Live Update to Residents-June 30, 2020
Live updates to residents on our in-house TV970 keep us informed and connected. Today’s update featured John Burns, President and CEO; Scott Jonté, Director of Dining; Jessica Goldberg, Manager Courtesy Services; and Lynn McClintock, Director Pastoral Care.
The following updates were shared during the live briefing on TV970.
John Burns
Nationally, there have been 2,545,250 cases of COVID-19 and 126,739 deaths. As of today, the COVID-19 data for Virginia includes:
• 633,705 people have been tested for COVID-19, including 8,042 since yesterday. Positive cases total 62,787, an increase of 453 since yesterday.
• The rolling seven-day positivity rate in Virginia is 6.0% (flat), Henrico is 5.8% (flat), Richmond is 7.7% (upward trend), Chesterfield is 8.8% (downward trend) and Hanover is 2.8% (downward trend). Areas west of Richmond, including Charlottesville, Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Covington are trending up.
• 796 people are currently hospitalized.
Employee Tests Positive for COVID-19
On Tuesday, June 30, Westminster Canterbury Richmond learned that an employee of Mary Morton Parsons Health Center tested positive for COVID-19 after traveling out of state. This Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) worked on Parsons Health Center Second Floor West on June 22 and 23 prior to exhibiting the symptom of loss of smell.
Residents of Parsons Health Center Second Floor continue to be under quarantine per guidelines from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These residents will be tested for COVID-19 beginning today.
Currently, there are five additional employees who have exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 and are off campus awaiting the results of testing. The National Guard has been conducting Point Prevalence Surveys at all long-term care facilities in Virginia, testing residents and staff to identify the number of people with COVID-19 at a specific point in time. Westminster Canterbury is in the planning stages with the National Guard to conduct one of these surveys in the coming weeks.
Read more details in the memo here.
The Assisted Living employee who tested positive earlier in June has returned to work after testing negative twice. A Housekeeping employee continues to recover at home.
Residents in Quarantine
Some residents are currently quarantined after overnight travel off campus while awaiting COVID-19 test results. Test results are currently taking longer to receive because laboratories are backed up. We are working directly with the lab to get results as quickly as possible and apologize for the delay.
Fitness and Aquatic Center Updates
Beginning July 6, the Fitness Center and Aquatic Center will be open Monday through Friday by appointment only. Group Fitness opportunities are being added to Assisted Living and Independent Living. More information will be shared at Thursday’s Live Update and in The Tales.
Please be cautious during the upcoming holiday weekend and abide by the guidance to wear your mask, keep your distance and wash your hands. Thank you for protecting yourself!
Scott Jonté
The Pantry
The Pantry delivery service will resume in a limited capacity starting Friday, July 3. Deliveries will be made on Fridays only. We will have limited offerings including milk, eggs, yogurt, sliced whole wheat bread, and select fruits. For Pantry delivery service, call ext. 1510. Leave a message with your name, apartment number, phone number and order. You will not receive a confirmation call unless requested. Orders are due Thursday night by 8 p.m. for Friday delivery. If you have greater grocery needs, please utilize the Publix grocery service or Transportation services. There is a $1.50 delivery fee for all Pantry orders.
Dining Updates
Beginning Monday, July 6, the Promenade will fully reopen for breakfast, lunch and dinner service daily. Reservations are available and required for all meal periods. For reservations, please call ext. 6030. Please leave a message with your name, phone number, guest name, meal period and requested reservation time. Reservation times are 5:00, 5:30, 6:15 and 6:45 p.m. All room service deliveries are still available; however, they will incur a delivery fee of $1.50 per meal. This is to offset the increased cost for the program.
Jessica Goldberg
Publix Grocery Deliveries
Effective July 6, Independent Living residents ordering from Publix should pick up their order at the Tower Lobby or Center Lobby. Staff will no longer deliver the order to your door unless help is requested. Everything else about the Publix Grocery Deliveries will remain the same.
• You may continue to place PHONE orders beginning at 9 a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday by calling ext. 6262.
• You may EMAIL your order to groceryrequest@wcrichmond.org.
• The phone line will close each day once we receive 25 orders.
• Do your best to categorize items by Produce, Dairy, Meat, Canned, Frozen, etc.
• Limit your list to 15 items.
