Hello and Christmas Greetings to each one of you who happen upon this letter! I feel honoured to have this opportunity to address each one of you. There has been a lapse in these newsletters for the past several months as I’ve been trying to settle in but I intend to send updates more frequently going forward!
First of all, I want to acknowledge all the amazing people that I get to work with here at Westview that kept this place going despite the new guy in the administrator office! You can have confidence that your loved ones here are receiving care that is second to none! I am inspired every day by the dedication and compassion of the folks that work here. They are the reason that so many people tell us they are putting their name in to live at Westview when they reach that stage of life; everyone from our AHS representatives to our contracted tradesmen to local politicians and beyond! So, to all the wonderful staff here at Westview, thank you from the bottom of my heart!
As for a little insight as to what the past few months of looked like, I will admit its been a bit of a whirlwind from my perspective! The summer months were lovely and the patio and BBQ were put to good use. It definitely expands the usable space of this place when the east doors can be open and the patio used as an extension of our dining room. It was also venue to a fishing derby in an inflatable kid’s pool and a water gun shooting range among other things! Some of our residents still have pretty decent aim with a water pistol, as the recreation staff and HCAs found out!
We enjoyed an employee BBQ and awards night put on by the Board at the C.C. Toews farm the end of July. The following people were recognized for their years of service to Westview:
~ Virginia Bartel – 30 years ~ Megan Parker – 15 years
~ Helen Enns – 15 years ~ Tammy Koehn – 10 years
~ Helen Bueckert – 15 years ~ Amber Valenzuela – 5 years
~ Ruth Klassen – 15 years ~ Charles Schartner – 5 years
~ Sylvia Loewen – 15 years ~ Jo Pascual – 5 years
We also made honourable mention of 13 employees who had reached their 1 year anniversary with us. Thank you to each of you for your contribution to Westview Care Community!
Coming into the colder months of fall and winter, we along with many of you, have experienced the joys of cold and flu season:( As we have found out, these slimy little viruses are not respecters of persons. As staff, we seem to be just as vulnerable to it as the residents! Thank you for your help with slowing the spread of the bugs by respecting the guidelines put in place by the Medical Officer of Health during the outbreak!
One infrastructure update we have been working on, is an upgrade to our nurse call system. Delco Security has been on sight for several weeks working on the installation. The hardware on the resident side of the system will not be changing so our residents will not have to learn a new system. When a resident pushes their call bell or triggers a bed alarm, the signal is sent to the computer which then needs to decipher which room it is from, which alarm in that room it is and then which of the nurses’ phones to send it to. The phone system and the computer that runs the program were both struggling with age-related failure-to-cope so it was finally time to do something. We are looking forward to the completion of the project and being able to continue providing a safe place for our residents to live.
Over the past 6 months since Gideon’s last update, we have welcomed Ken and Norma Reimer into the Assisted Living Suites. We have 2 Suites that are open still so if you’re looking for a place to live where someone else does most of the worrying for you, give us a call!
In Long Term Care, there have been more changes. We have welcomed into our family the following people: Delores Klassen, Hannah Bjerkseth, Beulah Isaac, Irene Calquhoun, Mary Loewen and Hardy Friesen. Having new folks join us here also means we have had to say good-bye. We bid farewell to Betty Latimer as she moved out to another home and mourned the loss of the following dear ones: Annette Thiessen, Irma Klassen, Eileen Mickey-Pex, Bert Enns, Irene Calquhoun and Joseph Toews.
In closing, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year! May God bless your path ahead!
Take care…
Shawn Klassen, Managing Director
