Visiting Your Loved One

Visitor’s Log: Visitors are required to fill out the visitor’s log (found in the lobby) upon arrival and departure.

Entrance Access Code: Frequent family visitors to Villa Cathay can apply for an entrance access code to enter the facility during visitation hours (9 am to 7 pm daily). The access code will be changed regularly for security reasons.

Screening: Visitors and staff are no longer required to be screened for symptoms upon entry. Please refrain from visiting if you are experiencing any symptoms, no matter how mild they may be, or if you have had recent exposure (during the incubation period) to an infectious illness. Our residents are vulnerable to infections, as many of them have comorbidities and could be critically affected.

RAT: Visitors are highly recommended to administer their own rapid antigen test prior to arriving at Villa Cathay.

Masks: Visitors can wear their own masks or the masks provided by Villa Cathay. Villa Cathay highly recommends visitors continue with the practice of wearing a mask whenever they are in residents’ neighborhoods.

The Use of Washrooms: In addition to the designated washroom in the lobby, family members can use their loved one’s ensuite washroom if required. However, the common washrooms on the resident’s floor are dedicated for staff/residents’ use only.

Number of Visitors per Visit: We recommend that no more than eight visitors be in a resident’s room at one time.

The Use of Common Spaces on the Resident’s Floor:

During this transition period, we kindly ask that each resident have no more than four accompanying visitors in the common areas on the resident’s floors when residents are not having meals. This is to ensure that visitors of residents can also use the common spaces.

During mealtimes, except for family members who have made advance arrangements with the floor team, we kindly ask visitors to leave the dining room exclusively for residents’ use to minimize disruptions to other residents during mealtimes.

The microwave oven and the under-the-counter fridge in the dining room are restricted to staff access until further notice.

Important reminders:

• Hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette remain two of the most important practices in minimizing the transmission of respiratory illnesses. Please be reminded to always wash your hands when entering the unit, before touching your loved one, and before and after assisting them.
• If you are unsure about your loved one’s dietary restrictions, please check with our floor team before offering any food or drinks to your loved one.

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:

• Food can only be brought into Villa Cathay by the visitor during a 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 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.