COVID-19

See how Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care is taking precautions for the health and safety of our residents and staff.

Campus Visits

Please use the links below to schedule a visit to Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care. 

Schedule a Visit

Visitor Guidelines

June 7, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Our COVID-19 65+ Booster Clinic has been rescheduled from Friday to June 20th.

Walgreens will still be the pharmacy administering the boosters. If you haven’t already please fill out the below form to give consent if your loved one is unable to give their own consent. Completed forms and/or questions about the booster can be directed to our Director of Nursing, Barb Wirth at barbwirth@caledoniaseniorliving.org. We also have copies of the forms available at reception at the Scottish Home.

Walgreens Consent Form

Thanks so much for continuing to keep Caledonia residents and staff safe.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

May 25, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We are getting ready for out next resident COVID-19 vaccine clinic. This clinic is for any residents who are eligible for the new 65+ COVID-19 booster shot.

Walgreens will be back on our campus on June 9th to administer the boosters. In order for your loved one to participate, Walgreens requires an updated consent. If your loved one is unable to give their own consent please complete the below form on their behalf and submit it to our Director of Nursing, Barb Wirth at barbwirth@caledoniaseniorliving.org. We also have copies of the forms available at reception at the Scottish Home.

Walgreens Consent Form

Thanks so much for continuing to keep Caledonia residents and staff safe.

Thanks,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

February 18, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

As you may recall we had one team member test positive for COVID-19 at the MacLean House at the beginning of the week. This test result meant that we were in an “outbreak” and that we would have to begin a series of three rounds of COVID-19 tests at the MacLean House.

I’m pleased to report that we have now completed all three rounds of testing and there were no additional positive test results! We are officially out of “outbreak” status and back to normal at the MacLean House. I’m so grateful to our team members for being so careful and vigilant during this time as well as to all the visiting families. Thank you!

This weekend we welcomed back Chef Gary Maclean, National Chef of Scotland, to our campus. Chef Gary is helping us develop a new culinary training program for our MacLean House Care Partners. It has been great to have him observing, coaching and cooking with our team! I look forward to sharing more about this exciting initiative in the near future.

Enjoy this beautiful weekend!

Thanks,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

February 14, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

This message is to let you know that we have had one Caledonia team member test positive for COVID-19. This team member works at the MacLean House. No other residents or staff have shown signs and symptoms of COVID-19 at the MacLean House.

While this one new positive case is considered an “outbreak” by the Illinois Department of Public Health, we are able to limit testing to contact tracing testing within House 1 of the MacLean House. This is because it is a very limited number of staff and residents that have been in contact with the team member and because they have not spent time within the rest of the campus. We have begun testing staff and residents within House 1 and will be testing on days 1, 3, and 5.

Families are welcome to continue visiting the MacLean House during this time. Please make sure to wear our KN95 masks at all times during your visit and be diligent about hand hygiene. Please be aware that most MacLean House residents are unable to tolerate wearing masks.

I will be back in touch when wee have more information from our testing.

Thanks,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 23, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m happy to report that we have received our COVID-19 test results from Friday and once again there were no new COVID-19 cases. These results mean that we are no longer in “outbreak” status and are no longer required to test twice a week. We will continue to monitor for signs and symptoms and test if necessary. We appreciate all our team members who made arrangements to come in and test twice a week for the last few weeks as well as those who helped facilitate the testing of residents.

All other requirements, including mask wearing and hand hygiene, remain in place per the guidelines of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

On Friday Walgreens was back on campus to conduct a small clinic to provide COVID-19 booster shots and flu shots to new residents that hadn’t received them prior to moving in.

Please continue to be aware of your own signs and symptoms of both the flu and COVID-19 and postpone visiting if you are not feeling well.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 16, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m happy to report that we have received our COVID-19 test results from Friday and once again there were no new COVID-19 cases!

We will test again tomorrow. As a reminder, once we achieve 14 days of no new positive COVID-19 test results we will be able to stop testing. If we receive any positive test results the clock will start over again. Hopefully this will be our last week of testing.

I will be back in touch after we receive Tuesday’s test results.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 13, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m happy to report that we have received our COVID-19 test results from Tuesday and there were no new COVID-19 cases!

We will test again today. As a reminder, once we achieve 14 days of no new positive COVID-19 test results we will be able to stop testing. If we receive any positive test results the clock will start over again.

I will be back in touch after we receive today’s test results.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 9, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We are continuing our bi-weekly testing for COVID-19. While it seems that we have moved out of the resident outbreak we are still having one or two team members test positive each time. This is not surprising with holiday travel and family get togethers and people getting together indoors now that the cold weather is here. It is consistent with what is happening outside of our walls in the greater community. Our team members continue to mask up at Caledonia and follow infection control safety protocol.

We have received our Friday test results and there were two new team members that tested positive. We also were informed that one additional team member tested positive on a home rapid test over the weekend. These individuals are quarantining at home.

We will test again on tomorrow and Friday per our requirements from the Illinois Department of Public Health and will be back in touch with those test results.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 5, 2023

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We have received our test results from Tuesday’s PCR testing and I am happy to report that no residents tested positive for COVID-19. We did unfortunately have one more team member test positive. This team member is quarantining at home. All other team members are back at work. We have one resident that is still quarantining here at Caledonia. All other residents have completed their quarantine.

We will test again on Friday per our requirements from the Illinois Department of Public Health. I will be back in touch this weekend with the results from that round of testing.

Happy New Year!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 29, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We are continuing to conduct bi-weekly PCR testing as is required by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) based upon our recent COVID cases. Tuesday’s test results are complete and we had no new cases of COVID-19 amongst Caledonia Senior Living team members but unfortunately did have one resident test positive for COVID-19. All other residents that tested positive during this outbreak have now completed quarantine and are doing well.

We will test again on Friday as even one positive case is considered an outbreak by IDPH. I will be back in touch with those test results over the holiday weekend once we receive them.

I am taking a quick break to spend some time with my family. Please reach out to our Administrator Daryce Fields or Director of Nursing Barb Wirth with any questions related to COVID-19.

Warm regards,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 26, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

As promised, I am back in touch with the results of Friday’s COVID-19 tests. I am happy to report that overall things are looking up. We once again had no new cases of COVID-19 amongst Caledonia Senior Living residents. Unfortunately, we did have one team member test positive for COVID-19.

This week we continue with our bi-weekly testing on Tuesday and Friday. We are cautiously optimistic that we are moving out of this outbreak but know the holidays could also have an impact on the number of cases.

Please continue to be extra careful when visiting your loved ones. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Stay safe and healthy!

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 22, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Happy Holidays! It is a Winter Wonderland here at Caledonia. I hope you are reading this from somewhere warm!

As promised, I am back in touch with the results of Tuesday’s COVID-19 tests. I am happy to report that we have no new cases of COVID-19 amongst the residents. Unfortunately six team members have tested positive.

We now have several team members who tested positive at the beginning of this outbreak that have completed their quarantine and are back at work. We also have a few residents who have now completed their quarantine. We are getting through this!

The quarantine periods are determined by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The current quarantine time for residents is 10 days as long as symptoms are improving. The Illinois Department of Public Health has slightly different requirements for health care workers. Staff that are asymptomatic or whose symptoms are gone are able to test with a rapid test after 7 days and return to work on day 8 if their test is negative.

Tomorrow we will complete our next round of PCR testing. We will be back in touch over the weekend when those results are received.

Stay safe and healthy!

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 18, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We have now received all of our PCR test results from Friday’s round of testing. This round of testing confirmed four more Scottish Home residents are COVID-19 positive and one additional team member. This brings us to a total of ten residents and seven team members that have tested positive.

It is a challenging time for us all and especially difficult to see residents and staff getting COVID-19 during the holidays. What is keeping us positive is the fact that as of today all residents and staff that have tested positive have minor symptoms and/or appear to have recovered already.

We are grateful for the vaccines that are protecting our community and to all of you for encouraging and consenting to the latest boosters. We are also grateful for our incredible team members that have identified symptoms in residents early because of their vigilance and the relationships they have with the residents. They are doing an amazing job of caring for those on quarantine and caring for the rest of the community.

Our next round of testing will be Tuesday and I will update you all when we have those test results.

As a reminder you can still visit your loved one whether or not they have COVID-19. If you are visiting a family member that has tested positive please talk to nursing before entering their room to make sure you understand and can follow the infection control protocol. All visitors should be extra careful on campus and make sure you hand sanitize frequently and wear your KN95 mask at all times.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

 

December 15, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We have now received almost all of our PCR test results from Tuesday’s round of testing. There are a few test results that were deemed inconclusive by the lab but the majority of the results are in.

The residents that tested positive earlier in the week on rapid tests are now confirmed positives with these PCR test results. In addition 3 more Scottish Home residents and four more team members tested positive with the PCR tests that did not test positive with rapid tests. This brings us to a total of six residents and six team members.

Residents are quarantining in their residences with lots of support from nursing, dining and life enrichment. At this time, residents who have not tested positive for COVID-19 are able to participate in activities and dining outside of their residences – they are not on “lock down” – with extra precautions in place. Some residents have chosen to stay in their residence for their own peace of mind. We are working hard to reassure, educate, support and entertain all residents but we know it would help for them to hear from all of you. Please give your loved one a call to check in if you haven’t done so already.

We begin another round of testing tomorrow and hope we have already uncovered all the positive cases. I will be back in touch when we receive those test results.

Some of you have asked if you can still visit. The answer is yes! You can still visit regardless of your family member’s health status. If your family member has tested positive for COVID-19 please check with nursing before entering the room to make sure you receive all the necessary PPE and that you understand how to safely use it. As always, please refrain from visiting if you are under the weather.

Thanks for all your support and for keeping all of us at Caledonia in your thoughts.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 12, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

With the holiday season and cold and flu season upon us we are unfortunately seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases in Illinois. Unfortunately this means we are also seeing some cases here at Caledonia Senior Living. We have had three residents and two staff members test positive at the Scottish Home. All tests were rapid tests. The residents and staff have minor symptoms and are quarantining in their residences. We administered rapid tests to all the residents and there were no additional positive test results.

These new test results mean that our status has changed to “outbreak” and we must begin bi-weekly testing of all staff and residents. Our testing will resume tomorrow and will be PCR tests.

Out of an abundance of caution we have moved our resident holiday party to next week. We have made a couple of other minor adjustments to our resident programming for the week but otherwise are working hard to keep things as normal as possible for residents.

The best way to stop the spread of COVID-19 on our campus is if we are united in our effort. Hand hygiene, masking and following the latest guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health(IDPH) and the CDC are still our best strategies for keeping everyone safe.

Here are a few reminders of how we can together stop the spread:

  • Please, please, please wear masks at ALL times when inside Caledonia Senior Living and Memory Care. When you don’t wear a mask around a resident it not only puts them at risk but other residents too. If your loved one can wear a mask please encourage them to do so when you’re visiting.
  • While treats are always welcome – we ask that you drop treats off for your loved one but refrain from eating together. As a reminder guests are not yet able to eat on our campus even when food is brought in.
  • If you don’t feel good, please reschedule your visit. In addition to concerns about COVID19, the flu and RSV are both bad this season and both of these illnesses can be dangerous for older adults – especially if combined with COVID.
Thank you for your continued understanding, patience and support. We will be back in touch in the next few days when we have our PCR test results back.

Thanks,
Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

ps. Thank you to those who have contributed to our staff holiday party & gifts! Our staff party has been rescheduled due to COVID-19. If you are interested in supporting the party please let me know. We are still collecting prizes and donations. Thank you!

November 6, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

It’s a beautiful day today! I wanted to reach back out to you with a quick update in regards to the COVID-19 test result we received at the beginning of last week. That positive rapid test was confirmed with a positive PCR test. We have continued our required testing at The Scottish Home and I am happy to report there have been no more positive tests. We will continue to test but are hopeful that we will soon be finished with this series of testing. We are extremely grateful to our team for continuing to follow our COVID-19 precautions which appear to have prevented the spread of the virus.

I hope to be updating you in the coming days that we have moved out of “outbreak status” (defined as one positive COVID-19 test within our community).

Warm regards, 

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

November 1, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

New COVID-19 test result – Staff

This week we have had one team member at The Scottish Home test positive for COVID-19 on a rapid test. The team member was tested due to mild symptoms. Our practice is to confirm rapid tests with a more accurate PCR test and we are currently waiting for their PCR test results to confirm that this positive test result is a true positive. Today we proactively resumed the required bi-weekly “outbreak testing”. The Illinois Department of Public Health defines an outbreak at a community like ours as having one or more positive test results. Because the team member that tested positive works exclusively at The Scottish Home we are currently only testing residents and staff of The Scottish Home. We will update you when we have more information.

Please continue to be wash hands, wear masks indoors on our campus and stay home if you are unwell. In addition to COVID-19 there are a lot of respiratory illnesses going around in the greater community. Our COVID-19 precautions also help protect residents against those illnesses. Thanks so much for your help protecting our community.

