Long-Term Care

Wentworth Lodge

A message to visitors of Macassa and Wentworth Lodges

June 26, 2020

We are just hovering over one week (already!) since scheduled outdoor visits resumed, both in our Homes and across the province. As of end of day Wednesday, 146 visits took place across both Homes. We are so happy to help facilitate these reunions with our residents and visitors, and expect the number of visits will only increase in the summer months and beyond.

In order to make these visits possible, there are strict protocols and restrictions in place – please adhere to them. We understand that having a physically distant visit with rules to follow is not ideal, but it’s necessary and worth it to visit with loved ones safely.

  • 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.

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.

Your feedback is important. If you have questions or would like to book a scheduled visit, please call 905-546-2424 and dial ext. 6817 for Macassa Lodge or ext. 6818 for Wentworth Lodge.

As always, thank you for your support, patience and understanding. Staff remain vigilant and committed to keeping our residents, staff and Homes safe. We are in this together.

Holly Odoardi
Senior Administrator
Macassa & Wentworth Lodges

Karen Allcroft
Administrator
Wentworth Lodge

As we gradually start welcoming back visitors, we would like to share some updates and important reminders for your awareness. Please read the letter below carefully; it includes new information on visitor guidelines and what you can expect as part of these supervised outdoor visits.

Beginning yesterday, visitors can schedule a supervised outdoor visit with a resident. We are taking a phased-in approach to resume visiting to ensure the health and safety of residents, staff and visitors. As always, we continue to follow Ministry directives and best practices from Public Health professionals. Read more about the Ministry of Long-Term Care’s visitor guidelines.

Our staff are working hard to schedule visits, set up outdoor spaces and ensure we have all the necessary health and safety protocols in place. In order to use our existing staff resources to support all residents equitably across visit formats, outdoor visits will likely take the place of the current weekly video and phone calls. Over the first few weeks, we will be looking for your feedback to help ensure meaningful visits. We recognize that these are unusual circumstances and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

We have been calling families to start scheduling visits. If you have questions or would like to book a scheduled visit, please call 905-546-2424 and dial ext. 6817 for Macassa Lodge or ext. 6818 for Wentworth Lodge. We are exploring an online option to book visits as well and hope to share more details about this soon.

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.

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

This week marks three months since the province enacted a Declaration of Emergency. While these past few months have proven challenging on so many levels, the measures in place are necessary to help stop the virus from spreading in our community. As the province begins to relax some of the restrictions allowing businesses to reopen, we continue to stay the course in all our precautionary measures to protect your loved ones. It is great to see the number of new COVID-19 cases decreasing each day, however it is important to remember that prevention is our best defense and we will continue to take every effort to protect the health and safety of residents, staff and our community.

As always, our sincerest thanks for your continued support. Your feedback is important to us – please feel free to connect with any questions or concerns. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

We hope you are all staying well. We are so pleased - as we’re sure you are as well - about the recent provincial announcement that we are now at a stage where visiting in long-term care homes can gradually resume.  

We are working hard on plans to support these once weekly outdoor visits between residents and a single family member.  Our planning will include setting up appropriate outdoor spaces for visits, scheduling staff and making sure we have all the necessary health and safety protocols in place. As you can appreciate, there are strict rules and requirements that homes must follow before they can start welcoming visitors.

We will continue to follow the direction and best advice from both the Ministry of Health and our local Medical Officer of Health to determine when it is safe and feasible to move ahead with visits in our Homes. As we begin to offer outdoor visits there will be adjustments to the schedule of video calls in order to use our existing staff resources to support all residents equitably across visit formats. 

You can read more about the Ministry of Long-Term Care’s visitor guidelines that provide full details on the plans (i.e. three phases) to gradually resume visiting. We will update you shortly about the process to request and book the outside visits.

Some Ministry’s health & safety protocols you can expect as part of these scheduled outdoor visits include:

  • Scheduled intervals for visits at designated areas outside of the Home.
  • Staff on-site to check in and direct family members to the designated visiting area.
  • Thorough cleaning of the space between visits.
  • Limit of one (1) visitor per resident per week.  
  • Visitors must bring and wear a face covering for the entire visit (masks will not be provided by our Homes).
  • Follow physical distancing protocols of 2m or 6ft. 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.
  • All visitors will have to confirm with staff that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the previous two weeks. There are assessment centres in our community.
  • 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 outdoor visits in response to inclement weather.

