Visiting Your Loved One

With the recent provincial announcement on easing visitation guidelines in long-term care homes, Villa Cathay fully understands the urgency of getting the visits started for family members. However, seniors remain the most vulnerable to COVID-19; hence, we kindly ask visitors to only visit if they are diligently following the current infection control protocols and all provincial health orders.

The health and safety of all residents is of utmost importance. We trust that family members and Villa Cathay share the common goal of keeping Villa Cathay COVID-free.

Below are more details of the social visits:

• If the resident has any cold- or flu- like symptoms, the visit will be suspended.

• The visitor(s) should not come to visit if/when unwell.

• All visitors must comply with Villa Cathay’s current infection prevention controls, screening practices, hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and adhere to the appropriate use of PPE.

• Visitors should stay in the designated visiting area (i.e. the resident’s room) and cannot visit other floors nor contact other residents.

• All visits are required to be pre-booked. Drop-in visitors will be turned away.

• To ensure visitors can practice safe distancing upon arrival to the Villa Cathay lobby for symptom screening, the arrival times of each resident’s visitor(s) will be staggered.

• Before additional staff can be hired in place, visits will only occur Mondays to Saturdays between 9:30am-6pm.

• To ensure we can accommodate visits for each resident and have adequate staff to care for all residents, resident will receive either one in-person social visit or one video call per week. We encourage family members who will be visiting to organize video calls for other family members.  If under special circumstances that the in-person visitor(s) cannot maintain the weekly video call for other family members, please contact our team and we will do our best to accommodate.

• If multiple family members would like to visit the same resident on the same week, please communicate amongst each other to decide on which two adults plus one child under 18 will be visiting. Villa Cathay will only arrange a maximum of one social visit per week for each resident.

• According to the current guidelines from Vancouver Coastal Health, prioritization of the COVID-19 vaccine will only be offered to the essential visitors of the residents. Social visitors will receive their vaccines according to their years of birth in the upcoming months.

• For guidelines on bringing food for residents, please read this document for more details.

• After Villa Cathay receives the completed COVID-19 Risk Assessment Form, the visitor(s) will be contacted and be sent the Infection Control Protocols Agreement and the Enhanced Screening Form. Villa Cathay will arrange visit for the visitor(s) after all the forms are received.
• The visitor also needs to review and understand the COVID-19 Infection Control protocols at Villa Cathay.  Please click here to read.

To initiate the booking process:

Please have the visitors who will come for the visit to fill out the Risk Assessment Form below. After we have received the form, the visitors will be contacted to submit a completed Enhanced Screening Form and a signed Infection Control Protocols Agreement before a visit date can be booked.

If Villa Cathay receives multiple bookings for the same resident on the same week, we cannot schedule a visit until an agreement from all respective family members is reached on who will visit for that week.

To request a visit, please complete the visitor COVID-19 Risk Assessment Form.

Click to download the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Form

Should family members must bring in homemade food, take-out, raw fruits, or any food items that are not dried goods or not in commercially vacuum-sealed packages to residents for their wellbeing, please adhere to the following guidelines for food safety and infection control reasons:

• These food can only be brought into Villa Cathay by the visitor during a pre-scheduled visit.
• Please limit the amount of food to an amount that can be consumed by your loved one during the visit. Open or partially consumed food cannot be stored in the fridge on the resident’s floor due to the current infection control and prevention protocols.
• The resident can enjoy the food with the assistance of the visitor. The visitor is not allowed to consume the food with the resident as a face mask must be worn by the visitor for the entire duration of the visit.
• The visitor needs to take away any unfinished food with him/her at the end of the visit.

Other important food safe guidelines

• All ready-to-eat food should be stored in containers that can keep food hot for the duration of your visit. During COVID-19, the microwave on the resident’s floor is restricted to reheating food provided by Villa Cathay.
• Please refrain from preparing food in the resident’s suite. The resident’s bedroom and washroom are not suitable environments to prepare food safely. (i.e., Do not peel or cut fruits in the resident’s washroom.  Pre-wash and portion the fruits prior to arriving at Villa Cathay.)
• Please bring individually wrapped disposable utensils for your loved one to use for eating.  Please do not bring reusable utensils to prevent the risk of cross-contamination.  If you are unable to find individually wrapped disposable utensils, please inform our team upon arrival and we would be happy to provide utensils for your loved one.
• During COVID-19, the fridge on a resident floor cannot store different residents’ food to avoid the risk of cross-contamination.  Please only bring the portion that your loved one can consume during the length of the visit.
• Please prepare food according to the dietary needs and food texture requirement of your loved one.
• We highly recommend food handlers to follow WHO’s Guideline on Safe Food Preparation.
• Please ensure your loved one is sitting upright while eating. After eating, please ensure that your loved one maintains an upright position for at least 30 minutes to prevent reflux of the food and potential risk of aspiration.

If you have already visited Villa Cathay once, please click the link below to book your next visit with your loved one.

Please click to book your next visit. 預約下一次的探訪，請按此連結。