Specialists on Campus

It’s important that your loved one is seen appropriately for both vision and dental care. Did you know that we offer appointments for both these specialties right on our campus? Dr. Wang (vision) and Dr. Kapur (dental) are both accepting new patients and see patients at our community. Please let us know if you would like us to arrange for your loved one to receive these services. Some residents prefer to see their own doctors and that is great too but please know these services are available in the future. Please reach out to our Director of Nursing Barb Wirth at barbwirth@caledoniaseniorliving.org or give her a call at 708-447-5092 for more information.

Holiday Fund

Each December at Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care, we host a staff holiday party to celebrate the season and recognize our incredible team for the loving care and support they provide to residents all year long. Contributing to our holiday fund and party is one of the best ways you can thank our team members.

We have a no tipping/gift policy at our community because we found that in the past team members that work behind the scenes or overnight shifts were usually not known to families in the same way as those providing direct care during business hours. We would not be able to provide high quality care without our entire team that includes in addition to incredible CNAs, Care Partners and Nurses, staff washing dishes, folding laundry, delivering flowers, changing light bulbs, making sure that favorite beverage is on the dining table waiting for your loved one….. acts of love and service that happen all day, every single day. In lieu of tipping and personal gifts we believe that our holiday fund enables us to thank everyone equitably and keeps things simple for resident families.

We hope that this holiday season each family gives whatever you can to show your support of our incredible team. All funds raised are spent on providing gifts, prizes and refreshments at our party. If you have family members that you think would like to contribute as well please share this e-mail with them as well.

Please also consider writing a handwritten note to our team as those notes of gratitude mean so very much to all of us and we would like to be able to read them at our party.

Donations can be dropped off at reception or sent to my attention. If at all possible please let us know if you will be participating by December 1st so we can plan accordingly. Thank you!

FEAST of the HAGGIS

Every year we celebrate Scotland’s national holiday Saint Andrew’s Day and the founding of our organization with our beloved Saint Andrew’s Day Gala and Feast of the Haggis. It’s a celebration of the two parts of our organization – our Scottish culture and Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care. It’s a celebration of the values that guide us in everything we do – Home, Family and Love.

Our event is not only the longest running black tie dinner in Chicago – this is our 177th year – but we believe it’s the most fun! Please consider joining us on December 2nd, at the Chicago History Museum. You can read more about it and purchase tickets here. We would love to have you join us.

For those who haven’t heard the news, our friend and long-time Director of Maintenance, Mike Domrese, retired last week after 33 years of dedicated service to our organization. Mike’s retirement is bittersweet as we are so happy for him to start his new, and well-deserved, next chapter but he is already greatly missed. We have begun the search for a new Director of Maintenance and hope to have someone identified by the end of this year.

There was lots of information to share this week and I appreciate you taking the time to read this. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Thank you!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

September 26, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

About the Bivalent Booster Shot & Flu Shot

We are getting ready for out next COVID-19 vaccine clinic. This clinic will be for all residents and staff who are eligible for the new bivalent COVID-19 booster – there are very few people in our community who are not eligible for this new booster. The bivalent vaccine is important because it contains mRNA from the original strain of COVID-19 and from the highly contagious and dominant omicron variant. It was created to combat multiple strains of COVID-19 and protect us from experiencing severe illness.

We will also be providing the flu shot which continues to be important to provide protection against as the flu can be dangerous – particularly in older adults and the flu can weaken the immune system making one more vulnerable to COVID-19.

Walgreens will be conducting a clinic on our campus on October 4th to provide both of these important vaccines.

Consent Forms

If you are the Power of Attorney for health care for your loved one and they are unable to give their own consent please complete a consent form on their behalf. Even if you have completed consent forms in the past please complete the form again as Walgreens requires a current and updated form be completed.

Please click here to access the correct consent form. Please completed it by Friday and either return it to reception at the Scottish Home or e-mail it directly to Barb, our Director of Nursing at barbwirth@caledoniaseniorliving.org. We also have copies of the forms available at reception at the Scottish Home as well as at the nursing desk in the Georgeson Wing.

Pneumonia Vaccine

Later this fall we will also be providing the pneumonia vaccine to those who are eligible. The pneumonia vaccine is different than the flu shot in that it is not an annual vaccine. For people over 65 the pneumonia vaccine is given as two shots, one year apart. In order to provide the vaccine we need to understand whether a resident has had any pneumonia vaccines already and if so, how many and when. When you turn in your consent form for the flu and COVID-19 vaccines please also let us know any information you have on your loved one’s history of pneumonia vaccines. For many residents, their medical history provided at move-in does not have information about the pneumonia vaccine for a variety of reasons including a change in provider and vaccines being provided at pharmacies.

Reminder

In addition to providing vaccines to residents and staff, the other way we can keep our community healthy this flu season is to continue to be mindful about the spread of germs on our campus.

  1. Please do not come to campus if you have any symptoms of the flu or have tested positive for the flu. Even if it’s not COVID-19, if you are sick please refrain from visiting. Please be thoughtful about the symptoms you experience and seek medical advice.
  2. Please continue to wear masks at all times – the mask mandate is still in place at Caledonia and it will help protect the spread of the flu as well as COVID-19.
  3. Please also continue to be vigilant about hand hygiene. There are hand sanitizer dispensers in resident rooms and throughout the campus. Please use them when you arrive and during your visit.
  4. As a reminder, the Illinois Department of Public Health has not eased up their restrictions on visitor guidelines. Visits are still limited to resident rooms and outside – please refrain from joining in on an activity or sitting in the common areas around other residents.

Thank you for all you do to help keep protect Caledonia!

Stay safe,
Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

August 17, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

It was so wonderful to see so many of you at our annual picnic. Thanks to all who volunteered. It meant so much to our team to have your help.

This past week we are unfortunately in a similar spot to our last update. Once again, just as we were getting to the point where we would be able to stop our required bi-weekly testing at The Scottish Home we had one team member test positive for COVID-19. In accordance with the guidelines of the Illinois Department of Public Health we must now restart our clock and continue bi-weekly testing. Our team continues to be incredibly careful and we are confident that is the reason that only one or two team members have been testing positive at a time. Our vaccines, mask wearing and hand hygiene are preventing the spread.

As always we are closely monitoring residents for signs and symptoms and we are grateful that the team members who have recently had COVID-19 have recovered and no residents have tested positive during this time.

Please continue to follow all infection control guidelines while at Caledonia Senior Living. Together, we can continue to prevent the spread of this very contagious variant.

Stay safe,
Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

July 31, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

This past week we were optimistic that we would be able to stop our bi-weekly testing that is required by the Illinois Department of Public Health whenever we have a positive case of COVID-19 on our campus – The Illinois Department of Public Health considers even just one case of COVID-19 an “outbreak. At The MacLean House we have not had any new cases of COVID-19 and we have completed our testing requirements. Unfortunately we didn’t quite make it to two weeks at The Scottish Home and our latest round of testing confirmed two additional team members as being positive for COVID-19. We have one additional team member who informed us that they tested positive for COVID-19 at an off campus testing site. We anticipate that will be a confirmed positive within the next day.

All three team members have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic. As always we are closely monitoring residents for signs and symptoms. We are grateful that no residents have tested positive during this time.

We are hosting a booster clinic on Tuesday, for residents and staff that are now eligible for the latest COVID-19 booster shot. This will be a small clinic for the handful of people that need to participate. If you have not yet provided us with your updated consent form for your loved one please do so by the end of day on Monday. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Please continue to follow all infection control guidelines while at Caledonia Senior Living. We are all working hard to continue to prevent the spread of this very contagious variant.

We hope to see you all at our picnic next Saturday. Please note that the entire event will be held outside.

Stay safe,
Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

July 8, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

This message is to alert you that we have had two team members test positive for COVID-19. The first team member works at the MacLean House. Their test result is what we consider a confirmed positive result as it was a PCR test. The second team member works at the Scottish Home and took a rapid test because they were symptomatic. The rapid test result was positive. Because they do have minor symptoms we anticipate this will be confirmed by PCR and are treating it as a confirmed positive case. At this time we do not have any reason to believe that any residents or additional staff are positive for COVID-19.

Please be extra careful when spending time on our campus. As a reminder, visitors and staff must wear masks at all times including in resident rooms. Mask wearing, hand hygiene and vaccines continue to be our best defense against the spread of the virus.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has not updated their guidelines for dining and activities so we are not yet able to return to families dining or joining us for indoor activities. We will let you know as soon as that changes.

On a happier note, please save the date for our 106th Annual Picnic which will be on August 6th. We will be sending out more information about this outdoor celebration in the coming days. We hope to see you there!

Stay safe, 
Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

June 20, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I wanted to give you all an update on the COVID-19 cases at the MacLean House. After receiving no new positive cases at the MacLean House we had one team member test positive on a rapid test. Their positivity has now been confirmed with a positive PCR test result. The team member is quarantining at home and no other residents or staff show signs or symptoms of COVID-19 at this time.

All three residents that previously tested positive are doing well and there have been no additional positive cases in our resident population.

As a reminder, it is critical that all guests, family and vendors wear masks at all time on our campus just like our staff. We have observed some guests taking their masks off in resident rooms. Please help us continue to keep your loved one and their neighbors safe by wearing your mask around them at all times.. Please continue to stay home if you are unwell and encourage others to do so.

This spring we welcomed Ruby to our campus in the role of hair stylist. Prior to the appointment of Ruby we did allow families to bring in their own hair stylists as a temporary exception while we looked for a permanent option. Now that Ruby is up and running we no longer allow outside hair stylists to cut and style hair on campus. This is for several reasons including safety, insurance/liability and the ability to support having a community hair stylist. Families are permitted to make arrangements for their loved one to receive salon services off campus with other stylists but hair services provided at Caledonia must be provided by Ruby.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

June 2, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Today we hosted our COVID-19 booster clinic for the 50+ booster. Residents and eligible staff received their booster from our friends at Walgreens. Thanks to everyone for responding to our request for updated consent forms.

While our vaccine clinic was underway, one of the residents at the MacLean House developed cold-like symptoms. We administered a rapid test in accordance with the Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines and unfortunately his test result was positive. We then tested all MacLean House residents and one other resident also tested positive. We also conducted PCR tests which we believe will confirm these two positive test results.

At this time there is no change to the MacLean House or Scottish Home life enrichment or dining programs due to the new COVID protocol. We will treat the household at MacLean House as a separate unit and residents will shelter in place within their household. Please know that visits are still permitted during this time and appropriate PPE will be provided to families wishing to visit Please call ahead with any questions.

As a reminder, all guests, family and vendors are required to wear masks at all time on our campus just like our staff. Please protect yourself, your loved one and our community by wearing our required KN95 masks when at the MacLean House and the Scottish Home. Please continue to stay home if you are unwell and encourage others to do so. Please don’t hesitate to report anyone that is out of compliance to myself, Daryce or Gus. Thanks!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

May 5, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

2nd COVID-19 Booster Shots

Thank you to everyone who has sent in their consents for their loved one’s second booster shot. Unfortunately we have only received about half the consents we need. If you have not e-mailed or dropped off your consent form please do so today or tomorrow. We will be hosting the clinic in the near future and want to make sure everyone is included.

If you are the Power of Attorney for health care for your loved one and they are unable to give their own consent please complete the form on their behalf.

Please click here for the current Walgreens form and can either return it to reception at the Scottish Home or e-mail it directly to Barb, our Director of Nursing at barbwirth@caledoniaseniorliving.org. We also have copies of the forms available at reception at the Scottish Home as well as at the nursing desk in the Georgeson Wing.

Thank you for all you do to help protect Caledonia!

Stay safe!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

April 13, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

2nd COVID-19 Booster Shots

We are getting ready for out next COVID-19 vaccine clinic. This clinic will be for all residents who are eligible for their second booster shot. Before we can schedule the clinic with the Walgreens we need to receive new consent forms. If you are the Power of Attorney for health care for your loved one and they are unable to give their own consent please complete the form on their behalf.

Please click here for the current Walgreens form and complete it by Friday, April 22nd. You can either return it to reception at the Scottish Home or e-mail it directly to Barb, our Director of Nursing at barbwirth@caledoniaseniorliving.org. We also have copies of the forms available at reception at the Scottish Home as well as at the nursing desk in the Georgeson Wing.

Flu at Caledonia

It’s wonderful to see so many visitors back on our campus again – but with visitors and the easing of restrictions in many settings outside of our walls, comes an increased chance of exposing residents to germs – COVID-19 and other germs too! We have had a couple of residents test positive for the flu this week. As I’m sure you are aware, the flu can be very serious for the population we serve. Not only can the flu itself be dangerous for residents but it can also make them less able to fight COVID-19 should they be exposed.

Here’s how you can help prevent further spread of the flu on our campus:

1.   Please do not come to campus if you have any symptoms of the flu or have tested positive for the flu. Even if it’s not COVID-19, if you are sick please refrain from visiting. It’s allergy season too and COVID-19, the flu, a cold and allergies all have some similar symptoms. Please be thoughtful about the symptoms you experience and seek medical advice.

2.  Please continue to wear masks at all times – the mask mandate is still in place at Caledonia and it will help protect the spread of the flu as well as COVID-19.

3.  Please also continue to be vigilant about hand hygiene. There are hand sanitizer dispensers in resident rooms and throughout the campus. Please use them when you arrive and during your visit.