As you may have already seen reported in the news, the recent military report on five long-term care homes in Ontario has been shared publicly. Like you, we find these stories to be extremely disturbing and upsetting. We are heartbroken for any of the individuals who have had to deal with these horrible circumstances.

We continue to work tirelessly and to the best of our ability to protect your loved ones and provide the best possible care to keep them healthy and safe. Our staff remain committed to ensuring all residents have access to the highest level of care as we navigate these unprecedented times. We are grateful to our staff members and health system partners for their continued dedication and hard work under challenging circumstances over the past several months.

Since the first signs of COVID-19 in early March, we have been decisive and swift in following both directives and recommendations from the Ministry of Health, Public Health and Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Some precautionary measures put in place include:

  • rigorous screening measures
  • timely and appropriate use of personal protective equipment
  • following physical distancing protocols
  • thorough hygiene and sanitation processes

Our collective efforts have proven successful to-date and our hope is that the various measures in place will continue to protect our residents, staff and community.

The health, safety and well-being of all our residents and staff remains our number one priority. We will continue to share up to date information as it becomes available. Thank you once again for your continued patience, support and trust during this difficult and emotional time.

I want to thank you for your ongoing cooperation and patience during these challenging times. Rest assured that we continue to work tirelessly and to the best of our ability to protect your loved ones and keep them, along with our staff team, healthy and safe. 

The preventative measures implemented in early March to fight the spread of COVID-19 are reviewed and adjusted regularly, in keeping with directives and recommendations from the Ministry and Public Health professionals.

As you know, the recent measures put in place as part of the Ministry’s universal testing directive means that residents and staff in all long-term care homes will be swabbed. I want to let you know that swabbing of residents across both Homes is now complete. Universal testing of staff began on May 4 and will continue this week in an attempt to determine if anyone is asymptomatic. Our nursing teams continue working in conjunction with Public Health Services and Hamilton Paramedics; we expect test results later this week.

With Mother’s Day approaching this weekend, we understand this is a time many of us would normally spend with family celebrating the special women in our lives. We are faced with a different reality this year that will certainly be an adjustment for our residents, staff and families. A reminder that no plant or flower deliveries will be accepted in the Homes. Our staff will continue to help residents connect with you by phone and video chat – we know this makes an incredible difference to your loved ones.

The warmer weather is a great reason to get outside and enjoy fresh air. We are working with staff recreationists on a schedule to accommodate 1:1 visits for residents who want to go for a stroll in one of our courtyards. Thanks to our landscape contractor Heritage Green for their work to make the outside areas safe for walking.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated staff for their perseverance. They come in to work each day to be the extended family supporting and caring for your loved ones. I am proud of the work they do every day, especially during these uncertain times.

Thank you for your continued support, trust and understanding.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we continue to do everything we can to adhere to Public Health and the Ministry of Health guidelines to ensure the health and safety of our residents, staff and community. Here’s what we are doing to keep people safe: 

On the direction of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, all non-essential visiting was stopped on March 14, 2020. This includes no visiting on the premise. Exceptions will only be made for residents who are extremely ill or receiving palliative care. Any “essential” visitors must be actively screened before entering. Those who fail screening cannot enter. All other visitors will be denied entry. To help loved ones stay connected during this challenging time, we are keeping residents connected to their families via phone, Facetime, Skype and/or other technologies as available.

Residents are screened twice daily for any symptoms. Any residents with COVID-19 symptoms are immediately isolated in their rooms according to longstanding infection prevention and control practices. All staff must be actively screened for symptoms before, during and at the end of their shift, including taking temperatures. ANYONE that fails any part of the screening process will be asked to leave work and to contact public health and/or their health care provider.

Currently, swabbing has been done on all symptomatic residents and new admissions. The recently announced enhanced COVID testing in LTC Homes means a single positive swab in either a resident or a staff person will:

Immediately put the Lodge into a declared COVID Outbreak, and;
Require all residents and staff in the Lodge to have a nasal swab completed.

