A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared at the Heritage Life Personal Care Home in Niverville, although there has been only one positive test so far. The news broke as part of the province’s daily press briefing on Monday, January 4.
Wes Hildebrand, CEO of the personal care home, says that the one positive case is a team member on campus who is currently at home self-isolating.
The Heritage Life PCH is divided into small neighbourhoods, and in this case only the residents in the Prairie Rose neighbourhood have been affected. All residents in this wing will be tested for COVID-19. Their families were contacted very soon after learning about the positive case.
“Team members have been very diligent in their personal lives, as well as their work lives,” Hildebrand says in praise of the facility’s staff. “We have a tremendous team. They will continue to do what they have been doing and doing very well.”
Visitation to all neighbourhoods at the PCH has been cancelled until the results of the Prairie Rose tests are determined. As well, any upcoming admissions to the PCH are on hold until the outbreak is declared over.
Even before the outbreak, the team at Heritage Life had been implementing measures to mitigate some of the opportunities for the virus to enter the campus.
“Many of the steps we have taken [at] the Niverville Heritage Centre campus have been as a result of the early information gathered from other provinces such as Ontario, Quebec, and B.C., where long-term care outbreaks started.”
Hildebrand states that Heritage Life’s one-staff/one-site protocol was developed from carefully watching outbreaks in other long-term care facilities.
“Early on in the pandemic, we partitioned off part of our neighbourhoods in order to reduce the cohort size,” he adds.
Hildebrand also lists several other procedures he believes will help nip this outbreak in the bud, including: screening all staff and visitors every day when entering the campus, connecting with Southern Health leadership for their guidance and assistance, and restricting staff from moving between cohorts.
Taking care of the residents’ health and peace of mind are naturally a high priority for Hildebrand. He points out that the Heritage Life PCH implemented virtual visits before most other facilities in Manitoba. He also praises his recreation staff, who have continued to provide activities for the residents on a daily basis.
“They have become very creative,” Hildebrand says.
Niverville Mayor Myron Dyck has recommended that all requests for information be directed to Wes Hildebrand. He also says that regular updates will soon be made available on the facility’s website.