Live Update to Residents-March 2, 2021
Today’s Live Update on our in-house TV970 covered the latest news at Westminster Canterbury Richmond. It featured John Burns, President and CEO; Tom Henning, Director Construction Management; and Lynn McClintock, Director Pastoral Care. The next Live Update will be Thursday, March 4.
The following updates were shared.
John Burns
COVID-19 Updates
All employees who tested positive for COVID-19 have returned to work. A few employees are in quarantine because they have experienced COVID-19 symptoms or potentially been exposed to someone who tested positive. We are grateful to have no active cases of COVID-19 in our workforce.
Four Independent Living residents continue to recover after testing positive for COVID-19. One is asymptomatic and in quarantine in a Tower apartment. One is being cared for in the COVID-19 positive unit. Unfortunately, two are being cared for in the hospital. Please keep them in your prayers.
Parsons Health Center employees and residents are tested for COVID-19 weekly. Thanks to no new cases of COVID-19 in Parsons Health Center, residents in Parsons Health Center resumed socially distanced, communal dining yesterday. Communal dining will begin in Assisted Living on Monday, March 8.
Next Steps
In the coming weeks, Westminster Canterbury Richmond will restart some programs and services and reengage with one another on campus. Based on guidance from Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and CVS, we will wait until two weeks have passed since our last vaccination clinic. Over the next two weeks, Live Updates will cover the upcoming programming. Details will be shared in writing. The goal is for some programming and in-person dining to begin on Monday, March 15. If things continue to go well, we will move to restart visitation.
Please join us in continuing with an abundance of caution, following all the recommendations and guidance from VDH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
By March 11, everyone who was vaccinated during our vaccination clinics will be considered fully vaccinated. Being fully vaccinated means that you have had two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and that two weeks have passed since you received the second shot. It takes two weeks to build full immunity after the second dose of vaccine.
At this time, vaccinated persons should continue to follow current guidance, which are the core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention.
• Wear a mask at all times when around others.
• Wash your hands frequently and use hand sanitizer.
• Always maintain social distancing of at least six feet.
• Everyone will continue to be screened before entering our community.
• Follow enhanced safety and disinfection recommendations from the CDC, CMS and VDH.
• Stay home if you do not feel well and contact your physician.
While some in-person programs will resume, attendance limits at group activities will be determined by social distancing guidelines. Masks will continue to be required. Signups will also be required in many cases to help with ongoing contact tracing if we experience new cases of COVID-19.
These next steps will include increased Fitness, Studio Arts and Recreation programming; Cultural Arts events with limited seating in the Sara Belle November Theater; Pastoral Care services and small groups; and in-person Dining and shopping opportunities. There will be new processes and guidelines associated with each of these. Our teams are creating ways to move toward vibrant, engaged living in new, safe and healthy ways. As circumstances change or positive cases of COVID-19 are confirmed, programming guidelines in specific areas may change quickly. We appreciate your flexibility and understanding as we proceed.
Family visitation in all areas will continue to be suspended until further notice, except in end-of-life and compassionate care situations. We are monitoring the situation with our current positive residents and creating plans so that when the time is right, we can move forward with visitation in safe ways. We have not set a date for this to resume.
We will be sharing the latest news and updates here on our Live Updates, but in the coming weeks, please refer to TV970 and TV971, The Westminster Canterbury Tales and Touchtown Community Apps for the latest program offerings and changes.
Tom Henning
Tower Laundry Rooms
The renovations on Tower Second, Fourth, Sixth and Eighth Floors will be completed by April 1. Tile work is being completed this week. Electrical and plumbing tie-in work will be completed next week.
Tower Lounges and Hallways
Cabinet work will start on the Sixth and Seventh Floors this week. Finish work continues on the Third and Fourth Floors, including painting. Hallway painting and trim work will be completed on the Sixth Floor, and work is ongoing on the Third and Fourth Floors. An air scrubber is in operation when drywall sanding is happening to ensure dust is contained.
Tower Grease Trap Project
We will begin the grease trap project on Monday, March 15. This work will be in the Lower Level next to the Echo Shop, where staff met with residents today to review the scope of the work in this space. The Lower Level corridor outside housekeeping will also be impacted, along with the underground sewer line near the Salon. The Salon will remain operational during this project. This project will be coordinated with Dining to ensure minimal impact.
Avalon
The rooftop HVAC project started yesterday. A crane will be onsite Tuesday and Wednesday, March 9 and 10. The Avalon Entrance will be closed Tuesday, March 9. The screening location will be temporarily moved to the Child Development Center Entrance. On Wednesday, March 10, the crane will be located near the Center Entrance. This location will be closed while the crane is in operation to work on the rooftop units for Avalon resident apartments.
Avalon Corridors will have new carpet and base installed after the HVAC replacement project is completed. We will have an update in April on the project start date.
Avalon Fourth Floor upgrades to the Quiet Room and Theater Room are underway. This project will be completed in April.
Apartment Renovations
We have ongoing apartment renovations in the Tower and Courtyard and planned renovations in the Garden Apartments. Noisy demolition work will only occur at 9 a.m.-noon and 2-4 p.m. during the week. Noise should be minimal at all other times. Please contact Tom Henning if there are noise issue outside of these times.
For resident safety, project kickoff meetings are being held via Zoom and Microsoft Teams video conferencing programs. This minimizes large group gatherings for project tours and kickoff events.
Lynn McClintock
Announcements
March Daily Prayer Booklets are available. The Booklets contain an order for daily prayer and the worship bulletins for Thursday worship. If you have not received a March Daily Prayer booklet and would like one, please contact Vanessa Perry at ext. 1502 or David Curtis at ext. 5179.
Join us for Worship on Thursday, March 4, at 10:30 a.m., on TV970. Rev. Bill Blake is preaching. Nancy Bain is the pianist.
Due to AV work in the Spiritual Center, there will be no evening prayer tonight, Tuesday, March 2. Evening Prayer will resume tomorrow, Wednesday, March 3, at 4:45 p.m. on TV970.
Isaiah 40:27-31
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and why do you assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary;
His understanding is beyond searching out.
He gives power to the faint
and increases the strength of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength;
they will mount up with wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not faint.
“Refuse to Fall Down,” Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Refuse to fall down.
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled,
and it will be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you
from lifting your heart
toward heaven—
only you.
It is in the middle of misery
that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good
came of this,
is not yet listening.
Prayer
Wash me from all that I think I am:
my struggles, my stands, my cherished opinions,
my soaring dreams and deadening fears.
Leave me only Your purity and Your peace.
Wipe away the masks of judgement
I have placed on Your children.
Show me the faces made in Your likeness,
that I may see my own as well.
Brush aside all shrines to the future,
all altars to the past,
Give me Your golden present,
a Home in You, unmovable and eternal.
Still all voices within me.
Fill me with the hush of Your peace.
Now You are my thoughts, my purpose, and my way.
All I need and all I am is You.
-Hugh Prather