The Ministry is mandating proactive surveillance testing in all LTC Homes, meaning all staff and residents will have a swab completed for COVID. Public Health Units are working on an implementation plan that will be rolled out in the near future. In the meantime, we will contact substitute decision makers to get informed consent for those nasal swabs.

The Chief Medical Officer of Health has advised that residents should remain in the Lodge and not leave the premises except under medically warranted circumstances. We are strictly adhering to this direction. Medically necessary treatment will be authorized by attending medical staff in conjunction with our management team. This is a difficult but necessary decision to help ensure our residents are as safe as possible.

Our group programs continue to be postponed. Our Homes initiated this prior to the closure of visitors on March 14, 2020 to help prevent further spread of any type of cold symptoms. As we rearrange the dining rooms to achieve physical distancing, we plan to trial new programming ideas after each meal and during one-to-one visits.

All appointments – unless deemed essential – continue to be cancelled until further notice. We are working with St. Joseph’s Hospital and Hamilton Health Sciences to explore Virtual Care to keep our residents in their Homes and not in doctor’s offices or hospitals, including the emergency room, when possible. We are working around the clock to initiate this as soon as possible. As information is available, we will certainly share with residents, families and staff.

Physical distancing efforts for staff and residents have quickly become the new normal. In the days ahead we will implement more strategies to provide greater physical distancing for residents, particularly during meal times.

Our Leadership teams including our Medical Directors activated our Pandemic Committee on March 9, 2020. The Committee meets daily to implement Ministry of Health and Public Health directives, ensuring we can respond quickly and effectively to the changing environment.

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.

The health and safety of our residents, staff, family, volunteers, students and other visitors remains our main priority. As part of the coordinated response to COVID-19 and to ensure a safe and secure environment for residents, Macassa and Wentworth Lodges will have a no-visitor policy until further notice.

These added precautionary measures follow the direction of Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ministry of Health and are effective immediately.

Exceptions will only be made for residents who are extremely ill or receiving palliative care. We will continue to have a staff member at the main entrance with an up-to-date list of residents who are actively palliative – these visitors must continue to be actively screened before entering. Those who fail screening cannot enter. All other visitors will be denied entry.

We are looking for other opportunities to keep residents connected to their families during this time. We ask that you use the phone, Facetime, Skype, and/or other technologies as available to stay in touch with your loved one.

We will continue to monitor and reevaluate these measures in the coming weeks as the situation evolves. This is a difficult time that we recognize will be challenging for you and your loved ones. We appreciate your understanding and thank you for your cooperation. If you would like to receive email updates from us during this closure, please email [email protected] OR [email protected] and include in the email your full name and the name of your family member.

The City of Hamilton is actively monitoring COVID-19 and taking steps to protect the health and safety of the community. 

For more City of Hamilton COVID-19 information and regular updates:

Once again, thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through this challenging time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to connect with us.Let’s all do what we can to stay healthy and safe!

The health and safety of our residents, staff, family, volunteers, students and other visitors remains our main priority. As part of the coordinated response to COVID-19 and to ensure a safe and secure environment for residents, Macassa and Wentworth Lodges will have a no-visitor policy until further notice.

These added precautionary measures follow the direction of Dr. David Williams, Chief Medical Officer of Health, Ministry of Health and are effective immediately.

Exceptions will only be made for residents who are extremely ill or receiving palliative care. We will continue to have a staff member at the main entrance with an up-to-date list of residents who are actively palliative – these visitors must continue to be actively screened before entering. Those who fail screening cannot enter. All other visitors will be denied entry.

We are looking for other opportunities to keep residents connected to their families during this time. We ask that you use the phone, Facetime, Skype, and/or other technologies as available to stay in touch with your loved one.

We will continue to monitor and reevaluate these measures in the coming weeks as the situation evolves. This is a difficult time that we recognize will be challenging for you and your loved ones. We appreciate your understanding and thank you for your cooperation. If you would like to receive email updates from us during this closure, please email [email protected] OR [email protected] and include in the email your full name and the name of your family member.


Address: 41 South St. West (entry off of Lynden Avenue)
Dundas, Ontario, L9H 4C4

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 905-546-2618
Fax: 905-546-2854

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