Coronavirus Update for November 13, 2020
Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village
We currently have no cases of COVID-19 among our staff and residents. 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.
I would like to take this opportunity to provide an update regarding the current state of COVID-19 and changes to Birch Bay practices. New cases of COVID-19 have reached a moderate transmission rate in Hancock County. The State of Maine, CDC and DHHS direct congregate care facilities like Birch Bay to use their guidelines regarding visitation, staffing, communal dining, transportation, and group activities.
At this time, visits will resume on Monday, November 16th. We are encouraging resident families and loved ones to visit outdoors whenever possible. Our management team is currently working on a plan to make outdoor visitation possible during the colder winter months. More information will be provided once it is available. Please note that outdoor and indoor visits will now be monitored for our Safe Harbor and Pleasant Cove residents, visits will now be limited to 30 minutes and family pets will not be permitted during visits. For a complete list of visitation guidelines, please reach the new visitation guidelines that are attached. Questions about visiting procedures can be directed to James Hoke at x 5227 or jhoke@birchbayvillage.us
A complete listing of guidelines for staffing, dining, transportation and group activities are attached. These guidelines include:
- Groups of residents cannot exceed 10 impacting our dining and activities programs.
- No resident transportation to the grocery store. We will continue to operate an in-house grocery store of limited items and offer grocery pick up from Hannaford or Walmart to go.
- In-house transportation is available by our Activities staff for medical appointments only. Families may not transport their loved ones to medical appointments.
We encourage you to reach out to our team if you have any questions. Compliance to these guidelines will be more important than ever. I am projecting that by December 1, if not before, these guidelines will need to be adjusted again.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we adjust our policies and practices to best protect our residents and staff. Our goal is to be transparent and provide communications to families and residents as quickly as we can. If any of your family members would like to be on our family email list, please email Susanne Hopkins at: shopkins@birchbayvillage.us
We ask that you continue to be vigilant in following all guidelines recommending by the State of Maine and the CDC which include social distancing, masking, limiting non-essential trips, and handwashing.
Thank you,
Peter Sullivan, MBA, RN-BC, CDP, LRCA, Executive Director, Birch Bay Retirement Village