so we can do this properly and safely. Once our plan is in place, all families will be notified.

Thanks,

Marcus Stephenson
(Administrator)