Ascent Living Blog

February 17, 2021

Dear Village at Belmar Community,

As communicated in our previous update letter, we would like to provide you with further details and updates regarding our community Covid-19 status. Based on the surveillance testing results from our most recent testing of staff, there were no positive results.  Our second Covid-19 vaccine clinic was completed on 2/11.  As a result of the resident and staff participation in completing their vaccinations, we plan to re-open our dining room(s) and offer small group activities, with proper social distancing.

Effective March 1^st, the dining rooms for both Independent Living and Assisted Living will re-open.  Further details around scheduled mealtimes and seating protocols will soon be sent out to all residents by the Culinary team.  To maximize on staffing assignments and efficiencies during the re-opening of the dining rooms, we will no longer have staff available to provide “free” meal delivery.  Effective April 1, 2021 the meal delivery fee will be re-instated for both Independent and Assisted Living. 

Additionally, we will also begin offering small group activities in common spaces.  These planned activities will require that all residents and staff continue to wear a mask, with proper social distancing.  Our Life Enrichment team will send out a revised activity calendar to all residents.

Outdoor visitation will continue to be in place, with scheduled visits through the “Sign-Up Genius”. The links for the sign-up are as follows:

Assisted Living:

Indoor: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B48AFAA23A7FF2-indoor

Dome: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B48AFAA23A7FF2-village

Monarch House:

February Dome Visits: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B4AAFA829A6FD0-february

February Indoor: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B4AAFA829A6FD0-monarch4

March Dome: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B4AAFA829A6FD0-march1

March Indoor: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B4AAFA829A6FD0-march

We continue to be in close communication with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Jefferson County Health Department and are following their direction and protocols, as well as those of our Medical Consultant, Dr.

Gagandeep Singh.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Village at Belmar’s Executive Director, Rebecca Norris, at (303) 351-5455.

Sincerely,

Tom & Susie Finley – Founder & Principal

Dear Carillon at Belleview Station Community,

Thank you all for graciously welcoming us into your home, we are so excited to be a part of this wonderful community.  Please know that communication is extremely important to us and you will be receiving regular communication, similar to this, on an ongoing basis.  We will also post these updates to our website for future reference.  As it relates to Covid-19, we will keep you apprised of any regulatory changes, any positive resident or associate (staff) cases within the community and any other pertinent changes to programming. 

We are excited to announce that we have met the required guidelines set forth by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE), and that policies and systems are being implemented to allow for indoor visitation for residents, family members and loved ones.  We are planning to begin indoor visitation on Wednesday, February 17^th, 2021. Covid-19 continues to be active in our city, and the risk to our residents and staff is significant. For this reason, it is important that we clarify, and you understand and comply with guidelines to minimize chances of transmission of this disease during your visit. Please note that the visitation requirements and protocol are set forth by CDPHE, and as a licensed community, we must follow these guidelines in order to keep indoor visitation open. As these restrictions are relaxed, we will of course communicate those relaxed guidelines to you as soon as we understand them.

We are aware that there may have been prior varying interpretations of the allowed visitation.  As a company, Ascent Living Communities, is extremely committed to the health and safety of our residents and our associates and we have been extremely diligent in following the State mandated guidelines at our other communities and have had very good experience with minimal positive Covid-19 residents and associates.  We fully understand that this has been an extremely difficult year and just like you, we hope to get back to a community filled with socialization and family member presence, especially now that our residents are fully vaccinated at Carillon at Belleview Station.  Unfortunately, we are at the mercy of the regulators who make these determinations and advise us on when changes can be made.   

Beginning Wednesday, February 17^th, in order to participate in an indoor visit, and per the current State and County mandated guidelines, you must obtain a negative PCR (Lab) Covid-19 test result and your visit must take place within 48 hours of when the test swab occurred. Therefore, you will need to get tested at a site with a quick turnaround time. For example, if you schedule a visit for a Wednesday morning, you must have a negative test result and the test must have been conducted mid-day the previous Monday or after. PCR (lab) tests are the only approved tests accepted for the required documentation. A rapid test will not suffice for these visits. Attached is a listing of testing centers in the area as well as all On Point Urgent Care locations who offer PCR testing.

