Dear Residents and Families of Birch Bay Retirement Village,

I hope you all had a nice weekend. 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.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind our residents about the importance of masking and social distancing. Many of you have heard the term “mask fatigue” and we have seen this trend within the Birch Bay and greater MDI community. Please be vigilant in your efforts to keep yourself and your neighbors healthy. The data shows that both social distancing and masking greatly reduce your risk of transmitting COVID-19. In our small community, we have been very fortunate to have a low number of cases but with schools re-opening to in-person learning next week and “leaf peepers” arriving to see our beautiful fall foliage, we anticipate that there may be more cases of COVID-19 developing in our community. With this in mind, we continue to encourage residents and families to take all precautions: wear your mask, keep a distance from others and we ask you to minimize trips in public whenever possible. We are a small, tight knit community at Birch Bay and we need your help to keep us all safe and healthy.

The guidelines effective September 4 to September 17 remain in place for our next two weeks. These 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.

This week we were sorry to say goodbye to Nichola Redmond who has been with us as our Weekend Receptionist for the past 18 months. Nichola has accepted a new, full time job opportunity out of state and we wish her all the best in her new career. With that in mind, weekend desk hours may be limited while a new staff member is hired.

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