As we find ourselves officially in autumn, we will remember this summer as one of fine weather, very little rain and hardly any BC forest fires. Although, we were affected by smoke a couple of weeks ago from the fire that devastated New Westminster’s waterfront pier and also came up north from Oregon. In fact, it was so bad that Vancouver made international news as one of the cities with the worst air quality in the world! This galvanized KL to re-evaluate the set up for our outdoor social visits and we are happy to report that these visits will now take place indoors in the Recreation Room. We have already received many positive comments, particularly in relation to the reduced noise and music from the nearby CC3 construction site. As promised, the government did forward us some revenue for the visitation monitors which will allow us to increase the duration of social visits from 20 to 30 minutes and offer more availability of time slots for the weekends.
Kinsmen Lodge has successfully navigated through the last seven months of the pandemic and still no positive cases for either Elders or staff. COVID-19 precautions are still in place within the building and will likely remain until there is a vaccine. Your Kinsmen Lodge family certainly misses you, but like everyone else we are bound by the Provincial Health Officer’s rules. As such, we are all reminded to “be kind, be calm and be safe”, wash our hands, maintain safe social distancing and wear a face mask when out.
We listen and take our cues from Dr. Henry and are preparing for the second wave, so we will continue our protocols of daily screening of Elders and staff, test and isolate where appropriate and minimize the visitors and volunteers allowed onsite. The virtual Skype and FaceTime visits have been very beneficial to the Elders and the families are thankful to still be able to stay connected with their loved ones. The KL team continues to meet weekly to monitor any developments in the community and are keeping a close watch on the impact of the children that have returned to school. FHA Licensing was onsite on September 25th to conduct a second audit on infection control, use of PPE’s, education and Elder engagement. It went very well and we expect only minor recommendations, if any.
With the arrival of fall, the cool and wet weather is here – a clear signal to close up the garden which still looks very lush and full of fresh produce. Our cooks often use our “local produce” in their menus including chutney and salsa. The Elders are keeping busy with painting and transforming some donated film canisters into lovely decorations for the balconies and outdoor spaces. Some Elder artwork was also chosen to be featured in a publication for Stenberg College.
While 2020 has definitely not been what we envisioned at the start of this year, there are still so many things to be grateful for…Happy Thanksgiving!