Long-Term Care

All visits must be scheduled in advance and will take place at designated stations outside of the Home.
Only one (1) visitor per resident per week.  
Visitors must arrive 15 minutes early to be screened.
Visitors must bring and wear a face covering for the entire visit that covers BOTH your nose and mouth (masks will not be provided by our Homes).
Visitors must test COVID-19 negative within 14 days prior to the visit.
Physical distancing 2m or 6ft must be maintained during the visit. If physical distancing is not maintained, your loved one will be placed in isolation for 14 days as an added safety precaution.
Visitors must pass active screening each time they visit, including having a negative COVID test within 14 days of the visit.
Staff must provide visitors with guidelines and precautions during the screening process.

As a visitor, we ask that you do the following:

Respect the guidelines in place. If you do not understand them or have questions, please ask staff. Visitors who do not follow guidelines may have visits discontinued.
Answer all screening questions honestly.
Be considerate and respectful when interacting with individuals – this is a stressful time for everyone.
Keep your visit to the scheduled 30-minute time slot to prevent a backlog. If you arrive late, you will not receive additional time.
Do not enter the Home for any reason, including using the washrooms. Please plan your visit accordingly.
Pets are not permitted during visits.
Limit your visit to your loved one; you cannot visit any other resident please.

A reminder that visits should only take place at the designated stations. Please do not spend time with residents who are enjoying their space in front of the Home – these are not designated visiting stations.

Find the assessment centre locations in our community.
Visit Ontario's user-friendly online portal for the public to easily access COVID-19 lab test results. It can take up to 7 days for results to be available online.

Regular testing is important to help identify the virus in anyone who may not be showing symptoms. Staff across both Homes – from our front-line service providers to our leadership team - have been screened twice daily since March and tested twice this month.

The health and safety protocols you can expect at your visit include:

• All visits must be scheduled in advance and will take place at designated areas outside of the Home.
• Only one (1) visitor per resident per week.
• Visitors must arrive 15 minutes ahead to be screened.
• Visitors must bring and wear a face covering for the entire visit that covers BOTH your nose and mouth (masks will not be provided by our Homes).
• Visitors must test COVID-19 negative within 14 days prior to the visit.
• Physical distancing 2m or 6ft must be maintained during the visit. If physical distancing is not maintained, your loved one will be placed in isolation for 14 days as an added safety precaution.
• Visitors must pass active screening each time they visit, including having a negative COVID test within 14 days of the visit.
• Staff will provide all visitors with guidelines and precautions during the screening process.

As a visitor, we ask that you do the following:

• Respect the guidelines that are in place. If you do not understand them or have questions, please ask staff. Visitors who do not follow guidelines may have visits discontinued.
• Answer all screening questions honestly.
• Limit your visit to your loved one; you cannot visit any other resident please.
• Be considerate and respectful when interacting with individuals - this is a stressful time for everyone.
• Keep your visit to the scheduled 30-minute time slot to prevent a backlog. If you arrive late, you will not receive additional time.
• Do not enter the Home for any reason, including using the washrooms. Please plan your visit accordingly.
• Pets are not permitted during visits.

Ensuring the health and well-being of our residents is our top priority. Outdoor visits will be based on the residents’ ability to safely take part without jeopardizing their health. This includes adjusting or cancelling prescheduled visits in response to inclement weather.

• Find the assessment centre locations in our community.
• Ontario has launched a new user-friendly online portal for the public to easily access COVID-19 lab test results. It can take up to 7 days for results to be available online.

Remember that COVID-19 is highly contagious. Some of the ways you can lower the risk of virus transfer during visits - and in your everyday life - include:

• Not sharing or passing items during visits.
• Avoid touching your face, eyes, ears or glasses.
• Practice proper hand hygiene; wash your hands thoroughly and often.
• Maintain physical distancing 2m or 6ft with others when you are out in public.
• Minimize jewelry and accessories, including your purse and cellphone.

View the latest news and updates from Public Health about how to protect yourself and others.

Regular testing of our staff and residents is important to help identify the virus in anyone who may not be showing symptoms. Starting this month, staff testing at both Homes will occur twice per month as directed by the province. Furthermore, we require all new/redeployed staff to be tested for COVID-19 and provide proof of a negative result before they begin working in the Home.

We understand how difficult it is to be apart from your loved ones, especially for important milestones like Father’s Day celebrations. While we know that sharing gifts and care packages is a way of staying connected, we ask that you limit gifts and care packages as much as possible. A reminder that no plant or flower will be accepted in the Homes. These measures will help us to reduce the risk of the virus being transmitted. We know that the virus can remain on a variety of surfaces for up to 72 hours. therefore, any care package deliveries will be set in storage for a minimum of 72 hours.

If you have labelled items you would like passed onto your loved ones, please leave items on a cart located inside the front door of the Lodge and we will deliver them to your loved ones. No home prepared foods will be accepted. We will accept items such as:

• Hearing aid batteries
• Personal hygiene items
• Packaged chocolate
• Case of pop
• Books, newspapers, cards, mail

Staff are provided with mask, eye protection, gloves and gowns for resident care for anyone in isolation and others based on a thorough assessment by our nurses, in consultation with the doctors. Additionally, hand sanitizer stations are placed in every resident room and throughout the Lodges in all common areas and hallways.

As of April 8, 2020, all staff must wear a mask at all times in the Lodges to protect residents and co-workers from potentially being infected by an asymptomatic staff person. This practice is different than wearing a mask while caring for a resident in isolation due to illness.

As of April 15, 2020, staff were mandated to only work for a single health employer for the duration of the pandemic. As an early adopter of this recommendation on March 26, 2020, we strengthened our defences perhaps more quickly than other Homes could. Scheduling adjustments have also been made to limit the number of resident home areas staff can work in. Under an emergency order, all staff vacations and stat holidays have been cancelled for the foreseeable future to help stabilize staffing resources.

We continue to follow all Public Health recommendations relating to Outbreak Management, including early identification of residents with symptoms that could be contagious, providing in-room isolation care to residents with symptoms, prompt testing for COVID-19 and other viruses, and ongoing consultation with our assigned Public Health Inspector. An Infection Control Practitioner (ICP) also works to direct and evaluate the Infection Prevention and Control Program between both Lodges.

Any resident who has typical or atypical symptoms of COVID-19 is immediately isolated from other residents and in-room isolation care is initiated. A nasal swab is completed and sent to Public Health for testing. All in-room isolation care is completed by staff trained in using full PPE (gowns, gloves, mask, face shield).

If a resident is confirmed to be COVID-19 positive, we will provide care and treatment to the resident in the Lodge in collaboration with the primary care physician and with all the necessary isolation and protective measures in place. Experts believe this will be the safest and most comfortable place for a resident to be.

All scheduled care conferences, tours, meetings, etc. have been cancelled until further notice.

We will continue to share updates and new information when available with staff, residents, visitors and the community. If you are a family member of a resident at Macassa or Wentworth Lodge and would like to receive email updates during the closure, email [email protected] OR [email protected] and include in the email your full name and the name of your family member.