4.  As a reminder, visits are still limited to resident rooms and outside – please refrain from joining in on an activity or sitting in the common areas around other residents.

Thank you for all you do to help keep protect Caledonia!

Stay safe!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

February 8, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m happy to report that we have no new cases of COVID-19 on our campus and almost all of our team members are back at work and almost all resident isolations are complete. Even though we seem to be through the woods on this latest COVID-19 surge our diligence continues. As a reminder, even though mask mandates are starting to lift again in some places visitors, staff and residents who are able are still required to wear them at communities like ours.

Due to COVID-19 cases on our leadership team we are overdue for a Zoom Family Town Hall meeting. We have lots of new faces on our team including Daryce (Administrator), Barb (Director of Nursing), Nikki (Memory Care House Manager) and Ruby (our highly anticipated new Beautician). I recognize that it’s a little short notice but if you’re able please join us on Tuesday, February 15th at 6pm to meet these wonderful new team members, hear an update on our recent renovations/enhancements and have an opportunity to ask questions.

Some of you have asked about another a new member of our family. I’m delighted to share that Maria, our Director of Life Enrichment, had a healthy baby boy in December. He arrived a little early but both mom and baby are healthy and happy. Maria will be back on campus in a little over a month. We will ask Maria if we can show a couple of photos during our Town Hall next week.

Here’s the login info for our meeting on Tuesday:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84754714939?pwd=U1JUb0dDYUdSbTc2d2ovYjBlZEQ2QT09
Meeting ID: 847 5471 4939
Passcode: 284380
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,84754714939#,,,,*284380# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,84754714939#,,,,*284380# US (New York)

I hope to see you on Zoom!

Stay safe!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 21, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

This week brought us more community-wide testing as a result of recent positive COVID-19 test results. We have now received all our test results for the week and we had 3 additional residents test positive and two additional team members.

We are hoping that as the Omicron surge appears to have peaked in Illinois that the same will be true at Caledonia Senior Living.

This week we also received updated guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health. We are still in the process of reviewing and scrutinizing the guidelines but did want to mention one point in regards to visitors. Although the CDC has made some changes to the isolation timeframe for people who have tested positive for COVID-19 for visitors of communities like ours it is still 10 days before you are able to visit after testing positive for COVID-19 even if you are asymptomatic.

As a reminder, we no longer have to require vaccinations for visitors but if you are vaccinated please stop at reception if you haven’t already so we can make a copy of your vaccination card. We appreciate having them on file in case the guidelines change again in the future.

Stay safe!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 14, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I happy to report that everyone who has recently tested positive at Caledonia -both residents and staff – either have mild symptoms or have remained asymptomatic. We have team members who have now returned to work and and residents who are no longer on isolation. We were able to lift the sheltering in place restriction and are maintaining strong infection control protocol to mitigate spread of the virus.

We are still conducting community-wide testing and from these tests we have had a couple of additional staff test positive as well as two residents. The families of these two residents have been notified.

If you are coming to visit a loved one that has tested positive for COVID-19 please let us know when you arrive and we will provide you with the necessary PPE.

Please continue to exercise extreme caution when considering whether you should visit your loved one or not. Many have you have stayed home after noticing a tickle in your throat, headache or other possible symptoms and I can’t thank you enough for prioritizing keeping our community safe over spending time with your family member.

It has been a challenging and worrying few weeks for all of us and while we are heartbroken to have residents test positive after all this time we are so grateful that everyone is doing well and eternally grateful to our team for keeping the virus out of our community until we had all the tools, knowledge and vaccines to protect us.

Stay safe!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 1, 2022

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Today we conducted a rapid test on a resident that was displaying symptoms of COVID-19. Unfortunately the rapid test result was positive. The resident is isolating in their room where we are monitoring their symptoms closely. The family has been notified.

Out of concern for potential spread we have temporarily suspended both communal dining and group life enrichment activities in Sheltered Care. Residents in that part of the community are sheltering in place while we sanitize the common areas with our Halo Mister and monitor the situation. We will lift the sheltering in place restriction as soon as we can and understand that it’s not easy for residents to be in their rooms all day. Our life enrichment staff will be providing activities and ice cream to residents in their rooms this afternoon and will be available to answer any questions.

As a precaution we are also isolating a couple of residents that live in the Georgeson wing but were with the resident that tested positive for a significant amount of time yesterday.

As always we will let you know as soon as we have more information.

Please continue to use extreme caution when deciding whether to visit our campus or not and please sanitize your hands and wear your KN95 mask at all times when at the community regardless of your vaccination status.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 31, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

It has been a challenging holiday week but today on New Year’s Eve we are feeling very grateful and relieved that after a week of community-wide testing, no residents have tested positive for COVID-19. As always our staff are being extremely diligent in their mask wearing. hand sanitizing and following our safety protocol. We are so grateful to them and to all of you who have exercised great caution when visiting and in many cases deciding not to visit to help keep everyone safe. We are truly all in this together and we appreciate everyone’s help in protecting Caledonia!

Our testing this week has been challenging because our lab has inundated with tests just like all labs in our area. We had hoped to have an update for you earlier this week but only just received our last batch of resident test results about an hour ago. While no residents tested positive we did have a couple more staff members test positive – which we were expecting due to rapid test results and symptoms.

The spike in positive staff cases is consistent with the spike we are seeing in the greater community. There is no question that this variant is highly contagious. Thankfully our team is vaccinated and most cases have been mild or asymptomatic.

While we have had staff home quarantining or isolating in almost every department the greatest impact has been on our dining, life enrichment and memory care teams and we are very proud and grateful for our team for helping cover the shifts of those isolating at home. This weekend some of our staff are able to return to work and more will be back this coming week.

As we reflect on 2021 and look towards a brighter 2022 there is so much to be thankful for despite 2021 being such a tough year. We are thankful that families have been able to reconnect and hug again and that residents can socialize and dine together and we are thankful to have been able to keep residents safe from COVID-19 for all this time.

Please know that we are also thankful for all of you – for your support throughout this pandemic an we are truly honored to provide care for your loved ones and to consider them and all of you – family.

Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year !

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 23, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care has remained committed to clear, transparent communication, to caution and to certainty over speculation. As we remarked when we moved our campus into lockdown in March 2020, “If we over-react to this crisis, we may never know. But if we under-react, we will know immediately.” To date, our COVID-careful philosophy has worked. As a result Caledonia Senior Living has one of the best records of safety in the field of long-term care.

Unfortunately, we have detected several staff cases of COVID-19 within the community. At this time no residents have tested positive.

After reporting our COVID-19 updates to you throughout the pandemic I never thought I would be reporting this to you because I am one of the most COVID-careful people that I know – but I am one of the staff members that has COVID-19. I am symptomatic and am recovering at home.

Please hear my warning – I am fully vaccinated and boosted, my household is a fully vaccinated household and I am extremely careful and COVID-19 still found a way to attack me.

We are extremely concerned about the surge of COVID-19 and the very rapid spread of the highly transmissible omicron strain. Our team are vaccinated and almost all are boosted and they are still catching this strain of the virus.

In response, we are conducting a thorough outbreak investigation and implementing additional safety measures. We also remain committed to best practices and to being informed by the very latest guidance from health experts, especially the Illinois Department of Public Health. Our infection prevention protocols are based upon constant monitoring of signs, symptoms, time and testing. We will continue to update you as we have more information.

While the latest guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health do permit families to visit and take loved ones home during this investigation we encourage you to not do so unless absolutely necessary and to seriously consider the risks. We understand this request comes during the Holiday Season, just before Christmas and are acutely aware of the disappointment and hardship families will face as a result.

While we recognize that nothing can replace the loving embrace of family, particularly at this time of year, we ask for your understanding and support at this time because we are extremely concerned about the metrics we are seeing. Please know, nothing is more important to us than the care we take of your loved ones. Our job is to protect their health. To do our job, we will stop at nothing.

If you do visit, please be aware that entering a community during outbreak investigation involves risk. Please remain masked at all times when visiting and be sure to practice hand hygiene using the hand sanitizers widely available throughout the campus. Please do not visit in public areas, only in your loved ones private room. If the weather permits, please visit outside in our grounds.

Please also be COVID-careful outside Caledonia. This community’s greatest vulnerability is not actually on our campus at all, but outside our doors. We ask you to sign the Protect Caledonia Pledge that is posted in the lobby and to adhere to the core principles of infection prevention and control the pledge articulates.

We are deeply grateful for your understanding and support. On behalf of the people who live and work at Caledonia Senior Living, we wish you health & happiness, peace & purpose, luck & love this holiday season. Thank you for allowing us the honor of caring for your loved ones.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 16, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

This message is to let you know that a health care personnel that was in our community yesterday has tested positive for COVID-19 and is symptomatic. During their time on campus they had a limited number of interactions with residents and staff before they were escorted out. They were double-masked and yesterday was the only day this year that they were on our campus.

We have completed contact tracing and know that they only interacted with those who have already received the COVID-19 booster shot. We have completed our first round of targeted testing and are monitoring everyone closely for signs and symptoms.

Current IDPH (Illinois Department of Public Health) guidelines do not require us to shelter in place because of one positive COVID-19 case. As always, we will keep you posted as we learn more information.

Stay safe!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

October 4, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Lots of good news to report this Monday! We are now back to “normal” at the MacLean House following multiple rounds of testing with negative test results. Effective immediately we have resumed family visits and are offering supervised/outdoor visits, unsupervised visits for fully vaccinated guests and compassionate care visits. Please continue to wear your masks wherever you are on campus and please schedule supervised visits online.

We recently welcomed Nichole Helms to our Caledonia family of team members. Nichole, who goes by Nikki, is in the newly created role of MacLean House Manager. Nikki’s entire career has been in memory care and her hands on leadership approach will bring a lot of support to our MacLean House team.

At the end of this month we will have another key new team member. Daryce Fields will be joining us as our Administrator. Daryce has ten years of experience in our field primarily as an Administrator and Executive Director. She has a strong reputation, wonderful experience and is an excellent values match for our organization. Daryce had the opportunity to meet with staff, board members, residents and a couple of family members during our recruitment process so that she could get a sense of our organization’s culture. Everyone that met her raved about her!

We are so lucky to have had Jim Boyle back on campus serving as Interim Administrator. Jim’s support will continue for a while longer as he will be key part in Daryce’s orientation to our community.

We will be planning a Zoom Family Town Hall shortly after Daryce arrives so that you can all have the opportunity to meet both Daryce and Nikki and to start to get to know them, A separate e-mail will be sent when we have a date and time finalized.

We look forward to your help welcoming Daryce and Nikki to Caledonia!

Best regards,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

September 23, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Today we received the test results from our first round of MacLean House team and resident tests. These tests were conducted immediately following the positive team member test result we received on Monday. I’m happy to report that all completed PCR tests were negative. We will complete the second round of testing tomorrow. In addition all MacLean House staff are completing rapid tests when they arrive for their shift each day.

Because of these good test results, efective tomorrow (Friday), we are able to resume outdoor visits for vaccinated family members of MacLean House residents. All visitors must check in at the Scottish Home upon arrival not the MacLean House. Once they have completed the Accushield and checked for any updated information they may go to the MacLean House where staff will ask them to wait outside until their loved one is brought outside for the visit. Family members may leave straight from the MacLean House after their visit utilizing the Accushield kiosk to sign out. We are hopeful that test results will continue to be negative and we will be able to open up more types of visits at the MacLean House next week along with off campus excursions. We will update you when we able to implement those changes.

Thanks for your patience and support!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

September 22, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

It has been quite some time since I have had to send you a message like this one. Today we received a positive PCR result for one of our MacLean House team members. She is feeling well and is quarantining at home.

Upon receiving the result we re-tested her with a rapid test and another PCR test. The rapid test result was negative. AS you know we have experienced some positive test results among staff in the past and hopefully this is another false positive. Despite that possibility we are taking this test result very seriously.

Our MacLean House team was able to quickly test all MacLean House residents with both rapid tests and PCR tests which have already been sent to our lab. We also tested all MacLean House staff that worked today along with any other Caledonia team members that have recently spent time at the MacLean House. The remaining MacLean House team members will be tested tomorrow. At this time there have been no additional positive PCR test result. All rapid test results were negative. We will retest everyone again in a couple of days as has been our practice during the pandemic.

In accordance with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) guidelines we are temporarily suspending all indoor and outdoor (unsupervised and supervised) visits for MacLean House residents with the exception of compassionate care/hospice visits. The IDPH guidelines indicate that when facility-wide testing is complete and results are received we can start to facilitate visits again with some restrictions. We will let you know as soon as we are able to do so.

At this time Scottish Home residents are still able to receive visitors and are not required to shelter in place. If you are visiting the Scottish Home this week please be extra diligent in following our guidelines as a precaution. As a reminder, due to the Delta variant, IDPH is requiring the use of masks at all times within long term care communities regardless of vaccination status. This includes visits in resident rooms at both the MacLean House and the Scottish Home.

If you recently visited the MacLean House and would like to be tested for COVID-19 please give us a call and we will arrange testing for you.

