OLDS – Mountain View Seniors’ Housing (MVSH) – which owns and operates lodges in Didsbury, Carstairs, Sundre and Olds – is already in compliance with new visitor restrictions, says CAO Sam Smalldon.
The province announced April 7 that no visitors are allowed into long-term care centres, including seniors lodges, licensed group homes and other facilities unless the visitor is essential for delivering care that cannot be delivered by staff or if the person is visiting a resident who is dying.
“We have already applied restricted access according to the guidelines,” said Smalldon. “This is where we are already at so this is not new to us. We were proactive and we’ve been all about prevention so we moved to this right away and this just confirms it.”
MVSH has been allowing only essential visitors into its facilities since March 17. Essential visitors are defined as those attending a resident who is dying.
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Any visitor to any MVSH facility must undergo health screening prior to being permitted inside.
There have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in any of the MVSH facilities, he said Monday.
To date there have been 112 confirmed cases and 13 deaths due to COVID-19 in Alberta continuing care facilities.
"Residents of all continuing care sites are at extreme risk if exposed to COVID-19," said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, chief medical officer of health.
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