In collaboration with Public Health, the OAK Home Area remains in a Gastroenteritis Outbreak with symptoms of vomiting and/or diarrhea. The home area also continues to have a respiratory outbreak with symptoms such as cough, nasal congestion, runny nose, and/or sore throat or both. Family members of those residents affected have been notified.

The following infection control measures are to be implemented:

• Surgical Masks to be worn in the Oak Home Area
• Ensure the Public Health 4 moments of Hand Hygiene are followed
• Resident's Hand Hygiene before all meals and regularly throughout the day
• Ensure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is used properly- including donning before entering and removing before exiting the isolated resident’s room
• Residents are to remain in the affected home area at this time to reduce the risk of spread
• *If residents insist on leaving the home area, please assist them with masking or a visor and encourage outdoor visiting.
• Twice daily respiratory symptom screening in Oak Home Area
• Immediate isolation of any residents with new symptom onset
• Cohorting of staff, when possible.
• Cohorting of residents and only small group activities in the home area for unaffected residents. Isolated residents to receive one-to-one activities.
• Twice daily high-touch surface cleaning- changing the disinfecting product to 1-minute contact time
• Increased hand hygiene and PPE audits in the home area with coaching
• No General Visitors at this time. Only two (2) essential caregivers at a time.

Please ensure that you are following the IPAC practices listed above as they are in place to protect residents, staff, essential caregivers, and visitors.

We will continue to provide updates as we move through the outbreak.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the nurse in charge or Stephanie Albert, IPAC Lead - stephanie.albert@muskoka.on.ca

On December 1, 2024, changes to Ontario Regulation 246/22 under the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 came into effect.

The ministry has been working with key stakeholders on amendments to the Regulation to support updates to staffing qualifications requirements for staff roles in Long-Term Care (LTC) in support of improved consistency and quality of care for residents.

Implementation Supports

To help you, your teams and your LTC home community understand these changes, the Ministry has provided a suite of tools, including a policy guidance document, fact sheets and webinars. Ministry webinars will provide a technical overview of the revised Regulation as well as other Ministry updates on available upskilling, bridging, and training programs for LTC homes and their staff.

Ministry Webinar Session Details:

Residents, Caregivers & Families in English

Friday, December 13, 2024 (9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.)

Zoom (click on the link to join the webinar)

Residents, Caregivers & Families in French

Friday, December 13, 2024 (11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.)

Zoom (click on the link to join the webinar)

In collaboration with Public Health, the OAK Home Area remains in a Gastroenteritis Outbreak with symptoms of vomiting and/or diarrhea. The home area also continues in a Respiratory outbreak with symptoms such as cough, nasal congestion, runny nose, and/or sore throat or both. Family members of those residents affected have been notified.

The following infection control measures are to be implemented:

• Surgical Masks to be worn in the Oak Home Area
• Ensure the Public Health 4 moments of Hand Hygiene are followed
• Resident's Hand Hygiene before all meals and regularly throughout the day
• Ensure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is used properly- including donning before entering and removing before exiting the isolated resident’s room
• Residents are to remain in the affected home area at this time to reduce the risk of spread
• *If residents insist on leaving the home area, please assist them with masking or a visor and encourage outdoor visiting.
• Twice daily respiratory symptom screening in Oak Home Area
• Immediate isolation of any residents with new symptom onset
• Cohorting of staff, when possible.
• Cohorting of residents and only small group activities in the home area for unaffected residents. Isolated residents to receive one-to-one activities.
• Twice daily high-touch surface cleaning- changing the disinfecting product to 1-minute contact time
• Increased hand hygiene and PPE audits in the home area with coaching
• No General Visitors at this time. Only two (2) essential caregivers at a time.

Please ensure that you are following the IPAC practices listed above as they are in place to protect residents, staff, essential caregivers, and visitors.

We will continue to provide updates as we move through the outbreak.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the nurse in charge or Stephanie Albert, IPAC Lead - stephanie.albert@muskoka.on.ca

Thank you so much to the over 80 individuals who took the time to answer the Survey. Your feedback is important to us, it helps shape the quality of care for your loved one.

The 2024 Resident and Family Engagement Survey (click on this link above) is now available to complete. Watch for the survey on the weekly updates or find it in the Resident and Family Portal. We need your feedback to help support the quality of life for the residents in the home.

Please take 5 minutes to complete the survey and provide us with your views of the care for your loved one.

Paper copies are available at the sign-in desk if you prefer to complete it this way. Please seal it in the envelope provided once complete and provide it to the front office staff.

Hello, Family/Guests of the Pines,

I want to take this time to wish you all Happy Holidays and let you know that we are working hard to keep your loved ones healthy this holiday season. To keep them healthy and safe we need your help as well. Please ensure that if you are feeling unwell you postpone your visit and that you wear a mask for 10 days with any visit after your symptoms start.

