Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village,

I hope you all are having a nice week and enjoying the cooler fall weather we have been having. 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 visitors. We expect that the national park and downtown area will still be busy as the fall foliage arrives. With this in mind, 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.
• Due to a change in our visitation policy, we are reminded visitors to now meet our Activities Staff for screening outside the memory garden or on the Birch Bay front lawn.
• 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.

 Although, our conversations often focus on the health and safety of our residents, we do have a few happy things to report as well. On Labor Day our residents in all neighborhoods will be looking forward to a lobster roll luncheon courtesy of Chef Maggie and our wonderful Dining Services team. We will be delivering lobster rolls to our cottage residents. This week, at the MDI Hospital Virtual Annual Meeting, one of our valued team members, Jenny Michaud, was once again recognized as the 2020 Birch Bay Retirement Village Employee of the Year. Please join me in congratulating Jenny for her hard work and dedication before and during this pandemic. Jenny and our housekeeping team has been vital during this unprecedented time.

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