Dear residents, families and friends
As announced by the Prime Minister yesterday afternoon, Auckland will move to Orange Traffic Light System in the Covid Protection Framework from Thursday 30th December 2021.
Although there is still “medium risk” of community spread, our residents and staff are still deemed to be at “high risk” of contracting viruses even being fully vaccinated, so we’ll continue to proceed with caution.
On Friday 1st December 2021, the Ministry of Health issued an “Aged Care guidance for operation under the COVID-19 Response Framework” for our sector.
Needless to say, this document was confusing and had no direct correlation to the Traffic Light System, so we sought further interpretation on the guidance document from the Ministry of Health, Counties Manukau District Health Board and from our industry body, the New Zealand Aged Care Association.
Although there is a relaxing of operational rules for New Zealand under the Orange and Green Traffic Light System, the rules surrounding aged care are still quite strict.
The New Zealand Aged Care Association’s Nursing Leadership Group have provided guidance to the sector, which we will follow.
We are anticipating a high number of visitors during the next month, so there may be a delay facilitating your entry into the facility due to the mandatory visitor entry requirements.
As such, we ask for your patience while my staff follow the set process.
After reviewing all the operating guidelines, from tomorrow Wednesday 15th December 2021 we will operate under the following rules:
Visits from Family or Friends (Fully Vaccinated):
Our visiting procedures for RED and ORANGE are as follows:
- A reminder, that visitors should stay at home if they have any flu-like or Covid symptoms, are under investigation of Covid-19, or are a close contact of someone who is under investigation of Covid-19 or a confirmed case.
- Normal visiting hours will be between 8.30am and 11.30am and 12.30pm to 3.30pm with a staff member at the door. There is no time limit on visits.
- After hours visits – if you wish to visit outside of our normal opening hours, you must ring the facility in advance to book an appointment time. Please ring the doorbell upon arrival. Your entry will be facilitated by a Registered Nurse or authorised staff member, so there may be some delay in opening the door as our staff may be attending to resident needs.
- There may be a limit on the number of visitors allowed in the premises at any one time, as set by the Clinical Manager daily. When we have reached this threshold, we will operate on a “one out, one in” basis.
- All visitors under the age of 12 will be required to wear a mask and visits should be held outdoors if possible.
- Visitors will be asked to scan in using the “NZ Covid Tracer” App, complete a mandatory visitor log on our tablet and be given a health check.
- You will be held at the front door and health screened by a staff member.
- You will be asked to provide proof of your fully vaccinated status by providing your My Vaccine Pass which will be scanned using the “NZ Pass Verifier” App upon arrival.
- You will then be asked to sanitise, have your temperature taken and wear appropriate supplied Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), i.e. masks, etc, determined by the Manager.
- Masks and other PPE must remain in place for the duration of your visit.
- Visitors must always maintain physical distancing of one metre, where possible.
- All visitors must abide by our Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) procedures.
- Goods brought into the facility will be checked and if required sanitised.
- All visitors must follow the directions of staff and we reserve the right to deny entry if you fail our health check or fail to comply with our set procedures.
Visits from Family or Friends (Partly or Unvaccinated):
Our visiting procedures for RED and ORANGE are as follows:
All partly or unvaccinated family or visitors 12 years or older must ring the facility to book an appointment to visit and will be required to show evidence of:
- A negative COVID-19 PCR test 48-72 hours prior to the scheduled visit, or a negative Rapid Antigen Test on the day of the scheduled visit
- Additional Personal Protection Equipment may be required, at the direction of the Clinical Manager
- Visits will be conducted outdoors where possible
Resident Outings:
Resident outing procedures from Wednesday 15th December 2021 for RED and ORANGE are as follows:
- Please advise the Management Team if you intend taking a resident on an outing, as we need to provide you with their Resident Covid Vaccine Pass and appropriate PPE.
- Residents/Family/Friends should only visit places with vaccination certification requirements, outdoor areas or private dwellings.
- Residents/Family/Friends should ensure contact tracing, mask wearing and adherence to all public health measures.
- No isolation is required on return to the facility.
- Weekly facility van trips will resume as soon as possible
Staffing:
There will be a continuation of the current processes and procedures we implemented, and which are currently in place for all staff.
These include:
- Sanitising, temperature checks and completion of a staff log upon entry
- Wearing of appropriate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), i.e. masks, etc, at all times.
- Adhering to physical distancing where possible
Booster Vaccines:
The Pfizer/BioNTech booster vaccine is now available, and residents will be eligible to receive these six months after their second vaccine, which are scheduled for early in the New Year.
Our staff will contact you shortly to seek approval.
Video Calling as a way to stay connected:
Don’t forget, we have the use of technology for you to communicate with your loved ones using video calling.
We have set up video calling using FaceTime, Viber, WhatsApp, Skype and Zoom via AgedConnect as a way of staying connected.
This works as follows:
- Please contact the facility to obtain a timeslot between 9.30am and 2.30pm (Monday to Friday) and provide your contact details and preferred contact method.
- 30-minute time slots will be available
- Activities staff will make the call to you at the allocated time
- Calls will be limited to 15 minutes
We will provide a further update prior to the next change (Green) in the Covid Protection Framework Traffic Light System.
As always, we are here to help, so please let us know if you have any queries or concerns.
Kind regards
ALLAN SARGEANT
AMBRIDGE ROSE OWNER / CEO