One of the biggest ways for you to ensure we keep the residents healthy is to wash our hands. As you can see from the graph compliance for family and guests coming into the home is down to thirty-six percent (36%). We need to increase this percentage. We need you to ensure you are using the Hand sanitizer coming into the home, when you are leaving, and when you are entering each home area. I have added a photo that represents hands that have been exposed to MRSA (picture on the left). As you can see the hand sanitizer eliminated it from the hands hence preventing the spread (picture on the right). This goes for all viruses and bacteria.

So please if you could ensure you are washing your hands we can ensure the residents continue to be healthy and safe.

I am pleased to let you know that we have completed our Influenza and COVID vaccine clinics. We have 85% of the residents vaccinated for influenza and 84% vaccinated for Covid. This is another way to boost protection against influenza and COVID.

I am looking forward to a great new year and I hope you all have a safe and healthy holiday.

Stephanie Albert, IPAC Lead

stephanie.albert@muskoka.on.ca

We recently had a significant weather event related to snow accumulation causing power outages. This is a reminder that when the power is out at the home we now have a large generator that provides the home with one hundred percent (100%) power in the event of an outage.

In collaboration with Public Health, the OAK Home Area remains in a Gastroenteritis Outbreak with seven (7) residents with symptoms of vomiting and/or diarrhea. The home area also continues in a Respiratory outbreak with five (5) residents with symptoms such as cough, nasal congestion, runny nose, and/or sore throat. There is a Total of ten (10) residents with either respiratory, enteric, or both. Family members of those residents affected have been notified.

The following infection control measures are to be implemented:

• Surgical Masks to be worn in the Oak Home Area
• Ensure the Public Health 4 moments of Hand Hygiene are followed
• Resident's Hand Hygiene before all meals and regularly throughout the day
• Ensure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is used properly- including donning before entering and removing before exiting the isolated resident’s room
• Residents are to remain in the affected home area at this time to reduce the risk of spread
• *If residents insist on leaving the home area, please assist them with masking or a visor and encourage outdoor visiting.
• Twice daily respiratory symptom screening in Oak Home Area
• Immediate isolation of any residents with new symptom onset
• Cohorting of staff, when possible.
• Cohorting of residents and only small group activities in the home area for unaffected residents. Isolated residents to receive one-to-one activities.
• Twice daily high-touch surface cleaning- changing the disinfecting product to 1-minute contact time
• Increased hand hygiene and PPE audits in the home area with coaching
• No General Visitors at this time. Only two (2) essential caregivers at a time.

Please ensure that you are following the IPAC practices listed above as they are in place to protect residents, staff, essential caregivers, and visitors.

We will continue to provide updates as we move through the outbreak.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the nurse in charge or Stephanie Albert, IPAC Lead - stephanie.albert@muskoka.on.ca

In collaboration with Public Health, the OAK Home Area declared a Gastroenteritis Outbreak with seven (7) residents with symptoms of vomiting and/or diarrhea. The home area also continues in a Respiratory outbreak with five (5) residents with symptoms such as cough, nasal congestion, runny nose, and/or sore throat. There is a Total of ten (10) residents with either respiratory, enteric, or both. Family members of those residents affected have been notified.

The following infection control measures are to be implemented:

• Surgical Masks to be worn in the Oak Home Area
• Ensure the Public Health 4 moments of Hand Hygiene are followed
• Resident's Hand Hygiene before all meals and regularly throughout the day
• Ensure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is used properly- including donning before entering and removing before exiting the isolated resident’s room
• Residents are to remain in the affected home area at this time to reduce the risk of spread
• *If residents insist on leaving the home area, please assist them with masking or a visor and encourage outdoor visiting.
• Twice daily respiratory symptom screening in Oak Home Area
• Immediate isolation of any residents with new symptom onset
• Cohorting of staff, when possible.
• Cohorting of residents and only small group activities in the home area for unaffected residents. Isolated residents to receive one-to-one activities.
• Twice daily high-touch surface cleaning- changing the disinfecting product to 1-minute contact time
• Increased hand hygiene and PPE audits in the home area with coaching
• No General Visitors at this time. Only two (2) essential caregivers at a time.

Please ensure that you are following the IPAC practices listed above as they are in place to protect residents, staff, essential caregivers, and visitors.

We will continue to provide updates as we move through the outbreak.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the nurse in charge or Stephanie Albert, IPAC Lead - stephanie.albert@muskoka.on.ca

In collaboration with Public Health, the Spruce Respiratory Outbreak has been confirmed over. Oak remains in an outbreak at this time and an update will be provided later today.

Thank you for your patience as we worked through this most recent outbreak.