Under certain conditions, visitors may qualify for what is referred to as a compassionate visit. This typically includes visits at end of life or other special situations. For a compassionate visit, permission must be granted by our Executive Director. These visits do not require signing up but must be pre-arranged with the Executive Director. Although testing is strongly encouraged for these visits, it is not required.

When you arrive for your visit, please visit the concierge desk where you will be asked to complete the attached questionnaire and you will be given the attached guidelines which must be strictly followed during your time at the community. Any violations of these guidelines may result in the loss of your ability to participate in indoor visitation. As mandated by CDPHE, visits will be limited to 45 minutes and limited to a maximum of two visitors at a time and limited to one visit per week unless there are open and available sign-up slots. Visits will be conducted in your loved one’s suite as outlined in the attached guidelines.

Indoor Visits can be scheduled through via the links below:

Independent Living & Assisted Living Indoor Visits: https://calendly.com/carillonatbelleviewstation/il-al-visitation

Memory Care Indoor & Outdoor Visits:  https://calendly.com/carillonatbelleviewstation/mc-visitation

Please understand that indoor visitation may not be a permanent relaxation of Covid-19 precautions. The State of Colorado continues to monitor infection rates across the state and may further relax or restrict visitation policies in the future. Additionally, we will be required to conduct weekly testing on all associates, as well as residents who leave the community. If a positive resident or associate is identified, indoor and possibly outdoor visitation will be restricted for a required period of time. We will keep you up to date as circumstances change.

As many of you know, on February 2, 2021 the community had its second Covid-19 vaccine clinic. Now that this clinic has been completed, we plan to re-open all dining venues in the near future, maintaining proper social distancing and following all guidelines from the state health department. Additionally, we will resume small group activities, maintaining the same social distancing and health department guidelines.  Further details will be sent out regarding these upcoming changes.

We recognize that this may feel like a change to operating procedures at Carillon at Belleview Station.  We want to assure you that we are and will continue to do everything we can so the residents, families, and our associates remain as safe as possible during this pandemic.  As a licensed residential care community operating under strict mandates by the State of Colorado, and the City and County of Denver, we will do everything we can to ensure that our residents and associates continue to stay well as we march forward toward herd immunity.  And we want to assure you that we will relax this indoor visitation protocol as soon as it is allowed by state and local regulators.

If you have any questions, feel free to call the community directly at (720) 440-8200.

Sincerely,
Tom & Susie Finley – Founder & Principal

Download the – COVID-19 Guideline Information

Download the – Visitation Guideline Information

Dear Village at Belmar Community,

We wanted to provide an update to all of you regarding our community Covid-19 status. We are very pleased to report that we currently do not have any positive residents or associates at the community.  We are also pleased to report that we have completed our first vaccination clinic and are very much looking forward to our second one coming up on February 11^th.  

Based on this information, we are very excited to begin outdoor visitation in our newly acquired visitation domes! Outdoor visitation will resume on Tuesday, January 26^th.  Please use the Sign-Up Genius Links below to sign up for your preferred time slot.  We will continue to do window visits as we have been using the links below.  

Assisted Living Sign-Up Links:

Window Visits: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040b48afaa23a7ff2-assisted

Visitation Domes Outdoor Visits: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040b48afaa23a7ff2-village

Memory Care Sign-Up Links:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040B4AAFA829A6FD0-february

We will continue with testing our associates weekly as well as any residents who leave the community for scheduled appointments.  

Once we have our second vaccination clinic on February 11^th, we will re-evaluate resuming in person dining as well as small group activities.  We are also working through plans to establish indoor visitation guidelines based on the requirements established last September.  We will be sending out additional communication in the coming week outlining these plans.  

We have been in continued close communication with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Jefferson County Health Department and are following their direction and protocols, as well as those of our Medical Consultant, Dr. Gagandeep Singh.  Staff continue use of masks and PPE, and our leadership team is fully engaged in providing ongoing education and follow-up to ensure its proper use.

Please remember that you can always check our Hotline for regular updates and those can be heard at (720) 545-0363.

Thank you for your continued patience as we optimistically  inch ever so close to the end of this pandemic. If you have any further questions, please reach out to Village at Belmar’s Executive Director, Rebecca Norris, at (303) 351-5455.  

