Our Ongoing Response to COVID-19
Vail Place is taking an active, preventative approach to prevent the spread of the COVID-19. The health, safety, and wellness of you and the people we serve through our various programs and services is paramount.
What exactly do we mean by this? Given that we work with people who often fit into a health category of high-risk health including older adults and people with serious chronic medical conditions ( heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, etc) who also have limited resources and supports, we take our role in mitigating their exposure to COVID-19 seriously … including the potential of exposure by Vail staff.
At the end of February Vail Place convened a leadership team consisting of Vicky Couillard, John Fournelle, Jen Boulton and Libby Zuzek to enact our response to the pandemic: our Continuity of Operations Plan. The team has been meeting regularly to outline and refine our Plan, which was shared with the Senior Leadership Team this week for their feedback. Program Directors and Managers are meeting with their teams to review a variety of scenarios and questions that will guide the next steps of the Plan.
One scenario we are currently managing is how best to approach the return of staff from medium to high-risk areas abroad and in the US. After careful consideration, we have implemented a precautionary quarantine:
- We are asking people who are non-symptomatic to work from home for a period of 5 days (the current mean incubation period) with no need to use sick/vacation time if they can work from home.
- We are asking those individuals who return from a trip and are symptomatic, to remain at home for up to 14 days utilizing sick/vacation when necessary.
Staff who are traveling are expected to communicate with their supervisor/HR team if they have recently returned from a trip or who have a trip planned during this time.
Additionally, again as a precaution, we have cancelled attendance at trainings and participation in large-group assemblies such as Day on the Hill. This does not mean that we will be cancelling community visits, tours or small group social/recreational outings in the Clubhouse at this time.
At this stage in the pandemic life cycle, where situations can change from day-to-day, we want to provide timely answers to the most commonly asked questions.
To do this effectively, we have created a SharePoint site dedicated to monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic and will regularly post updates as the situation progresses. Once set up is complete, the SharePoint site will include Vail Place’s Response Plan, which will contain the most up-to-date information about the situation and a discussion board for you to ask questions. Please watch for the first posting – FAQs.
At Vail Place, we take this situation and the welfare of employees and the people we serve very seriously. We are preparing as an agency and will continue to monitor and adapt accordingly. We also express our sincere appreciation to everyone for remaining calm, positive and dedicated to ensuring the health and safety of the people we serve.
Please contact me or members of the response team (John, Libby and Jen) with questions and watch for the SharePoint posts.