Full disclosure, our AVENS Board Member, Marion LaVigne, is the owner of the Up Here Magazine Publishing and to my knowledge had no oversite for this article. It was the Up Here editor that was in direct contact with our office
Most recently, I received an unusual call from the editor of Up Here magazine. He wanted to know how AVENS was coping with Covid and how we were able to overcome the management of a recent outbreak crisis.
Now to my surprise, I have been in the North for approximately 30 years, mostly as a health care professional business owner acquiring a number of national awards, entrepreneur, consultant and legislator, however, at no time during this tenure was I ever asked or let alone featured in what I call our North’s premier business magazine, that is, the Up Here publications.
So, I would be remiss if I didn’t have a bit of a bucket list “now moment” when I heard the voice of Up Here editor, Cooper Langford, say, “…and we would like…”
November 2021 issue of Up Here Business magazine
Seriously though, the purpose of this article was to showcase our recent crisis intervention preparedness. Of course, this was a very broad and technical concept, so we did keep it relatively digestible.
A bucket list “now moment”
Although I am not going to speak at length to the contents of this article (As we will try to have copies left throughout the facilities) I do want to emphasize that our recent outbreak management success was a testament to everyone’s effort.
I believe what we discovered at AVENS was that no matter how prepared we thought we were, we were not immune to the devastated presence of Covid’s 4th wave.
However, I truly believe that with strong leadership, our speed of response, our robust plan, our vaccination efforts, our caring and compassionate response, and our transparent communication, all played a key part in positive outcomes dealing with this crisis.
By the time you read this newsletter, we should have emerged from our outbreak management quarantine period that lasted the better part of 2 months.
There was a huge amount of sacrifice from all our employees, but moreover, to the residents and their families who have been waiting patiently to the return of their loved ones, these folks, paid the biggest price.
If this crisis taught me one thing, it is to not underestimate your opponent, Covid does not play fair, nor is it bias in any way. We are all victims at some point, and we must realize we can prevail as long as we are all working together, as a team.
Again, congratulations to everyone at AVENS, both worker and resident (and their families), for working together during one of the most difficult times in our operations history.
Upwards and onwards together!
As the Up Here article alluded, everyone did keep a cool head, and for that I am very thankful.
Once again, we survived Covid
From November 24th -25th, 2021, I had the pleasure of representing AVENS at a virtual National conference on creating opportunities for aging in place.
Joined with many different experts from across Canada, the virtual multi-track, multi-disciplinary learning event was hosted by the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (CAOT).
As older adults are expected to represent 25% of our population by 2050 (I will be one of them), creating opportunities for them to age in place safely, and with joy, is one of the critical issues of our time.
Screen shot of the Home is where the heart is: Creating opportunities for aging in place November 24th-25th, 2021
The take home for me was the very thoughtful lived experiences of keynote addresses, over 25 hours of presentations on topics such as, accessibility, housing and community planning for aging in place, impact on smart home technology and emerging markets of aging in place.
All this information just re-affirms that our investment in our Pavilion project is the right project at the right time for our community.
Our Pavilion project is the right project at the right time
As part of our strategic pillars, AVENS will be leading the way in aging in place services in the future, so I am very happy to know we are on the right path.
Something that we started some years ago, as part of our overall communication plan for our facility and our employees was – Operation Looking Glass.
Around this time every year, the Office of the President and CEO in conjunction with the Management Team work together to prepare and plan a “town hall” presentation for our organization.
The concept is simple, Operation Looking Glass is about reviewing what we did this past year and a look into our future.
Originally our target for this project was for our staff, however, over the years, we have seen this as a valuable exercise for our residents, their families and many of our stakeholders.
With the opportunity to sit down with myself and our Management Team you will be able hear our successes and have a voice for our vision of the future.
Therefore, we look forward to seeing you on Thursday December 2nd, 2021 at 3 PM in the MPR. We will have live streaming for some of our board members and potentially other stakeholders.
We look forward to seeing you there.
With the blessing from the OCPHO, AVENS was given the green light for our 2021 Holiday Gala. The creation of this event is 100% attributed to the dedicated and hardworking AVENS Social Committee.
Recently, I was approached by a number of “Secret Santa’s”. Their mission was indeed magical. In essence, they wanted to make sure this event was affordable and accessible by as many of our staff, as possible. Collectively, $700 dollars was given to this cause, allowing us to pre-purchase 14 of the 100 tickets available.
Therefore a draw was made with ALL staff names and 14 lucky winners were selected. These individuals will have the luxury of attending or they can “pay-it-forward” to others.
We are truly thankful to these “Secret Santa’s” and their generosity.
We look forward to many of you who will be in attendance, for what is looking like to be a great “gala” evening.