As always we are committed to transparency and providing you the latest information as quickly as possible. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. Thank you for everything you do to help keep our community safe.

Warm regards,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

August 6, 2021

Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Tonight, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), updated their COVID-19 guidelines for senior living communities like ours. Effective immediately, we must return to requiring masks be worn in all indoor areas of our campus – even in resident rooms- and regardless of vaccination status of residents, guests and staff. Residents whenever possible, must also wear a mask when around other people, unless of course they are eating or drinking. This change is in relation to the uptick in cases in Illinois the last couple of weeks. While I know this change is frustrating to hear I ask for your full support in complying with this IDPH guideline so that we can keep everyone safe and be in compliance.

We are in the process of reviewing the remining guidelines and will be in touch with you if we have to make any other adjustments to our policies and processes.

As a reminder, while we love having small children on campus, we are still not permitted to bring children under the age of 12 inside our building. Please visit our website to schedule a supervised visit so your children can visit your loved one in our dedicated supervised visit area. Fully vaccinated children age 12 and up are welcome to participate in unsupervised visits.

Several family members have asked about mask wearing and safety protocol at tomorrow’s picnic. Here is our latest information for tomorrow’s event:

  • Family members that are vaccinated are not required to wear masks at the picnic as long as they are outside of our buildings. We do however encourage you to wear your mask if you are unable to physically distance from people outside of your own family.
  • Family members that are not vaccinated (including children old enough to wear a mask) are required to wear a mask whenever they are not eating or drinking.
  • All family members must sign in at the registration table when they arrive on campus. Wristbands for food and drinks will be provided at the registration table.
  • We will have hand sanitizer and new KN95 masks at the picnic.
  • If you plan on utilizing our shuttle service to and from our off-site parking please be aware that masks are required at all times on the shuttle.
  • As a reminder, this year’s picnic is a scaled back version of our normal annual picnic that is just for residents and their families.

Thanks in advance for your help keeping our picnic safe and fun for all who participate. I am looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow from 11-1 pm!

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

July 1, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

With the 4th of July quickly approaching, I wanted to let you know as soon as possible that we are now able to reconnect families in another way – off campus!

Effective immediately, families will be able to pick up residents for same day visits and excursions. We are in the process of revising our visitor guidelines to reflect this change but wanted to provided an opportunity for families to begin spending time off campus together while we work through the details of the guidelines. In lieu of updated guidelines please observe the following:

1) Please notify nursing 24 hours before you would like to pick up your loved one. We need to prepare for your loved one leaving campus to make sure that the appropriate medication and care arrangements are made.

2) Please sign your loved one out with the nurse before leaving to make sure they are aware that your loved one is leaving and that you receive any special instructions about their care needs.

3) Please utilize the Accushield for yourself when arriving and leaving campus even when just stopping by to pick up your loved one. Please make sure to help your loved one sign out on the Accushield using the resident option when you leave and to sign in when you return. For many of our residents this will be their first time using the Accushield. We rely on the Accushield for real time data that is accessible remotely.

3) If you return to campus after business hours please go directly to the Georgeson entrance of the Scottish Home or the MacLean House depending on where your loved one lives. At the Scottish Home this means going upstairs to the Accushield at the main entrance upon arrival.

4) Please let us know if any incidents occur while your loved one is off campus that we need to be aware of when you return.

5) Please use good judgement when off campus. While your loved one is fully vaccinated there have been cases of residents testing positive at other communities. Please encourage mask wearing indoors in public and crowded spaces and when around unvaccinated people as well as hand washing.

6) At this time, overnight visits still have quarantine implications. Please let us know if that is an option you would like to learn more about.

Wishing you and your family a Happy 4th of July!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

June 11, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We are excited to announce some changes to our guidelines that will help families reconnect even further. While we are still committed to being extremely “COVID-Careful” we are grateful that our strong vaccination rate on campus and low positivity rate in Illinois and Cook County mean we can also prioritize safely reconnecting residents with loved ones. Please take a few minutes to read through some of the changes to our guidelines. Any and all changes will go into effect on Tuesday.

On Campus Visits:
Please continue use extreme caution and refrain from visiting at all times if you display signs/symptoms of COVID-19 and/or have a recent known exposure.

Supervised Visits for unvaccinated visitors:

  • All visits will be outdoors (NEW)
  • Visits are still 30 minutes
  • Schedule will be reduced to one visit at a time due to increased volume of vaccinated visitors doing unsupervised visits (NEW)
  • Masks issued by Caledonia must be worn at all times by residents and visitors even though the visit is outside
  • We now welcome visitors of all ages – assuming they are symptom free and have no known exposure to COVID-19 (NEW)
  • Hugs are allowed but must physically distance after initial greeting
  • All visitors must sign in and out using the Accushield

Unsupervised Visits for fully vaccinated visitors (2 weeks past final shot):

  • At this time, unsupervised visits are no longer required to be scheduled online in advance. (NEW)
  • Visitors must provide a copy of their vaccination card in advance of their first unsupervised visit.
  • Visitors can now visit their loved ones in resident rooms or outside at a safe distance from other visitors and residents. We respectfully ask that families limit the amount of visitors to two people at a time. (NEW).
  • At this time only visits are permitted with your loved one(s) please do not include other residents in your visit or enter other residents rooms/apartments (NEW)
  • Visitors are still not permitted in the dining rooms or other common rooms and visits should not occur during meal times. Resident activities on campus are not open to visitors at this time. (NEW)
  • Visitors must wear a Caledonia Senior Living issued mask at all times even if they are fully vaccinated, except if they are in their loved one’s apartment/room. If a staff, volunteer or another resident enters that room for any reason everyone must wear masks. (NEW)
  • All visitors must sign in and out using the Accushield.

Compassionate Visits

  • Compassionate visits are allowed in room and with no appointment necessary
  • Unvaccinated visitors must follow the same testing guidelines as unvaccinated staff (currently 2X per week)
  • Unvaccinated visitors must be masked at all times even in the resident’s room
  • No visitors are permitted with signs/symptoms of COVID-19 or recent known exposures

Off Campus Visits
The current positivity rate in Illinois is 1.2%. While this is the lowest rate we have rate we have experienced since the beginning of the pandemic it is still considered to be a medium risk.  Assuming the positivity rate stays below 5%, we anticipate that when Illinois reaches the threshold of 75% fully vaccinated we will resume off campus visits.

When off campus visits begin the following protocol will apply:

  • All household members must be fully vaccinated
  • The Power of Attorney must give permission unless the resident is capable of making their own decisions
  • The resident must use the Accushield when leaving and returning to campus
  • We must be provided advance notice for overnight, off campus visits so arrangements can be made for medications and information provided about residents care needs
  • If the resident is gone for 5 days or more they will need a rapid test upon return to campus

Residents that do not want to wait until we can safely and confidently implement off campus visits may choose to leave the campus but will have to quarantine for seven business days.

Life Enrichment Excursions·   
We are now able to offer more excursions off campus again. Please be aware of the following guidelines:

  • Only fully vaccinated staff members or volunteers will be allowed on the bus
  • Fully vaccinated family members can arrange to meet the group at some destinations
  •   Only up to 10 residents seated + 2 wheelchairs will be able to be on the bus at this time
  • Summer bus trips will be to outdoor destinations
  • Any lunch trips will be for outdoor dining and a reduced group size
  • We will be doing multiple bus trips and rotating what residents participate so that everyone has an opportunity

Reminder – Please continue to follow our existing guidelines until Tuesday. We are in the process of training staff and revising our procedures so transitions to our new guidelines can be as smooth as possible.

Staff and Resident Testing
Effective immediately we are moving to a signs and symptoms approach for testing fully vaccinated staff and residents. We will no longer be requiring weekly testing. In light of the recent false positives of fully vaccinated community members we are concerned about being required to lock down which is so difficult for residents. We continue to test based upon signs and symptoms and known exposures. If someone does test positive or if we ever have an outbreak we will be required to do community wide testing. Just as having a robust testing program was instrumental in keeping everyone safe during the peak of the pandemic we believe that revising our testing plan will be an important component of keeping residents emotionally healthy.

I know this is a lot of information so please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing everyone on campus more often!

Thanks,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

June 8, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m relieved and thrilled to tell you that we received both the COVID-19 test results we have been waiting for this evening. The test results for our team member that tested positive late last week came back as negative confirming that this team member, along with the other false positive results we experienced was also a false positive.

Effective tomorrow morning, our community will be open again for scheduled supervised and unsupervised visits. We encourage you to visit as soon as you are able. Visit time slots are immediately available for reservation on our website at http://caledonisaseniorliving.org/visit/.

We were in the process of implementing new guidelines last week before we received these false positive test results which halted things. We will be back in touch in the near future with revised guidelines. I know it’s been a challenging few days and we all appreciate your support and patience.

Thanks,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

June 7, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Just a quick note tonight to let you know that we are still waiting for the employee test results that we need to resume supervised and unsupervised visits. We have not received the test result we anticipated we would get on Saturday night. This is an unusually long time for us to wait for a result as we usually receive them in a day or two.

Assuming the team member’s first test result is negative we will be able to resume hosting outdoor supervised and unsupervised visits. When we have a second negative for that employee (a second test has been taken and was taken to the lab today) we will be able to resume hosting indoor visits, assuming there are no other positive test results.

We will send an update letting everyone know that outdoor visits can resume and again for indoor visits. As a reminder, we are still able to offer compassionate care visits. Please give us a call if you have any questions about the visit schedule. We look forward to welcoming you back to campus as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

June 5, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m delighted to report that the resident who tested positive has now received two negative tests and we are classifying his positive PCR test as a false positive. With this news we were able to feel confident quickly moving out of sheltering in place earlier today.

We have now received one negative test for the team member that tested positive and are conducting an additional PCR test for her tomorrow. We anticipate that test result will also be negative and will indicate a second false positive.

Unfortunately we have also received one new positive test result for a team member. They were tested yesterday and we are hope to receive that test result yet today.

We anticipate that we will feel safe resuming supervised and unsupervised family visits tomorrow, assuming the rest of the test results are negative. We will let you know as soon as we are in the clear.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

June 3, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

This evening we received two positive COVID-19 PCR test results from our lab. One resident and one staff member each tested positive. Both individuals, like almost everyone in our community, are fully vaccinated. We have since conducted a rapid test on each person and both rapid tests were negative. We believe it is likely that the lab results are false positives but we must still follow the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) guidelines and treat them as true positives until we have more information.

IDPH recently updated their guidelines and they now state that we no longer have to automatically shelter in place if a vaccinated staff member tests positive. Unfortunately at this point they are still requiring that residents shelter in place in the event that a resident tests positive.

Please know that we have no choice but to follow this guideline – this is not something we are choosing to do – until we receive confirmation that this is a false positive test result we must follow the guidelines and suspend family visits and begin sheltering in place. A rapid test result is not considered confirmation, although it does give us some hope. We conduct PCR testing for everyone tomorrow as quickly as possible to get them into the lab in an effort to expedite the turnaround time for getting the test results back. If the residents’ test result is negative and there are no new positive test results from this round of testing then we are comfortable declaring it a false positive, lifting the sheltering in place restriction and restoring family visits.

We are also hopeful that with vaccinations on the rise in Illinois, IDPH will soon either update guidelines for communities like ours with extremely high staff and resident vaccination rates where the risks of COVID-19 spreading are greatly reduced or that other communities will catch up to our vaccination rates and IDPH will be able to lift this requirement.

Please know that we are extremely aware and concerned about how challenging it is for many of your loved ones to shelter in place and we will continue to do everything we can to support them during this time. You have our commitment that we will lift this restriction as soon as possible. Please consider dropping off notes, books, flowers etc. to help brighten their day tomorrow and we will of course continue to bring treats, activities, art, the bar cart etc.

I will be back in touch as soon as we receive the next round of test results. Hopefully it will be good news! Thanks for your patience, understanding and ongoing support.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

May 22, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m delighted to let you know that this afternoon we were able to lift our Sheltering in Place restriction! The last ten tests that we needed to get back from our second round of testing all came back negative and we feel very comfortable resuming regular resident activities and dining.

At 8pm tonight our online visit schedule will reopen for reservations. Unsupervised (fully vaccinated) visits will resume tomorrow at time slots will be available for reservation. Supervised visits will resume on Monday but will also be able to be reserved effective tonight.

We know this week has not been easy and we appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we navigated our first vaccinated breakthrough case. Please know your loved one’s safety and emotional well being continue to be our top priorities.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

May 21, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

As you know, on Sunday one of our team members tested positive for COVID-19. I’m happy to report that she is feeling great and that the vaccine seems to have done its job both in helping her body fight of the virus and in preventing it’s spread. Our first round of test results came back and I’m thrilled to report that there were no additional positive test results.

We are now waiting for the results to come in from our second round of testing that we conducted on Wednesday and Thursday of this week – we conducted the second round of test results because our first round was just one day after the team member was on campus. We are optimistic that these test results will also be negative and when we receive them we will end our sheltering in place right away. We want to get residents back out in the community enjoying meals and activities together as soon as possible. Until then we will keep the “Art Cart”, the “Bar Cart”, virtual activities and individual resident activities going.

