Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village,

I hope you all are having a nice week and enjoying the last few weeks of summer. We currently have no cases of COVID-19 among our staff and residents. Please know that we have followed and will continue to follow all state and federal guidelines set forth for resident care, staff safety, and efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to work closely with MDI Hospital, the CDC, DHHS and CMS to ensure that we are adhering to the highest standards of safety and care for our community.

We are continue to keep a close eye on the trends in our local areas and the state, as Maine and Bar Harbor continue to be a popular destination for out of state summer visitors. Over the next weeks of the summer season, we continue to encourage residents and families to be vigilant with precautions and we ask you to minimize trips in public and limit contact with others. Because of this concern, many of the guidelines will stay the same as the last two weeks while we monitor this trend. Guidelines include:

• Families may drop off supplies and groceries at the main entrance during office hours.
• Visits outdoors, all must be supervised, no mile radius restriction.
• Social small group gatherings allowed up to 12 outdoors & 8 indoors as space for physical distancing allows.
• Coffee, tea and wrapped snacks will be available in the lobby as requested by our resident council.
• Apartment residents may go to essential personal appointments in their vehicle in addition to medical appointments. If residents need transportation to an appointment, please contact Herb Pratt for transportation. Residents may not go to appointments with family members and it can cause potential exposure. Potential exposure may result in a 14 day mandatory quarantine.
• Limited, reservation only, physically distanced use of Bay Vista room for meals.
• Once weekly pre-scheduled pick up of groceries or prescriptions from Hannaford Bar Harbor.

Aside from staying safe, we do have some fun and exciting things to look forward at Birch Bay. Over the next week, we will be welcoming back our Music Therapy interns to the BBRV campus to offer instrumental music therapy as well as continuing the telehealth services we have been offering since the onset of the pandemic. Melissa, Airel and Devan are using their talents and music therapy to deliver joy, comfort and happiness to residents throughout the Inn. Another fun event we will be working on is a Virtual Art Show. In October, our Virtual Art Show will celebrate the many talented community members that live and work at Birch Bay.

On behalf of the entire Birch Bay Retirement Village community, I want to thank each of you for your continued support and understanding. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. As always, we welcome your suggestions as to where we could improve the quality of life for residents during this difficult time.

Sincerely,

Peter Sullivan, MBA, RN-BC, LRCA, CDP, Executive Director, Birch Bay Retirement Village