COVID 19 UPDATE

What does it mean to care? Over 40 years ago, Russel B. Wells founded the Briton House Retirement Centre. He had a vision to create a place where residents would find exceptional service, community, physical, intellectual, and spiritual nourishment, and most importantly, care. This notion of care has become a cornerstone of our mission and evermore important today.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Briton House has adapted its policies and procedures to protect its residents. In this process, we have experienced the beauty in our community coming together to care for our most vulnerable population. But Care takes a team. It takes our reception staff, screening every person who enters the building. It takes our healthcare staff, made up of doctors, nurses, and personal support workers, who work to ensure the health and safety of our residents. It takes our servers, who have ramped up logistics to provide room service to our entire building. It takes our maintenance, custodian, and housekeeping team who have adapted their procedures to disinfect and sanitize our spaces at an unprecedented level. It takes our social programmers, who have pivoted programming to continue to engage our residents in meaningful ways, while maintaining their safety. 

Care comes in many forms and requires many people. Our staff and community have worked tirelessly to ensure our residents are protected, healthy, and happy. They are heroes who exemplify the beauty of care and compassion. We have also received overwhelming support and encouragement from our neighbours and resident family members. We want to thank our community for its support and bravery. We look forward to opening our doors in brighter days ahead and welcoming you to experience what it truly means to care. 

From our family to yours, thank you.

Included below is a list of our Covid 19 updates, which have been released by our management team.
To those that follow the Briton House Retirement Centre on social media, we would like to assure you that the health and safety of our residents is our highest priority. As we deal with the outbreak of Covid 19 we have, and are, in direct contact with our residents and families regularly, ensuring that all are aware of the current guidelines and the latest directives from public health.

Included below is a list of our Covid 19 updates, which have been released by our management team. As you may be aware, we have enacted strict infection controls which includes the use of masks by all staff members since the beginning of this Health Crisis. In addition, we are sanitizing of our facility with our new Clorox Electrostatic 360 machine which atomizes disinfectant and then sticks to all surfaces. A short demonstration video is below. Common areas are being disinfected with this machine daily. All public area touch points like elevator buttons, door knobs etc. are being cleaned multiple times a day. We are distributing instructional videos to our management and staff on best practices for hand hygiene and mask protocols. We are constantly reminding our residents of proper hand hygiene and to practice physical distancing in our entire facility. We have removed all couches and love seats leaving only individual seating spaced appropriately. We are also in the process of launching a full Room Service Dinning system so that we can move towards essentially closing our dining room.

Thank you for your interest in The Briton House Retirement Facility and we will endeavor to keep our social media up to date. We trust you understand that, as protocols evolve, our first priority is the health and safety of our Residents and the dissemination of information to Residents, family and staff directly. We look forward to continuing to meet the needs of our North Toronto Community as we have for the last 44 years.

RegardsThe ManagementBriton House Retirement Centre

 

 

VISITATION GUIDELINES

 

Covid-19 /2022 – Visitor Guidelines

The Briton House follows the regulatory guidance as stated: “Strongly encouraging retirement homes to restrict general visitors to only those who are fully vaccinated and implementing additional requirements for essential visitors and general visitors who are not fully vaccinated when entering a retirement home.”

Here are the procedures to help everyone receive visitors safely:

Mandatory Procedures:

Visiting Hours: 10AM-8PM

  • All Visitors, regardless of vaccination status, will be Rapid Tested twice a week prior to entering the Briton House.
  • All Visitors, regardless of vaccination status, should refrain from staying in any common areas.
  • We welcome small pets living in Fully Vaccinated Households into the building. They should be carried to a resident’s room & carried out of the building. Please do not allow others to touch your pet.
  • Any visitors that wish to meet in the Atrium or on our Patio, regardless of vaccination status, should email Matthew (matthew@britonhouse.com) or Susan (susan@britonhouse.com) to make sure the space is available for an organized visit.
  • The Dining Room is reserved for our residents. Visitors should avoid congregating and passing through the area during meal times and when staff are working in the area.
  • Staff and Visitors are required to properly wear masks at all times while in The Briton House. Families should refrain from eating & drinking in the building.
  • If you are travelling from outside of Ontario, please see the section regarding Travel.

Fully Immunized: Fully Immunized- 14 Days after a full sequence of doses of any Canada approved vaccine.

  • All Visitors, regardless of vaccination status, will be Rapid Tested twice a week prior to entering the Briton House.
  • All visitors MUST be screened at the front desk upon entry into The Briton House & show Proof of Vaccination and Photo ID
  • Fully Immunized Visitors do not need to book visits in advance and are permitted to visit residents in their room if permission is given by the resident. (Unless travelling from outside Ontario- Please see Travel Section)
  • 2 Fully Immunized visitors from the same household can be accommodated in a resident’s room as long as social distancing is maintained and group limits are within the provincial guidelines.
  • As the risk of transmission in enclosed spaces increases with duration of visits, please keep visits as short as possible
  • Once you enter the building, please do not leave and come back (i.e. go to the store, pharmacy, etc.) Please plan to have your supplies/deliveries ready for the resident you are visiting when you arrive for your visit.
  • If Fully Immunized visitors would like to visit in one of our designated areas (Our Atrium or Patio) they should book in advance to ensure availability.
  • Residents can receive a maximum of 2 visitors a day.
  • Visitors must bring a surgical mask
  • Visitors must properly wear their mask at all times while in The Briton House
  • Visitors are not to socialize with any other residents
  • We ask that Visitors use the sanitizer available in the facility upon entrance and during the visit
  • If Visitors bring gifts/supplies they must leave them at the reception desk to be sprayed and sanitized
  • All Visitors are required to review and confirm, on a monthly basis, that they have watched 4 Public Health required videos from the Ontario Government, as well as reading the following documents: Briton House Visitor Policy and Public Health Ontario’s document entitled Recommended Steps: Putting on Personal protective Equipment (PPE). All available here on our website: https://www.britonhouse.com/safety-review/

