Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village,

The weather has been amazing this week. I hope you have all enjoyed it and found some time to get outside.

We currently have no cases of COVID-19 among our staff and residents. We want to take this opportunity to thank the families that we spoke to over the weekend when we called to let them know that their loved ones were being tested for COVID-19. We appreciate your support and understanding as we navigated a difficult situation. We also are thankful to MDI Hospital for their quick response in supporting us with the rapid testing of residents and staff members. We are grateful to be a part of such a wonderful health care organization.

This week, we increased the monitoring of all of our residents and staff throughout the Inn. We have implemented the use of surgical masks for health care staff. We have systems and processes that have been in place to handle an outbreak in our community. Please know that we have followed and will continue to follow all state and federal guidelines set forth for resident care, staff safety, and efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. We will continue 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.

On May 18th, a memo was sent out to residents regarding Birch Bay Campus Safe Guards which is effective through May 31st. As a reminder, Birch Bay requests for everyone’s health safety and peace of mind that no visitors be allowed at this time for outdoor visits. We will let you know when our guidance has changed. We know this is sad news but we need to continue to remain vigilant to keep our residents healthy and well.

We will continue to provide you with periodic and transparent updates with as much information as we can on our efforts to combat COVID-19. On behalf of the entire Birch Bay Retirement Village community, I want to thank each of you for your continued support and understanding. I am proud and honored to work with a team of people who work hard every day to provide the best care for our residents. 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