Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village,

I hope you all are having a nice week. 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 respond to our residents and families recent questions regarding Birch Bay’s plans for indoor visitation. As we head into the fall and winter months, we all know that outdoor visiting will become more difficult. We are expecting guidance soon from the State of Maine regarding our ability to implement our plan for indoor visitation and to progress beyond re-opening phase 1. Please be assured that information will be shared with you as soon as it is available and we are anxious to move forward once a plan for re-opening beyond phase 1 is available from the State.

The guideline established September 5th remain effective October 8 to October 22nd and remain in place for our next two weeks. These guidelines 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 12 outdoors & 8 indoors as space for physical distancing allows.
  • Coffee, tea and wrapped snacks will be available in the lobby as requested by our resident council.
  • Apartment residents may go to essential personal appointments in their vehicle in addition to medical appointments. If residents need transportation to an appointment, please contact Herb Pratt for transportation. Residents may not go to appointments with family members and it can cause potential exposure. Potential exposure may result in a 14 day mandatory quarantine.
  • Due to a change in our visitation policy, we are reminded visitors to now meet our Activities Staff for screening outside the memory garden or on the Birch Bay front lawn.
  • 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.

I would also like to acknowledge some changes in our Activities Department. This spring our Activities Assistant, Carly, welcomed a new baby and went per diem. Another Activities Assistant, Emma, headed off to college. This month, we have welcomed Madison and Sara to our activities team. We look forward to introducing you to our new staff members and working with them to rebuild a robust activities program.

I also wanted to share with you that we are excited to welcome Katie Lawson as our new hairstylist. We are sad to say goodbye to Kat Montminy who provided services at the BBV salon for many years. Highly recommended by Kat, Katie will begin seeing Independent Residents this week. We are hopeful that we may be able to extend the salon to our Pleasant Cove and Safe Harbor Residents soon.

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. As always, we welcome your suggestions as to where we could improve the quality of life for residents during this difficult time.

Sincerely,

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