Dear Residents, Families and Friends:
It appears spring has arrived in Victoria. I hope you are enjoying the nice weather and the beautiful blossoms.
Please accept the following update regarding Mount St. Mary Hospital:
- Visiting parameters continue as directed by the Office of the Provincial Health Officer, and our visiting program is going well. Each resident has one designated visitor. The determination for essential visits are assessed by the individual resident’s Clinical Team
- We have had six visitors with positive rapid test results since the beginning of January. Thank you for complying with the rapid testing requirement.
- We currently have a ‘full house’ at Mount St. Mary, meaning that we have 200 residents living with us. No residents have COVID-19 symptoms nor have positive test results for the virus.
- Staffing continues to be a challenge, however our dedicated staff continue to fill vacancies and our sick time is significantly improved over the past month.
- We continue to recruit staff, but as you know, there is a lack of staff in the sector.
- The recent announcement by the BC Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation and the Minister of Health of “A total of 602 new nursing seats will be added to approximately 2,000 seats currently in nursing programs in B.C.’s public post-secondary institutions. The new seats include 362 registered nursing seats, 40 registered psychiatric nursing seats, 20 nurse practitioner seats and 180 licensed practical nurse seats at 17 public post-secondary institutions. As part of this expansion, new seats will support health-care assistants who want to train as a licensed practical nurse (LPN), and LPNs looking to move into a career as a registered nurse (RN)” is most welcome.
- Anne McCaffrey, Leader of Spiritual Care & Volunteer Services, has relocated to the Comox Valley. Anne will be missed of course, and we are currently recruiting for the position.
- Our new dentist, Dr. Austin Andrews, will start providing services with his dental hygienist, Allison, in mid-March. We will inform you of the process when he comes on board. I know you will join m in welcoming our new Dental Team to Mount St. Mary
- Unfortunately, our Hairdresser Trudy Holinaty has not returned to work as yet. We are recruiting another stylist to temporarily fill her position.
- We are pleased to have many of our Volunteer Programs up and running and to have Chapel Services resume. Unfortunately visitors are not permitted to participate with residents in activities as yet per the Provincial Health Officer directive.
With kind regards,
Sara