This week’s Royal Scottish National Orchestra “digital care package” for residents and families is Dvorak’s Symphony No7. It’s available until Monday, May 24th. I’ve been enjoying listening to it this afternoon. We will be streaming it for residents on Sunday. I hope you have a chance to listen in from home. Login details are below:

https://www.rsno.org.uk/rsnoconcert/
Password: rsnogift

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

May 16, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

As you may know, 100% of Caledonia Senior Living residents and 99% of staff have received the COVID-19 vaccine. Despite our extremely high vaccination rate we have continued to be extremely COVID careful.

This afternoon, one of our fully vaccinated team members received a call that she had been exposed to COVID-19 through someone in her bubble. She immediately alerted her supervisor and we conducted a rapid and a PCR test. The rapid test came back clearly positive. Our team member is asymptomatic and it is our hope and expectation that her case of COVID-19 will be mild because she is fully vaccinated. Because of her diligence and transparency we were able to respond quickly. We are waiting for the confirmation of her PCR test result but based upon the fact that she has a known exposure we are assuming that her positive test result is a true positive.

Due to the nature of this team member’s role on our campus and the fact that she was on campus this weekend, we have made the decision to temporarily shelter in place. We are in the process of testing residents and staff and those tests will be taken to our lab tomorrow. Test results have been coming back very quickly and we hope that we will be able to lift the shelter in place restrictions in the near future

This temporary change in status means that we unfortunately have to suspend all family visits except for compassionate care visits and that we will temporarily shift dining and activities to in-room. We will be letting residents know of the changes in the morning and providing information and reassurance to them. Please check in with your loved ones over the next couple of days to help support them during this time.

Today marks the last day of National Skilled Nursing Care Week. Due to the week overlapping with Nurse’s Week we are scheduled to recognize it this week. If you have a chance please write a note to our incredible team to let them know how much they are appreciated. This has been and continues to be a challenging time for our team and they have met every challenge and done every single thing we have asked them along the way. Gus, Chris and I could not be more proud of each and every one of them for their contributions.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

May 14, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

COVID-19 Guidelines
Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced updates to their COVID-19 guidelines including significant changes about mask wearing for those who are fully vaccinated. Please be aware that at this time these changes do not apply to our community at this time. Masks must still be worn at all times on our campus indoors and outdoors and regardless of vaccination status. We look forward to a day when we can ease up on mask usage but we are not quite there yet.

We are happy to announce that based upon the recent changes to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) guidelines we are able to make the following changes:

  • All types of family visits no longer require pre-screening the day before. Supervised and unsupervised visits must still be scheduled ahead of time and visitors must continue to sign in and out with our Accushield kiosk.
  • During supervised, unsupervised and compassionate care visits residents and families are now able to be physically closer (less than 6ft) as long as everyone is wearing well-fitting masks at all times and as long as the resident is fully vaccinated. If the resident you are visiting is unable to wear a mask you must be physically distanced 6ft or more.

As a reminder, when you are visiting please keep a 6ft physical distance from other residents and staff. Eating is not allowed during the visit. We are in the process of revising the guidelines to reflect the above changes and will post them on our website.

Vaccine Clinics for those 12 and up!
We are continuing to host vaccine clinics every three weeks to help new residents and staff and family members get their vaccine. Now that kids 12-15 years old are now able to receive the vaccine we have added an additional vaccine clinic on Wednesday, May 19th at 3pm to help vaccinate this age group in our community. The clinic is also open to those 16 and older. If you or someone in your life would like to get vaccinated at our clinic on Wednesday please give us a call at 708-447-5092 by Sunday at noon to reserve your/their spot. We will also have our regular vaccine clinic on June 2nd (time T.B.D.). Reservations should be made by Friday, May 29th for that clinic.

Enjoy the Royal Scottish National Orchestra this Weekend!
This weekend’s virtual orchestra performance is the Barber Violin Concerto and it’s available from May 15th until midnight on May 17th. Residents will be able to enjoy the experience in groups on Sunday at 3:30. Families and residents are also welcome to stream it at their convenience using the below link. We are so grateful to the RSNO for sharing their beautiful music with us via their “Digital Care Package”. We hope you take a little time to experience the RSNO this weekend!

https://www.rsno.org.uk/rsnoconcert/
Password: rsnogift

Reminder: Family Support Group, Thursday, May 20th at 6:30
Our next family support group is this Thursday. It’s a great opportunity for resident family members to support each other. Please join our facilitator Jim Boyle and other family members on Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87840721036?pwd=ZVRhM0poUmxROUY4TFZONDFJUXA0dz09
Meeting ID: 878 4072 1036
Passcode: 896031

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

May 7, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

COVID-19 Guidelines
A few days ago the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced updates to their COVID-19 guidelines. While the CDC guidelines help inform our decisions about COVID-19 processes and policies our organization has to follow the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) guidelines which typically are released a week or so after the CDC ones.

Late in the day yesterday we received updated guidelines from IDPH and are in the process of reviewing them. We will let you know as soon as we have updated information as to how these updates impact our campus. Until then, please continue to follow all of our current safety measures when visiting our campus including wearing masks both indoors and outdoors at all times, physically distancing from staff and other residents, hand hygiene, utilizing our Accushield Kiosk for sign in/sign out and completing our prescreening in advance of your visit. As a reminder IDPH requires that all visitors be 16 or older and visits are currently limited to only two visitors at the same time and they must be from the same household.

Mother’s Day
As many of you know we traditionally host a Mother’s Day Tea for residents and their families. While we are sad that we can’t host all of you for tea this year we are grateful that we are able to host a modified version of our Mother’s Day Tea for residents on Saturday. There will be a (fully vaccinated) musician, treats and Mom-osas! We are also so happy to see that family members are signed up to visit their loved ones on Mother’s Day.

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
We are excited to announce a new partnership with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) that will benefit both residents and families.  During the pandemic, RSNO has developed a “Digital Care Package” of three concerts that they shared with senior living communities across Scotland during lock down to help lift everyone’s spirits. RSNO is now bringing their Digital Care Packages to the U.S. for the first time by including Caledonia Senior Living in their spring series. The Digital Care Package is available to all residents and their families this weekend and for the next two weekends. Viewers will have complimentary 48-hour access to each concert performance. Please use the below link and password for the first performance this weekend which is available from May 8th until midnight on May 10th. A new link and password will be sent next Friday for next weekend’s concert.

Residents will be able to enjoy the concerts on Sunday afternoons at 3:30 beginning with Mozart on Mother’s Day. We hope that you will also listen in from your home at a time that is convenient for you and discuss the experience with your loved one. We are so grateful to RSNO for their generosity in bringing their incredible music to residents and families.

(https://www.rsno.org.uk/rsnoconcert/ Password: rsnogift)

Lewis Plays Mozart – available this weekend from May 8th to midnight on May 10th

Barber Violin Concerto – available from May 15th to May 17th

Dvorak Symphony No7 – available from May 22nd to May 24th

Art Studio
Our Art Studio is now open and this week residents have been painting bird houses, making sculptures and exploring creative writing. We are also adding open studio time when residents can come and work on individual art projects. We hope you’ll join us in encouraging your loved one to participate.

We hope that everyone has a safe and happy Mother’s Day weekend.

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

March 23, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m thrilled to announce that after just over a year, it’s time to hug your loved ones!

We have received the information from the Illinois Department of Public Health that we have been waiting for and based upon their updated guidelines we are now officially able to allow everyone 16 and older to come for a scheduled visit where hugs are not only allowed but encouraged.

For those that are fully vaccinated and have provided us a copy of their vaccination card we have also added a new option for visits – scheduled, unsupervised visits in designated visiting areas. Our online schedule for Supervised Visits remains the same but we have added a new calendar for the Unsupervised Visits separated by level of care. Compassionate Care (Hospice) visits continue to be offered and can be scheduled with a quick call to our receptionist. The new Unsupervised Visits calendar is now live on our website and those who are fully vaccinated and are two weeks post their final shot, are able to begin scheduling those visits effective immediately.

With these changes and with more people coming into our buildings we have made some necessary updates to our visitor guidelines . You can find more details about hugging, the three different types of visits we currently offer and our safety and infection control protocol in the guidelines.

We have also created a Protect Caledonia Pledge that our staff have signed and we invite all of of you will sign when you visit next. As much as we are excited to welcome all of you back and to help families reconnect we need to make sure we are continuing to keep everyone safe. Please review the guidelines and pledge before scheduling your visits. Thank you in advance for being “COVID-19 Careful!”

We will be hosting our next Family Town Hall meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, 3/30 at 6:30 PM. The primary focus of our discussion will be walking everyone through these new changes and answering questions. Zoom details can be found at the end of this message.

Zoom Town Hall Information
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87985015867?pwd=U2FuUXphS1M0cDJlVzZBZ2VMOTljQT09
Meeting ID: 879 8501 5867
Passcode: 535254

I look forward to seeing you in person or on Zoom very soon!

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

March 11, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

With signs of Spring on our campus even though there are a few patches of snow still remaining it has been wonderful the last couple of days to see residents going for walks, watching deer and riding our Cycling Without Age trishaw bikes around Riverside. It has given us all a boost to see everyone out getting fresh air.

Today, we received exciting new guidelines from CMS on the topic of family visits and the impact of vaccinations to protocols and policies. While we are not regulated by CMS we often consider their guidelines in the development of the plans we put in place. These new guidelines allow for different levels of connection with residents based upon whether the visitor has been fully vaccinated or not. As soon we received the new guidelines we began revising our own updates to our plans that we have been working on this week. While we were discussing everything as a team we received an e-mail from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) that was sent to all communities letting us know that they haven’t reviewed these new guidelines yet and that we must continue to follow our existing plan until we get the green light from them.

We are cautiously optimistic that is just a matter of days before we receive an update from IDPH that we can move forward with our revised plans. We are hopeful that for those who have been vaccinated a long awaited hug is in the near future!

While we are waiting for more information please e-mail a copy of your vaccination card to our Director of Nursing, Lisa Boivin, at lisaboivin@caledonianseniorliving.org if you have already been fully vaccinated. Vaccinated is defined as having fully completed the vaccine process whether two shots or one shot depending on the vaccine type and it being 14 days or more since your last shot. If you haven’t yet received the vaccine please reach out to us when you have.

Family Support Group will not be held during the month of March but we will be scheduling a Zoom Family Town Hall Meeting when we have updated information so that we can provide an opportunity for everyone to ask questions about the changes.

Looking forward to seeing many of you back in our community soon!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

February 18, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Today we announced to our team that we have made the decision to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees. While we believe that it will eventually be government mandated the right thing for us to do is to make that decision for our community now in order to achieve the maximum benefit from it and be able to implement it in a way that is fair to our team members.

Throughout this pandemic we have made decisions based upon science and a commitment to acting with an abundance of caution. Just as we implemented a robust testing program before testing being mandated we believe this decision is our best opportunity to continue to keep everyone safe. The vaccine is a key part of our reopening strategy and our ability to reconnect families with their loved ones while continuing to protect both residents and staff.

Many of you have asked what you can do to help during this crisis. The best opportunity to help our community is now. Please consider taking the vaccine when it’s available to you. Talk to your doctor if you need further information but please consider vaccinating. When Gus and I met with some of our team members earlier today who are feeling nervous about taking the vaccine I made a promise to them that I would ask family members to also get the vaccine. It would give them great comfort as we look to the future and families coming back inside our doors. It would mean so much to all of us to know that you are also helping to keep our community safe.

With your help, along with all of our infection control protocols and procedures still in place and a campus where residents and staff are all vaccinated, I believe we will be keeping everyone as safe as possible.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

February 15, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Today we received the good news that we can begin hosting scheduled supervised inside family visits this week! Please note this still can change at anytime if we have positive cases but for now we have the green light to move forward and the timing couldn’t be any better with this crazy winter weather!

Inside visits can be scheduled using the same online schedule calendar that we have been using for outdoor visits. The online calendar can be accessed here and time slots are now live for this week. The first day for indoor visits is this Wednesday. As always please be respectful of other families when you sign up for your visit.

This week, all supervised indoor visits will be hosted in Heritage Hall. While the weather is bad please park and come to the main entrance at The Scottish Home where you will sign in on our Accushield kiosk and be able to walk through the hallway to Heritage Hall. Full instructions will be available when you arrive on campus. Please follow the signs directly to Heritage Hall. There will not be access to public bathrooms so please plan accordingly.

As this will be our first week of doing inside visits there may be some tweaks to the program and schedule after the first week. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding!

In general the visits will run very similar to the outdoor visits we have been hosting. Everyone must still wear our KN95 masks, be physically distanced and refrain from eating, drinking and physical contact.

We look forward to seeing you in Heritage Hall in the near future!

Reminder:

Please join us for this month’s Family Support Group this Thursday 2/18 at 6:30 pm. The Support Group is facilitated by Jim Boyle and uses the same Zoom link each month.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87840721036?pwd=ZVRhM0poUmxROUY4TFZONDFJUXA0dz09
Meeting ID: 878 4072 1036
Passcode: 896031

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

February 9, 2021

It was a beautiful day at Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care and not just because of the bright blue sky and sunshine. Today was a milestone day for our community as it was one week from the day that the majority of our staff and residents received their second does of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination making today the day that they achieved immunization.