• Some items are not available or the brand requested is not available. Please let us know if you will accept substitutions.
• Publix will include an additional $5 shopping fee on each receipt for this service.
• Resident accounts will be charged.
Deliveries from Family and Friends Updates
There will be no drop-off deliveries from family and friends on campus on Friday, July 3, in observance of Independence Day.
Effective Monday, July 6, drop-off delivery to campus from friends and family will occur on Mondays and Fridays only. No more drop-offs on Wednesdays. Everything else about the drop-off program will remain the same.
• Drop-off deliveries may be made to campus Monday and Friday from 1-3 p.m.
• Those delivering to the residents must remain in their cars but may visit with their resident through the car window.
• Tower, Garden, and Glebe drop-offs will take place at the Tower Entrance.
• Courtyard, and Homes on the Green drop-offs will take place at the Center Entrance.
• Assisted Living and Healthcare items will be dropped off at the Center Entrance and delivered to the appropriate apartment by staff.
• Independent Living residents are asked to coordinate with their deliverer to pick up their items and take them back to their apartment.
• Ukrop’s and Libby Market deliveries will occur on Fridays as usual.
Transportation Courtesy Service
Transportation has reinstated courtesy service around campus. A courtesy driver will provide free trips around campus and may be available at an entrance to help unload items from cars. There is a courtesy driver available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you need assistance around campus or need help unloading your car, please keep these hours in mind when help is available. To arrange for courtesy assistance call the Front Desk at ext. 0.
Lynn McClintock
Daily Prayer Booklet
July Daily Prayers Booklet is available. If you received a June booklet, you will have the July Prayer Booklet either delivered to you or put in your mailbox. Included in this month’s booklet:
• Monday through Saturday daily prayers, some written by resident clergy
• Bulletins for Thursday Worship, led by our chaplains
• An order for Spiritual Communion
• Bulletin for the Service of Thanksgiving for the Montague Chapel and the Memorial Garden, to be shown on TV970
• “Historical Highlights of the R. Cary Montague Chapel from 1975 to 2020,” by Resident Association President, Pat Kawana
• If you have not received a Daily Prayers Booklet in the past and would like the July booklet, please call Vanessa Perry at ext. 1502 or David Curtis at ext. 5179, and we will get a booklet to you. Booklets are also available at the Business and Information Centers, at the Center and Tower Desks and on Touchtown Community Apps.
The Service of Thanksgiving for the R. Cary Montague Chapel and the Memorial Garden will air on TV970 on July 2 at 10:30 a.m. and on July 5 at 4 p.m. A YouTube link will be made available later this week on the Westminster Canterbury blog, WCR Staff Facebook page and on Touchtown Community Apps. A change from earlier publication is that Rev. Steve McGehee, associate rector at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, will replace Rev. Gary Jones, rector, in the service.
Spiritual Center Transition Notes
Four pews from the Chapel will find a new home at Sheltering Arms Institute. The chapel will be closed on July 15 while the stained glass windows are moved. The Memorial Garden will be lovingly moved by Pastoral Care staff and Kathleen Pender during the week of July 20. Residents and staff are encouraged to come to the Chapel for private prayer and remembrance until mid-August to remember and give thanks.
Racial Justice Resources
Beginning next week, Pastoral Care will provide a list of resources (books, articles, online videos) for residents and staff on racial justice. These resources will range from introductory discussions of racism and racial injustice to more in-depth understanding of systemic racism. These resources will be available in The Tales, on Touchtown Community Apps and from chaplains. Pastoral Care is also looking at ways to gather in small groups for discussion in the future, either in person or virtually.
Revelation 21:1-7
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
New Jerusalem
Only you can bring history to its conclusion, O God. Only you can build the New Jerusalem. But you have given us work to do in the meantime. We get the future that we deserve, the future that we are constructing even now.
Give us the integrity, wisdom, and courage to build a good one—to advance the cause of the poor and disadvantaged now, to encourage the sad and the angry now, to help mothers and fathers be nurturing parents, to egg on doctors and scientists and legislators to spread good health—in short, to give previews now of the world as it will be when you make all things new.
It is a big order that you have given us, but we shudder to think of the alternatives. So, honestly, God, we’ll do our best. Amen.
Prayer written by Dr. W. Sibley Towner (1933-2018) professor emeritus, Union Presbyterian Seminary