Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village,

I hope you have all have had a nice week. This week we once again performed asymptomatic COVID-19 testing of all our direct care staff at Birch Bay. The tests were performed on June 8th and 9th and resulted in no cases of COVID-19. This is reassuring news to our staff, residents and families. We will be continuing to work closely with MDI Hospital, the CDC, DHHS and CMS to ensure that we are adhering to the highest standards of safety and care for our community. We anticipate that these standards will include continued asymptomatic testing. We will be transparent with you regarding the results whenever this testing occurs.

Beginning Monday, June 15th we plan to launch Phase 3 of our Birch Bay Campus Safe Guards plan which will be effective through June 28th. The Phase 3 plan highlights include:

  • Families may drop off supplies and groceries at the main entrance during office hours.
  • Visits outdoors, all must be supervised, no mile radius restriction.
  • Social small group gatherings allowed up to 8 as space for physical distancing allows.
  • Apartment residents may go to essential personal appointments in their vehicle in addition to medical appointments.
  • Limited, reservation only, physically distanced use of Bay Vista room for meals.
  • Once weekly pre-scheduled pick up of groceries or prescriptions from Hannaford Bar Harbor.

This week we also received additional guidance from the State of Maine’s division of Assisted Housing that oversees the entire Birch Bay Inn regarding outdoor visits. The specific guidance from the State along with the BBRV guidelines have been combined into our updated “Family Visit Guidelines”. Please read the new guidelines and follow up with Herb Pratt, our new Programs and Resident Engagement Director if you have any questions or concerns. cpratt@birchbayvillage.us or 288-8014 x 5221

We will continue to provide you with periodic updates with as much information as we can on our efforts to combat COVID-19. We realize that many of the restrictions and guidelines suggested by the CDC for long-term care communities seem harsh to residents and families. We work hard to keep a balance between resident health with safety and quality of life. We welcome your suggestions as to where we could improve the quality of life for residents during this difficult time.

On behalf of the entire Birch Bay Retirement Village community, I want to thank each of you for your continued support and understanding. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.

 

Sincerely,

Peter Sullivan, MBA, RN-BC, LRCA, CDP, Executive Director, Birch Bay Retirement Village