Today also marked the end of our sheltering in place restriction, having gone 14 days without having any residents or staff test positive for COVID-19. First thing this morning we had activities up and running again for sheltered care and skilled nursing residents and we have resumed our small group dining program. While I was writing this message this afternoon I could hear residents just down the hall from my office laughing and talking in the dining room. It was the best sound I’ve heard in a long time – the sound of us moving towards normal.

Several of you have asked how does having the vaccine change things for our community? First let me reassure you that it doesn’t change anything in terms of our infection control policies and practice. We are anxiously awaiting updated guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health that will hopefully address any changes we are able to make as far as easing restrictions on things like visits, testing etc. Until we receive updated guidelines we will continue to follow our current guidelines. As soon as we receive new information we will share that with all of you. One thing we know for sure is that vaccines are the key to being able to safely reopen.

Family outdoor visits will resume this Friday with one small change, we will be utilizing Heritage Hall for residents participating in the visits. Please park near the Georgeson Wing/Heritage Hall and follow the signs to the door to the elevator that leads down to Heritage Hall. Our outdoor stairs down are closed for the winter. Please dress warmly for your visit and consider bringing a blanket to sit on as well as a second blanket to keep you warm. Our calendar will be live with upcoming dates around 5pm tomorrow and can be accessed at caledoniaseniorliving.org/visit. Window visits remain suspended due to the snow and icy conditions. As a reminder we are required to pre-screen all outdoor visits and compassion visits 24 hours prior to the visit.

It has been 11 months since we locked our front door but today we took a big step towards unlocking it. Thank you for your continued support, patience and understanding.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 27, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Our latest round of COVID-19 testing results have come in and I’m happy to report that no residents tested positive. The resident that tested positive last week continues to be in good spirits and is recovering well in our dedicated COVID-19 isolation wing.

Unfortunately we received one new positive PCR test result for a member of our team. We conducted a rapid test which was also positive. We are considering this to be a true positive and the team member, who is asymptomatic, is isolating at home.

We administered additional tests today and continue to monitor everyone closely. We will update you when we receive this next batch of test results. We are counting down the days until our second vaccine day on Tuesday.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 25, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Today’s update is bittersweet because we have very good news to share as well as some that is heartbreaking.

I’m happy to report that the first resident that tested positive last week is in good spirits and is doing well with their treatment. We are also able to now confirm that the second resident that tested positive was a false positive. No other residents or staff have tested positive.

This weekend we received the devastating news that we lost one of our own team members to COVID-19. Marie Oyda joined our Caledonia family as a nurse back in October. She became ill with COVID-19 right after the new year and due to underlying health conditions was hospitalized. We are heartbroken to have lost one of our team to this terrible pandemic. Marie was a kind and compassionate nurse always putting others before herself. She provided loving care to the residents in our community. We will miss her and it breaks our hearts to lose her in this way. We will be planning a memorial for Marie when its safe to do so. Please join us in keeping her family in your thoughts and prayers.

You are likely thinking how did the resident get COVID-19 if no staff have test positive? We have done extensive contact tracing utilizing our test results dashboard, our Accushield screening system, our resident room sign in system and there is no clear answer. There is no connection to Marie as it has been too long since she was on campus and she did not provide care to the resident who is positive. At this time we are unable to identify how the virus came into our campus despite exhaustive measures. We are determined to do everything possible to prevent its spread.

With our recent test results we are optimistic but the next few days are crucial. We are still in the window of time that symptoms and positive test results could present themselves. Our requirement to shelter in place remains in effect and will take us up to our second vaccine day of February 2nd. As you may recall, 100% of our residents will be vaccinated and about 75% of our staff have already received their first shot and will receive their second on that day. More team members have signed up to receive their first shot. We are continuing to educate staff to have as many receive the vaccine as possible.

As always we are not just concerned about the physical well being of residents but also their quality of life. While sheltered in place we are live streaming exercise class and other activities, we have a daily visiting bar cart and library cart. We have been providing independent activity programming materials and are doing staff and family resident video chats. This week we are adding resident to resident chats so that residents can connect with each other. Our dining department are taking special requests from residents and are surprising them with their favorite treats.

Today, our President and CEO Gus Noble gave a live streamed message to residents to celebrate the birthday of Robert Burns. He spoke about the poem A Red Red Rose which Bob Dylan called the greatest love poem ever written. It’s our love and commitment that will see us through to the other side of this crisis.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 21, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Today we received our COVID-19 test results from Monday and results from Tuesday and Wednesday are also starting to come through.

As we anticipated, the symptomatic resident that tested positive with our rapid test yesterday did have a positive PCR test result from Monday. She is our first confirmed COVID-19 positive resident. With Monday’s results we also received a positive test result for one other resident. This resident is asymptomatic. We conducted a rapid test to try to confirm if it was a true positive and that test was negative.

We are hopeful that this resident’s initial positive was a false positive but we are awaiting an additional PCR test result to confirm that and closely monitoring them for signs and symptoms. The resident is isolated in our dedicated COVID-19 unit.

At this time we are continuing to receive negative test results for both residents and staff and are conducting additional testing throughout the week. Our test results have been coming back quickly and we hope to have more good news to share in the next day or two.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 20, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

As you know we have made it almost a year with no residents getting sick with COVID-19. Eight days ago we received the vaccine and we felt very hopeful that we would make it to the finish line. Our vigilance and commitment have not waivered.

Unfortunately, today one of the Scottish Home residents became symptomatic and we immediately tested her with a rapid test. She tested positive. We retested her and she tested positive again. At this time we believe she is positive with COVID-19. I know you share the heartbreak of this devastating news.

The resident is in good spirits and is isolating in our COVID unit where she will be cared for by dedicated staff. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

From the staff member who noticed her symptoms this morning to the entire team who quickly implemented our safety protocol, reassured residents and helped them back to their rooms, our incredible team took immediate action. All residents at the Scottish Home were retested and the staff on campus today that have had contact with the resident who tested positive have had rapid tests which were all negative. We are working hard to trace how COVID-19 came into our campus after two weeks of negative test results.

At this time no other residents are symptomatic or have tested positive. We are waiting for test results from PCR testing completed earlier this week to come back tonight or tomorrow and will be back in touch if they provide additional information. We are hopeful that because residents were recently sheltering in place that may have helped prevent the spread but we are of course prepared in case there are additional cases.

We know this is very difficult news to hear but at this time we have had to put the following precautions in place:

  • We have suspended all outdoor visits
  • We have suspended all hospice visits at the Scottish Home
  • All residents at the Scottish Home are sheltering in place one allowing.

We are allowing limited, compassionate end of life visits. Our Administrator, Chris Cortez will be reaching out to families that qualify for this type of visit this evening.

As always we are committed to transparency and providing you the latest information as quickly as possible. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.

As a reminder we will be having our Family Support Group tomorrow night hosted by Jim Boyle. I’ve provided the Zoom details at the end of this message.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87840721036?pwd=ZVRhM0poUmxROUY4TFZONDFJUXA0dz09
Meeting ID: 878 4072 1036
Passcode: 896031

January 14, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m writing to you today with a couple of quick updates:

  • Our Family Support Group is moving to the third Thursday of every month at 6:30 PM kicking off on January 21. Please note there is no meeting tonight. We hope to see you next Thursday! The Zoom link for Family Support Group will be the same each month and is listed at the end of this message.
  • All of our test results from this weekend and Monday came back negative (over 200 tests). We are optimistic that we will be able to lift our sheltering in place on Monday if our test results continue to be negative through the weekend.
  • Anticipating that there is a strong likelihood that outdoor visits will be able to resume next week we are updating our outdoor visit scheduler and new dates and times will be available for reservation by 5:30 PM tomorrow.
  • As a reminder, we are able to offer indoor hospice visits but they must be scheduled, pre-screened and participants need to be added to our testing schedule. Please call for more information.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87840721036?pwd=ZVRhM0poUmxROUY4TFZONDFJUXA0dz09
Meeting ID: 878 4072 1036
Passcode: 896031

January 6, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night at our next Zoom Family Town Hall! For your convenience I’ve included the Zoom information at the end of this e-mail.

We are thankful that so far all resident test results received this week are negative. Earlier this week we shared with you the news that one of our staff members had tested positive for COVID-19. Today we received results from their subsequent test that confirmed their positive result.

We have also received two additional preliminary positive test results for members of our team. One is a direct care team member and the other part of environmental services. Both of these team members have been retested and are isolating at home. Residents at The Scottish Home continue to shelter in place.

Please know that even this close to receiving our vaccines we have not let our guard down. We are continuing to be extremely cautious and thorough in our precautions tweaking them as we learn the very latest safety recommendations.

We are continuing to collect consent forms in advance of our upcoming vaccine day next Tuesday. Our goal is 100% participation from staff and residents. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about the vaccine. A copy of the consent form is available on our website here.

Below is the link and password for our Zoom Family Town Hall which will be held on Thursday night at 6pm. When you join the call please make sure that we can see your name and not just your phone number so we can admit you to the call.

Zoom Meeting: Click Here
Zoom Password : 577821

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

January 4, 2021

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Happy New Year!

As you know residents are currently sheltering in place at The Scottish Home as a result of a team member testing positive last week. The good news is that everyone we retested in response to this result has now tested negative. We do unfortunately need to share with you that we have a new, potential positive test result on our direct care team. At this time we have no reason to believe that this employee contracted the virus from their coworker. This team member has been retested and is quarantining at home. We are waiting to hear if the second test confirms the positive or if perhaps it is a false positive test result. This new positive result means we must continue to shelter in place.

Please note that in addition to postponing Outdoor Visits we have also made the decision to temporarily suspend Window Visits due to the ice and snow on campus. While the woods and grounds look incredible in this weather, we simply are unable to provide a guaranteed safe way for you to do a window visit until the snow and ice are gone. Please consider calling your loved one for a video chat instead.

We are continuing to collect consent forms in advance of our upcoming vaccine day next Tuesday. Please talk to your loved one about the vaccine if they are able to make their decision themselves and if they are not and you are their Power of Attorney for Health Care please review and complete our consent so they can receive the vaccine on January, 12th. Our goal is 100% participation from staff and residents. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about the vaccine. A copy of the consent form is available on our website here.

As a reminder, we will be hosting our first Family Town Hall of the year via Zoom on Thursday, January 7th at 6pm. Below is the link and password. It is also posted on the COVID-19 page of our website. When you join the call please make sure that we can see your name so we can admit you to the call.

Zoom Meeting: Click Here
Zoom Password : 577821

I hope to see you all at the Town Hall!

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 30, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

As you may recall, at Christmas we elected to shelter in place due to the exposure of a team member to COVID-19 . This team member is someone that was in direct contact with many people throughout our campus and so we felt it was necessary to take that precaution. That team member has continued to test negative and resident tests have continued to be negative too. Based upon these good results, yesterday morning we made the decision to cautiously bring back a few activities along with our physically distanced lunch program. We did not lift the shelter in place completely because it simply has not been long enough.

Unfortunately shortly after making this decision and in the midst of making all the operations changes we received a positive test result for one of our direct care team members. We immediately reverted back to sheltering in place again. This morning we were able to give this team member a rapid test as they have had some symptoms. Rapid tests are most effective in people who are symptomatic. The rapid test confirmed it is a true positive. What this means for our campus is that sheltering in place will now have to continue for the full 14 days assuming no other staff test positive. We need to do a full lockdown this time including the immediate suspension of outdoor visits. Scheduled, pre-screened hospice visits can continue. As a reminder, you must wear the KN95 mask we provide you at all times when on our campus.

We know how difficult this is for our entire community of residents, families and staff. There is however a ray of hope after this challenging year. Our vaccination day is almost here! On January 12th, 2021 we begin the process with the first doses of the vaccine being administered. The booster shots will be administered on February 2nd. What this means for our community is that we are just six weeks away from having completed the vaccine process and the vaccine being considered effective with an anticipated 95% efficacy rate. For this program to be successful to participate.

Thank you to those of you who have already completed the vaccine consent forms on behalf of your loved ones or helped your family member to complete their own consent form. While we have received a good number of completed forms we are still a long way from our goal of 100%. We need your help! Please take a few moments to complete the form this week so that we can make sure we are ready well in advance of January 12th.

Please reach out if you have questions about the consent form or the vaccine itself. Our Medical Director, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all recommend that all residents and staff at communities like ours get the vaccine. We don’t want anyone at Caledonia Senior Living to suffer from this virus. While it is has not yet been proven that the vaccine we are scheduled to receive will prevent the spread of the virus it is anticipated to at least help reduce the transmission of the virus.

A copy of the consent form is available on our website here.

Wishing you all a healthy, safe and Happy New Year!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 24, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m so sorry to have to report today that we have decided to voluntarily shelter in place again. Late last night we learned that someone within our community has been exposed to COVID-19 . While we don’t normally shelter in place for this reason alone, because this team member is in direct contact with many people on our campus, we believe it is wise to put in place this extra precaution until more information is available. Our team member tested negative on Monday and we are waiting to see what their test result is from yesterday.

