Visiting Your Loved One

Visiting Hours

• Scheduling a visit in advance is no longer required starting July 19; however, long-term care homes are required to screen all visitors for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 for every visit. You are welcomed to pre-book your visits online to reduce each other’s lineup time for symptom screening. We also highly recommend visitors be well-prepared before visit instead of dropping in spontaneously.
• Visiting hours are available Mondays to Saturdays 9AM-6PM when we have screeners on duty.  Starting July 26, visiting hours for Thursdays to Saturdays will extend to 7PM. Villa Cathay will continue to evaluate the needs of our residents and the human resources that are required to operate the visitation program safely.

Preventative Measures

• Infection prevention and control measures, such as frequent hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, physical distancing, and use of medical masks are required within a long-term care home.
• Visitors must be screened for illness and provide contact information upon entry regardless of vaccination status.
• All visitors are highly encouraged to be fully vaccinated. Immunization record will be required during the time of symptom screening.
• Only the BC immunization record will be accepted.
• Fully vaccinated visitors will be provided with a one-time sticker for identification. Fully vaccinated visitors may take off their masks only when with their loved ones and in the resident’s own room.
• Visitors who have not been fully vaccinated or cannot provide proof of immunization record must keep the mask on at all times.
• All visitors need to wear a mask in common areas and when interacting with staff.
• Visitors can only visit your loved one and cannot visit other residents at this time.
• The maximum number of visitors allowed has to be in accordance with the capacity of the visiting area. According to the building code, the maximum number of people allowed in a resident room is FOUR, including the resident.
• The washroom in your loved one’s room is for resident’s use only. Please use the designated washroom for visitors in the lobby.

Items that you plan to bring to the resident’s room

• We kindly ask visitors to only bring items that are essential to the visit to Villa Cathay. All visitors will be asked to sanitize all items, including personal belongings such as cell phones and bags, that will be taken to the resident’s floor. This will help minimizing the risk of your loved one coming into contact with items that are not sanitized.
• During the visit, please assist your loved one to practice hand hygiene using hand sanitizer or with soap and water, especially after they come in contact with items from outside. Frequent hand hygiene enhances the safety of our elders.

Food and Meals

• If you plan to assist your loved one during mealtimes, please let us know ahead of time so that we can make arrangement for your loved one to stay in his/her own room and deliver the meal tray to your loved one’s room.
• The fridge on the 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.
• The microwave on the resident’s floor is restricted to reheat food that are provided by Villa Cathay.
• For guidelines on bringing food for residents, please read this document for more details.
• Visitors should wear disposable gloves when providing care (e.g. feeding) to your loved one.

Video Calls

• If you will organize video calls or phone calls for your loved one during your visit, please ensure that your loved one does not touch your device. If it is inevitable, please be sure to wash and clean your loved one’s hand, face, and any other body parts that have come in contact with your device promptly using hand sanitizer or with soap and water;
• We will prioritize weekly video calls for those residents who do not receive any in-person visits. Should your loved ones have regular in-person visits but still require our team to arrange video calls, please contact us at [email protected] to make the arrangement.

First Time Visitor

• The provincial government expects that long-term care home ensures all visitors receive guidance on infection control as well as guideline for visits prior to visiting. First time visitors please contact us to schedule your first visit as you will be required to attend an infection control orientation and to complete a visit agreement. Please call the Family Visit Team at 604-215-3150 or email [email protected] to schedule your first visit.
• For first time visitors, please complete and return these forms.

Important Reminder

• Social visitation will be suspended during outbreaks. If the resident has any cold- or flu- like symptoms, the visit will be suspended.
• Visits will be suspended should visitors are unable to follow infection control protocol or unable to wear masks when required.
• If you or your close contact happened to involve in a potential COVID exposure, please ensure to inform us immediately and reschedule your visit. When you experience any possible COVID symptoms, reschedule your appointment and call your health care provider for advice of a COVID test. If you develop any symptoms after your visit, please also notify us immediately. This helps inform us the possible changes in your loved one’s health status.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about visit, please contact our Family Visit Team at 604-215-3150 or email: [email protected].

If you would like to bring your loved one for social outings, please complete this form and submit to the floor nurse for arrangement.

Per the Provincial Guideline for Social Visiting for Residents of Long-term Care Homes, during outings, the visitor and the resident will follow all the current Public Health Orders. 根據省護理院社交訪問指引，當長者在外出期間，訪客及長者均需要遵守公共衛生命令。

Settings outside of our facility may not have as rigorous IPC practices and the risk of transmission for COVID-19 and other illnesses may be higher. 院外的環境未必會如華宮院內般嚴格實施各項防疫措施，故此，會增加長者感染 COVID-19 或其他疾病的風險。

We highly recommend the resident to wear the medical grade mask provided by the facility and engage in frequent hand hygiene, maintain physical distance from other people where possible, practice respiratory etiquette throughout the outing. 我們強烈建議長者佩戴由護理院提供的醫用口罩，並在整個外出期間維持手部的衛生，儘量與他人保持社交距離及實行咳嗽禮節。

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.