Partially/ Not Immunized: Partially Immunized/ Not Immunized: Partial dose sequence or no dose of any Canada approved vaccines

  • Not currently able to enter the building.

Absences:
Absences are permitted, including short-term absence of one or more nights away from the home.

  • Fully Immunized residents will require testing and isolation upon return.
  • Partially Immunized or Unimmunized residents, require a negative lab-based PCR test upon returning to the home. While their test result is pending, the individual must be placed in isolation on Droplet and Contact Precautions. If their test result is negative, isolation on Droplet and Contact Precautions can be discontinued.
  • Short-term absences like walks with family, day trips or other absences that don’t involve overnight absences are permitted with no isolation or testing required.
    *Some circumstances may require isolation and testing*
  • Upon residents’ return to The Briton House from an overnight absence, they will require a PCR test on day one and day 7. We can do the PCR swabs here, and isolation will be necessary until a negative result is confirmed. If you do not believe your loved one will comply with isolation procedures, we strongly advise against overnight absences as we need to ensure these protocols are followed. Things are changing rapidly so we will do our best to update you as things evolve.

Travellers:

  • If you are travelling from outside of Ontario, we require a PCR test be taken on your second day after arriving in Ontario. If you receive negative results, you can visit normally, as per your vaccination status. If you would like to visit while you await your results, you can email matthew@britonhouse.com or susan@britonhouse.com to book an Atrium visit with a rapid test.
  • In addition, individuals who have travelled to any country outside of Canada within the last 14 days, including the US, and who are not under federal quarantine will be required to undergo rapid antigen testing when entering a retirement home, regardless of vaccination status. Rapid antigen testing results are valid for 48 hours.
  • The federal government is implementing enhanced measures for all travellers who have been in the following ten countries within 14 days prior to their arrival in Canada: • South Africa • Eswatini • Lesotho • Botswana • Zimbabwe • Mozambique • Namibia • Egypt • Nigeria • Malawi. Under direction from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), anyone arriving in Canada after visiting any of these countries in the previous 14 days must immediately have a PCR test for COVID-19 and quarantine for 14 days from the date of their arrival, regardless of their vaccination status. They must also be tested again on day 8 of their quarantine. This requirement also applies to anyone residing in the same household of a person who is in quarantine because of recent travel to these countries. This includes individuals intending to visit palliative residents as well as staff, essential caregivers, support workers, visitors, students, volunteers, and contractors.

Anyone who has travelled to any of the 10 identified African countries listed above within the last 14 days, regardless of vaccination status, is strictly prohibited to enter a retirement home as they are required to be in quarantine.

Failure to adhere to The Briton House’ COVID protocols may result in the suspension of visiting privileges.

To book a visit with a resident, please contact one of our activation team members:
Matthew Wells at matthew@britonhouse.com or 416-487-3392 ext. 2044
Susan Blye at susan@britonhouse.com or 416-487-3392 ext. 2023

Infection Control Guidelines

 

Proper Use of Masks:

Clean hands with Hand Sanitizer at front desk before putting on your mask
The mask should cover your mouth and nose and should sit above your nose and under your chin. Squeeze the mask wire over the bridge of your nose. Do not pull the mask down at anytime
Avoid touching the mask while using it; if you do, clean your hands with sanitizer or soap and water.

Proper Handwashing Techniques:

Wet: Place hands under clean, running water.
Lather: Apply generous amounts of soap to the inside and back of your hands as well as your fingertips. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds and don’t forget to wash under jewelry and fingernails.
Scrub: Rub hands together and move your fingertips around both hands.
Rinse: Return hands to the running water to wash away soap.
Dry: Completely dry hands (not rub) pat with a disposable paper towel

Social Distancing:

Physical distancing minimizes close contact with others. While visiting residents, please ensure to maintain physical distance.

Things you can do to keep practicing physical distancing are:
– avoiding crowded places
– keeping 2 meters apart when outside of your home
– avoid physical contact such as handshakes and hugs

 

 

OUR COVID 19 PRAYER

 

This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we pray, O Lord!
O Lord, we pray, give us success!

Psalm 118:24-25 (ESV)

 

 

Here one of our staff demonstrates the Clorox Electrostatic Sprayer on one of our North Tower elevators. The charged antiseptic mist coats all surfaces and kills Covid 19, as wells as most other common pathogens.