We recognize that this news is tough to hear on Christmas Eve. Please know we didn’t make this decision lightly. It breaks our hearts too. We believe it is necessary to fulfill our commitment to keep everyone safe. Our team is working hard to make Christmas still special for all residents and to make sure they feel safe and loved. There will be caroling in the hallways and Maria’s team will be bringing other seasonal activities to residents safely. We are continuing scheduled outdoor family visits so please know that if you are on the calendar for today or tomorrow you can still plan on being here!

As we approach the end of this challenging year, new hope is ahead. In just a few weeks on January 12th we will receive the vaccine. Three weeks later the booster shot will be administered and one week after that we will have immunity – experts say we can anticipate a 95% immunity success rate. Seven weeks stand between now and then. We are so very close and we want to make sure that we can make it all the way safely. We are revisiting and tweaking safety precautions to make sure we are doing everything we can to get there.

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and safe holiday season and to all who celebrate, Happy Christmas!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 21, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Vaccine Update

I am thrilled to share with you that today, after over nine months of our doors being locked due to COVID-19, we now have a confirmed date that we will receive our first dose of the two-step COVID-19 vaccine!

Walgreens is scheduled to administer the COVID-19 vaccine on our campus on January 12, 2021! At this point it is our understanding that the vaccine will be available on this day for all staff and residents of our community. We have provided Walgreens with our anticipated number of participants. Walgreens will visit again to administer the second dose of vaccines on February 2.

Anyone that receives both the first dose on January 12 and the subsequent dose on February 2 will have successfully completed the vaccine process and according to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) will have approximately 95% immunity! We are so excited!

We strongly encourage all residents and staff to receive the vaccine unless advised differently by their physician.

More information about the vaccine can be found in our previous e-mail which is posted on the COVID-19 page of our website. You can also find a link to IDPH’s FAQs about the vaccine and a copy of our consent form on that same page. As a reminder, we need consent forms back ASAP so that we are ready for Walgreens when they visit. Anyone who does not have a completed consent form will not be able to be vaccinated that day and there is no guarantee they will have another opportunity to receive a vaccine in the near future as we will not be given an extra supply to keep on hand.

Testing

Last week I shared with you that we had three employees with a positive COVID-19 test result. I’m relieved to update you that all three employees have had back-to-back negative test results and no other employees or residents have tested positive since these results. Based upon the subsequent negative test results we believe that the original results were false positives. As of this morning Scottish Home residents were able to resume communal dining and activities and we are all very happy to get back to our physically distanced social and festive programming.

While we wait for the vaccine, please know our commitment to keeping your loved ones safe is unwavering. It has been a challenging time for everyone in our Caledonia Senior Living family but today we feel hopeful that we are headed for a brighter future. We hope that this news brings a little joy and relief to you and your family this holiday season.

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and safe holiday.

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 17, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I’m writing with a couple of important updates this evening including information about the COVD-19 vaccine. Please note that as of today no residents have COVID-19.

My first update was going to be to let you know we have received 3 positive employee test results but as soon as I started writing this message I received the wonderful news that our tests came back extremely fast and all three employees have now tested negative. We believe it is likely that team members had false positive results.

The moment we received these initial results we acted immediately, choosing to implement a temporary shelter in place at the Scottish Home and deep cleaning both the Scottish Home and MacLean House. We tested residents again as an extra precaution as well as any staff who had been near the team members that had tested positive. We met with residents individually and let them know what was going on immediately and reassured everyone. We quickly pivoted our dining and life enrichment programs adding some special treats to bring some holiday cheer.

We are so relieved to see these tests come back as negative. We hope to lift the sheltering in place after one more round of negative test results. Fingers crossed we get those results back quickly too.

Vaccine

This week we are gearing up for the COVID-19 vaccine. We are so excited after all this time and feel hopeful about the future. We have filed all necessary paperwork to obtain the vaccine itself and are waiting for a date from Walgreens as to when it’s our turn for them to come out and administer it. This week we watched an informative webinar from the Illinois Department of Public Health and they confirmed that for the first two weeks they would be vaccinating hospital workers and that they anticipate starting to vaccinate residents and staff of communities like ours beginning on December 28th. It will take several weeks for them to get to all of the communities so we are making sure we are ready in case there is an opportunity to be one of the first.

At this time it is the Pfizer vaccine that IPDH is providing. It requires two doses to be effective, is about 95% effective and takes 28 days from the first dose to work. It does not include live COVID-19 virus. Being vaccinated does not impact the PCR testing that we are doing in that it doesn’t change the results and it doesn’t eliminate our need for robust testing. At this point the vaccine will not change our restrictions and we don’t anticipate being able to do so until IDPH feels comfortable enough to change guidelines as well as we feel it is safe to do so.

IDPH recommends that ALL residents and staff at a long term communities be vaccinated including those who have had the virus before and those on hospice. Our goal is to achieve as close to 100% participation as possible.

Nursing is in the process of calling every resident’s Power of Attorney and meeting with every resident who has their own decision making capabilities. In addition to verbal consents we are required to have a signed original hard copy. A copy of the consent form is available here. If possible please send back to us electronically with your signature. Otherwise, please drop off at the front entrance of the Scottish Home. We are in the process of adding a secure drop box.

Vaccine Consent Form

I can’t stress enough the importance of timely submission of these consent forms. We will not be given an option at this time to administer vaccines ourselves on an ongoing basis and anticipate them being on our campus for just one day for the first of two steps of the vaccination.

When researching the vaccine please be selective in the sources you rely on. Click here for the IDPH vaccine resource page and FAQs.

Wishing you and your family a safe and joyful holiday season!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

Caledonia Senior Living Family Support Group

Thursday, December 17, 2020
6:30 pm

We hope you will join us Thursday, December 15th at 6:30pm for our Family Support Group via Zoom. This group is facilitated by our former administrator Jim Boyle.

The purpose of this group is for family members of Caledonia Senior Living residents to be able to share and talk through emotions that they may be feeling having a loved one that needs care – especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

Please note we will be scheduling a Zoom Family Town Hall discussion with our leadership team in the near future where you can hear updates about our campus and have an opportunity to ask questions.

We hope you’ll join us!

 

December 11, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

This is a quick update to yesterday’s notification that a staff member tested positive. As is our practice, we immediately retested that individual and we were fortunate to receive a quick response back. I’m happy to report that the second test was negative. The team member will continue to quarantine at home.

We have been extremely cautious throughout this crisis and this strategy has served us well so far. To continue to be cautious we have decided to continue to have residents shelter in place while we wait for the most recent resident and staff test results to come back. We will let you know when we feel it is safe to ease these restrictions.

Our Family Support Group (hosted by Jim Boyle) will be held on Zoom, Thursday, December 18th at 6:30. A separate e-mail with the Zoom link will be sent on Monday. We hope to see you there!

Stay safe!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

December 10, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I am happy to report that as of today we still have not had any residents become ill from COVID-19. All staff that have tested positive either remained asymptomatic or have now recovered. We are relieved and grateful for the health of those in our community.

COVID-19 Update
We have received one potential positive staff COVID-19 test and are waiting for a second test result. The team member is quarantining at home and will not be back on campus for 14 days regardless of the second test result. Because this team member is in a direct care role we have elected for Scottish Home residents to shelter in place as a precaution until we have more information and can re-evaluate. We have tested residents and staff again following this positive staff result and will update you when we have those results.

During this self imposed sheltering in place restriction we have decided to continuing to host outdoor family visits for now with some modifications to the schedule. We will reach out directly to any families whose scheduled visit needs to be modified for safety reasons. At this time we are only able to offer scheduled indoor visits for compassionate hospice visits.

As a reminder, ALL visits to our campus including outdoor supervised visits, window visits and hospice visits must be scheduled in advance and our screening must be completed 24 hours before the visit with our receptionist as well as upon arrival to our campus. This is an Illinois Department of Public Health requirement.

Staff Update
Please join me in welcoming our new Director of Nursing, Lisa Boivin. Lisa has nine year’s of experience as a Director of Nursing in our field and we are thrilled to have her expertise on our team.

Holidays at Caledonia
We know that this holiday season is difficult for everyone in our community. Our team is working hard to bring joy to residents and staff throughout the season. We have planned many physically distanced holiday activities including wreath making, cookie decorating, holiday stories and much more. While we are sheltering in place we are bringing as many of these activities as possible to residents in their rooms as well as other physically distanced programs.

We have put together a survey to get a general sense of when family members would prefer to visit their loved one for an outdoor holiday visit. Please take a minute to answer the survey even if you’re not local or able to visit so that we can better plan our schedule for the day. Once we have the results we will create our schedule and will send out an email to let you know when visits will be available for reservation on our website. The 4 question survey can be accessed here.

If you are planning on giving clothing as a gift to your loved one this holiday season please pre-label the items before wrapping. We want to make sure we know it belongs to when it arrives in our laundry.

We anticipate a higher than normal number of holiday packages and deliveries. If possible please drop off or mail presents to arrive by 12/21 so we can make sure there is ample time to quarantine packages and distribute them.

Several of you have asked about providing Christmas meals. You are more than welcome to provide a hot meal from a restaurant for your loved one over Christmas. Please let us know if you are planning to do so. As a reminder, we can not accept home prepared meals or baked items. For planning purposes our Christmas menu is as follows:

Christmas Eve:
Baked Salmon
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Garlic Bread
Roasted Asparagus
Fried Eggplant
Broccoli Salad
French Silk Pie

Christmas Day:
Brie and Apple Stuffed Chicken
Stuffing
Green Beans
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Pot Roast
Hearty Slaw
Lemon Cream Pie
Millionaire’s Shortbread

Employee Holiday Fund:
While we are unable to host our normal employee holiday party we are planning a staff raffle as well as a gift and treats for all employees. Our team’s commitment and dedication has been extraordinary during this crisis and we appreciate any support you are able to give to help brighten their holidays. Please reach out to me directly with any questions at sianstevens@chicagoscots.org.

Thanks for all your support,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

November 18, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Thanks to all who participated in our survey this week about outdoor Thanksgiving family visits. We are excited to see that the weather forecast looks mild so far for Thanksgiving! Reservations will be live on our website at CaledoniaSeniorLiving.org/visit on Friday evening around 6 p.m. Thanks for your patience while we finalize our schedule to provide as many visits as possible.

As you may recall we built a prototype of our “lucken-booth” outdoor visit booth. Just as we were about to install the plexiglass windows and start making additional booths we learned of new guidelines for outdoor visits that will have to be incorporated into our design. We appreciate your understanding as we revisit our design.

Tonight, we have one new positive COVID-19 test result to report. The team member that tested positive lives in the same household as the team member we reported tested positive at the beginning of this week. We anticipated this positive test result and they have been out of the office for two weeks as of tomorrow. As we mentioned earlier this week we have sanitized their office area and have quarantined and retested those who work near these team members. Unfortunately, the team member who is now positive does have symptoms and we ask that you keep them in your thoughts as they recover at home.

As a reminder, our Family Support Group will resume on December 1st and will be held via Zoom on the first Tuesday of each month. Click here for the link. We hope to see you there!

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

November 15, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

As the numbers of positive cases of COVID-19 continue to be spike in Illinois and nationwide we continue to be grateful that we still have not had any residents get sick from COVID-19. In addition, I’m pleased to report that the staff that we notified you tested positive are doing well and are either back at work or will be back shortly.

Tonight, we have one new positive COVID-19 test result to report. The team member that tested positive works in our business office and has not interacted with residents. They have not been in the office for almost a week, do not have symptoms and are quarantining at home. We have utilized our Halo Mister to sanitize the business office area and we have retested those who work in that part of the building and asked them to isolate at home as a precaution.

Unfortunately this does require us to return to “phase one” of of the Illinois Department of Public Health’s reopening guidelines. Because our own reopening plan is a deliberate and cautious one there is only one significant change we have to implement immediately. All the other requirements are things we already have in place. Unfortunately we now must start the clock over again in terms of when we can allow indoor palliative care visits and non-medically necessary private caregivers. Outdoor visits are still permitted and can be scheduled here. We are also able to continue indoor hospice visits for immediate family. Please contact us information about those visits and getting tested in advance of being in our buildings.

It may be helpful to note that the additional restrictions we recently had in place – residents sheltering in their residences and the suspension of outdoor visits – were something we chose to implement. We know it was tough on everyone but felt we needed to implement those extra precautions as a result of having had two direct care team members test positive. When we were confident that the virus had not spread we were comfortable reinstating small group activities and our hybrid dining program.
In response to the increased county positivity cases we are implementing additional staff testing. Staff will now be tested twice a week.

Several of you have reached out about Thanksgiving plans and we will be sending out a survey tomorrow about outdoor visits and will have more details to share shortly thereafter. Please note we will still be in “phase one” during Thanksgiving. If there is something that you know would help brighten your loved one’s Thanksgiving please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

November 7, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We have good news to report this morning! Because all staff and resident COVID-19 test results have been negative we are comfortable easing some of the restrictions we recently put in place. We have resumed our small group activities and have returned to our dining program that includes a combination of in-room dining and physically distanced but social dining. We are monitoring the spike of cases in Illinois closely as well as continuing to be vigilant with all our safety precautions. We will let you know if we need to make changes again.

Outdoor visits will resume on Tuesday. Families who were previously scheduled for visit on 10/27 have been rescheduled for Tuesday 11/7. All families who were on the schedule for that day have received a phone call to confirm their reservation. The calendar is now open for 11/12 and 11/14. Visits can be scheduled here .

We have hired additional life enrichment staff and while we are still looking for a couple more team members we will be gradually expanding our family visits calendar starting the week of November 16th. At this time we are still limiting indoor visits to hospice visits.

As always, please reach out with any questions.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

November 1, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We completed our latest round of resident COVID-19 testing on Thursday and Friday and have received the results for all but 2 residents (for whom we hope to receive results tomorrow). I’m thrilled to update you that all resident test results received were negative.

We anticipate that we will likely be testing residents more than once a week as a precaution as we navigate the recent surge in Illinois positive cases and the staff cases we are experiencing.

Unfortunately this latest round of testing brought us one additional positive employee test result. The team member has not been on campus since the beginning of last week and notified us as soon as she became concerned about symptoms. Her COVID-19 test was completed as a “drive-thru”. Unfortunately this new test result means residents will have to continue to shelter in place. We will let you know as soon as we are able to change this.

We continue to meet with our team multiple times a week to reiterate the great need for vigilance as well as to keep their spirits lifted. We will continue to do everything in our power to keep residents and staff safe.

Stay safe,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

October 30, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

I wanted to provide a quick update on our test results this week. I’m thrilled to announce that all resident test results received have been negative. We have retested everyone again as a precaution and are now awaiting those results this weekend.

Our containment protocols are working and Gus, Chris and I couldn’t be more proud of our incredible team for consistently following our precautions and stepping up and alerting us of any possible exposure that they may have had. It’s because of them that we continue to keep your loved ones safe.

One of our team members recently let us know that she may have been exposed to COVID-19 in her personal life and we immediately took her off the schedule as a precaution. She has not been on campus since last Saturday. Unfortunately that team member has now tested positive and is quarantining at home.

This brings us to a total of two team members that have confirmed, active cases. All other staff that have tested positive in the last few weeks have recovered and are back at work. We are so grateful for their good health and for their honesty throughout their experience with COVID-19.

Unfortunately this new test result means we must continue to shelter in place a bit longer. We will let you know as soon as we are able to welcome you back for visits and begin congregate dining and programs again. I encourage you to schedule a video chat if you haven’t already and your loved one needs assistance making the call. Please Click here to schedule

With our return to sheltering in place I wanted to remind everyone that it is an Illinois Department of Public Health requirement that we screen any visitors in advance of their visit as well as upon arrival on our campus. Please let us know if you are planning on doing a window visit so that we can contact you the day before to screen you, provide you with a new mask when you arrive on our campus and make sure your loved one also has a mask and is the right distance away. Please do not come to campus if you believe there is a chance you have been exposed to COVID-19.

During this time our team is working hard to bring joy to residents in their residences. We are doing hallway exercise, individual activities and bringing home-baked and personalized treats. If there is something that you think would help brighten your loved one’s day please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Wishing you a safe Halloween weekend.

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

October 28, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

Thanks for your support and understanding as we navigate temporarily sheltering in place. We know that it is disappointing and difficult to not be able to visit your loved ones and we will let you know as soon as we can start scheduling visits again. As a reminder, we are still able to offer hospice visits (immediate family only) on a one-on-one basis.

We have been retesting staff and residents after this weekend’s positive staff result and I’m relieved to say that all the resident results that we have received so far have been negative. Unfortunately we did receive confirmation of the staff result. One additional team member tested positive. This person works in a different department, is quarantining at home and we are waiting to receive their second test result.

The Illinois Department of Public Health recently changed their guidelines for communities like ours. One significant change is the requirement that communities return to phase one if they have residents or staff test positive. Prior to now the requirement was only for positive resident cases. They also reduced the length of time required to stay in phase one from 28 days to 14 days. Moving forward we will have to follow this guideline and the clock will reset anytime we have a positive case within our community.

As a reminder, here’s what Phase One looks like on our campus:

  • Sheltered Care residents shelter in place in their residences and any Skilled Nursing residents that can safely do so.
  • Only essential staff are permitted entry to both The Scottish Home and the MacLean House and families visiting loved ones that are receiving hospice care.
  • Outdoor visits are temporarily suspended.
  • We encourage non critical medical appointments to be virtual
  • We continue to offer video chats – Click here to schedule

We continue to be committed to transparency and will update you with any changes.

Stay safe!

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

October 26, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

As you know, we have had a few team members test positive for COVID-19 over the last few weeks as the number of positive cases spikes in Illinois. Today for the first time in 26 weeks of testing two people in the same department have tested positive. Both team members work in nursing. Please know that all resident test results have come in and are negative and as is our practice we have retested all staff and the residents again.

The first team member’s result is one that we already shared with you and this is now a confirmed positive. The second team member’s result is a new one. As you may recall we always conduct follow-up test(s) to confirm whether the first result is true or a false positive result. At this time we have completed a second test and are waiting for the result.

Our guiding philosophy during this pandemic has been “If we overreact to this crisis, we will probably never know. But if we underreact, we will know immediately”. Following our philosophy and our commitment to being extremely cautious and careful, we have voluntarily decided to temporarily return to phase one of our reopening plan.

As a reminder, here’s what Phase One looks like on our campus:

  • Sheltered Care residents shelter in place in their residences and any Skilled Nursing residents that can safely do so.
  • Only essential staff are permitted entry to both The Scottish Home and the MacLean House and families visiting loved ones that are receiving hospice care.
  • Outdoor visits are temporarily suspended.

We personally informed all residents this morning and Life Enrichment has been providing in room activities to those who would like it. I’m happy to report that residents seem to be taking it all in stride so far. Our dining team created miniature pumpkin pies this afternoon to surprise everyone.

For those of you who had outdoor visits scheduled for this week we have provisionally moved the whole schedule to next week instead. If we are able to do visits later this week we will reach back out to you. Please let us know if you would like to do a video chat this week and we will be happy to arrange that too.

Please let Chris or I know if you have any questions. We will be updating you as soon as we have additional information.

Best,

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

October 23, 2020

Dear Caledonia Senior Living Family,

We just completed our 25th consecutive week of testing and I am relieved and very happy to report that all Caledonia Senior Living residents continue to test negative for COVID-19.

I’m also to grateful to be able to share with you that our employees that recently tested positive are all feeling better and have either returned to campus or will return to campus in the near future. From this week’s testing we have one additional team member that has tested positive. This team member is asymptomatic and quarantining at home.

While Caledonia Senior Living continues to be in good shape, we very concerned by the recent spikes in positive cases in the world around us. Witnessing Dr Ezike’s (Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health) tearful presentation today was jarring. She, and other health experts warn of the dangers of indoor gatherings in restaurants and bars, social events in churches and even small get-togethers in homes with family and friends as people let their guards down.

We are monitoring the sharp rise in positive cases throughout Illinois, particularly in the area surrounding our campus (Region 10)The positivity rate in region 10 is currently 7.3%, up from 5.9% last week. If we reach 8% for 3 consecutive days, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) will likely impose additional mitigation measures. These measures are outlined in Tier 1 of IDPH’s Guidance for Reopening Long Term Care Communities that was updated on the 21st of October.

The return to Tier 1 will not significantly impact Caledonia as it suspends things like indoor visits, beautician services and bus trips that we have not yet re-instated. We are preparing for a resurgence by reviewing our mitigation and containment strategies. This week our President, Gus Noble met with our staff individually to renew the personal commitment that he made to them in early March and confirm that they are also committed to continue to be safe and keep their guard up. Everyone responded positively and without hesitation.

Earlier this week I reviewed a design by Mike Domrese, our Director of Facilities to create a visitor booth – dubbed our “luckenbooth” after the Scottish symbol of love that is in our logo that for us represents the love between a family member and resident as well as between a Caledonia team member and a resident. These visitor booths will enable you to visit your loved one in the colder months while remaining outside of the community. It’s our hope that we will be permitted to use these booths even if indoor visits are not allowed. The creativity of our team members during this time is simply incredible.

While we are still not permitted to bring in a beautician to our campus we have developed a way to offer complimentary nail grooming for hands by purchasing personal products that will be kept in individual containers. If you are interested in having your loved one participate please let us know and we will add the cost for individual nail trimming and nail polish products to your monthly invoice. We will not charge for the service itself at this time.

I am pleased to announce our Family Support Group led by Jim Boyle, will resume via Zoom. We will be sending an e-mail with the date and time in the near future. I encourage everyone to participate.

Lastly, we are still actively recruiting for additional Life Enrichment staff that will enable us to offer additional days and times for our supervised family visits. Please let me know if you know anyone that could be a good fit.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding during this time.

Please be careful and be well.

Siân Stevens
Chief Operating Officer

October 11, 2020

Caledonia Senior Living Families,

We recently informed you about two employees that have tested positive for COVID-19 and are quarantining at home. Since then we have re-tested everyone that works in their departments at least twice along with our regular resident testing and all results are negative. The two employees remain positive and are symptomatic. We continue to keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

We have since received one additional positive test result from our routine employee testing. This employee does not work closely with either of the other employees that have tested positive and there is no reason to believe that the virus spread to him from either of them. Just like the other two team members we have reason to believe that he caught the virus from someone outside of our campus. He has not worked on our campus since Wednesday. As a reminder, our process is to quickly retest him while he is quarantined to identify whether it is a true positive or not.

We are appreciative of all three of these team members. Their diligent handwashing, mask wearing, commitment to being tested and honest communication helped prevent the spread of this virus.

I continue to be in awe of our entire team – to be sitting here in October writing to you with no residents having become sick from COVID-19 and to have had no staff members contract the virus on our campus is truly incredible.

As always, we will update you promptly if there is any new information.

Warm regards,

Siân Stevens

October 8, 2020

Caledonia Senior Living Families,

Over the weekend we informed you about a staff member that tested positive and is quarantining at home. That employee has since developed mild symptoms and continues to quarantine. Everyone that works in their department has been retested and the results are all negative. We are continuing to test them as a precaution. Resident test results have also been negative.

Unfortunately we have received one new positive test from an employee in a non direct-care role. This employee tested negative on Friday and has not worked since then. On Sunday night she developed symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and alerted us. She tested positive on Monday and will be retested today.

Both of these team members are very much on our minds this week as we anxiously await their recovery. We are grateful to our entire team of incredible heroes that are consistently doing everything we ask to keep everyone safe. As of today we still have not had any residents become ill from COVID-19.

At our last Family Town Hall Zoom we mentioned we are going to be expanding our life enrichment team so that we can offer more family visits which the Illinois Department of Public Health requires be supervised. We are actively recruiting for these new positions and will let you know as soon as we can expand our calendar. Please let us know if you know anyone who would be a good fit.

Thanks for your continued faith and support in us. It means so much.

Siân Stevens

October 3, 2020

Caledonia Senior Living Families,

A few days ago we notified you that an employee had tested positive for COVID-19. We have now received two subsequent negative tests for that team member indicating that it was most likely a false positive test.

On Thursday an employee in a different department informed us that someone close to them had just tested positive. They did exactly what we have asked of all our team members – alerted us immediately. We were able to test them right away and they have been quarantining ever since. Unfortunately, this evening their test result came back positive. We anticipate that this time the result is a true positive due to their recent exposure to the virus. We have received test results for most of the other department members as well as additional staff and they were all negative.

At this time we have no reason to believe that the virus was contracted on our campus nor that it has spread. As a precaution we have disinfected the area of campus where this employee most recently worked as well as the employee break room and other areas. The team member is currently asymptomatic. We will be testing them again as well as their colleagues and providing support to them during their quarantine time.

I continue to be impressed by the diligence of our team who continue to wash and sanitize hands frequently, complete daily screenings, wear their KN95 masks without complaints and participate in weekly COVID-19 tests. They continue to protect Caledonia Senior Living residents and each other.

As a reminder, please help us by wearing your mask at all times when on our campus.

Wishing you good health,

Siân Stevens

Resident Photos

With social distancing measures in place, we want to make sure friends and family can see how their family members at Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care are doing.

We have setup a password protected page with resident photos which we plan to update throughout the duration of the COVID-19 situation. While we know it’s not the same as a personal visit, we hope seeing photos of your family members and friends helps during this time. 

Please visit https://www.caledoniaseniorliving.org/family/ to view the photos. If you need the password, please email us at info@caledoniaseniorliving.org

Spread Love, Not COVID

Support Caledonia Senior Living by purchasing a t-shirt featuring our “Spread Love, Not COVID” slogan.

Available for $15.00 in our online store.

Spread Love Not COVID

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Visitor Guidelines

All visitors at Caledonia Senior Living & Memory Care are required to wear a mask. Visitors are required to complete a health screening upon arrival and before leaving campus. We kindly ask that you do not visit if you have a known exposure to COVID-19 or if you have any symptoms of COVID-19.