Also, please follow up on our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/VillageatBelmar/posts/1802570549911118) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/CKU3wYljLVm/) pages for more updates.  

Sincerely,

Tom & Susie Finley – Founder & Principal

Dear Village at Belmar Community,

We wanted to provide an update to all of you regarding our community Covid-19 status. We have an additional resident in Assisted Living who tested positive on January 10^th.  This resident is the spouse of a prior positive resident and is mildly symptomatic. She is the only resident that is currently positive. All the others are considered recovered.

Results of staff testing from last week identified a positive associate who is currently recovering at home.  All other associate surveillance testing was negative.   

We will continue with our bi-weekly staff testing to ensure that we are immediately aware of any associate who may be positive, but asymptomatic. We will also continue with rapid testing of any resident who is experiencing symptoms and will continue to require testing and/or testing results for allowable essential workers, although the number of these individuals serving residents has been minimal for the past nine months and is only allowed in emergent situations.

All outdoor visitation for the community continues to be on hold and we will conduct window visits for both Assisted Living and Memory Care. The Assisted Living dining room will remain closed and residents are being encouraged to remain in their apartments.

As a reminder, Village at Belmar’s initial Vaccination Clinic will held on January 21^st.  We will communicate the second and third vaccination clinics once those dates are known.  For all residents and associates, we would ask that you plan to attend the Vaccination Clinic on January 21^st if possible.  We will be holding a Zoom meeting this Thursday at 11:00 am with our Medical Consultant, Dr. Singh, to discuss the vaccination and answer any questions you may have about it.  Information about this Zoom call will be communicated in further detail tomorrow.      

We have been in continued close communication with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Jefferson County Health Department and are following their direction and protocols, as well as those of our Medical Consultant, Dr. Gagandeep Singh.  Staff continue use of masks and PPE, and our leadership team is fully engaged in providing ongoing education and follow-up to ensure its proper use.

Please remember that you can always check our Hotline for regular updates and those can be heard at (720) 545-0363.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Village at Belmar’s Executive Director, Rebecca Norris, at (303) 351-5455.

Sincerely,

Tom & Susie Finley – Founder & Principal

Dear Village at Belmar Community,

I’m so excited to announce that our COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic is scheduled! 

Because the vaccine is administered in a 2-dose series, our first clinic is scheduled for January 21, 2021.  The second dose will be administered in a subsequent clinic, three weeks later.  As of today, we do not have a confirmed date for this second clinic. A follow-up letter will be sent to you once we have a confirmed date.

CVS Pharmacy and staff will be the providers for our COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic.  We have been informed that both our residents and staff will receive the Pfizer mRNA vaccine. 

Our clinical team, along with our residents are currently working on the completion of the required consent form and completion of any additional insurance information that will be needed by the CVS pharmacy team.  If any further information is needed during this process, our clinical team will reach out to you.

I want to say thank you for your patience during this time. I know that experiencing the many changes due to COVID-19 has not been easy, and the sense of uncertainty has been difficult. Rest assured that we continue to be very diligent in our screening and infection control protocols, and we will continue with regular testing of staff and residents, following the guidelines from both CDC and the Colorado State Health Department.

Please remember that you can always check our phone Hotline for regular updates by calling (720) 545-0363.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Norris – Executive Director

January 2, 2021 at 5:00 pm

Dear Village at Belmar Community,

We wanted to provide an update to all of you regarding our community Covid-19 status. We have an additional resident in Assisted Living who tested positive on December 31^st, who was identified through test results received on the January 1^st. Of the eight residents previously identified to be Covid-19 positive, two remain hospitalized, two have recovered, and the remaining four continue to be served by bubble staff, brining the total number of residents served by bubble staff to five. 

Results of staff testing from last week have all been negative.  

We will continue with our bi-weekly staff testing to ensure that we are immediately aware of any associate who may be positive, but asymptomatic. We will also continue with rapid testing of any resident who is experiencing symptoms and will continue to require testing and/or testing results for allowable essential workers, although the number of these individuals serving residents has been minimal for the past nine months and is only allowed in emergent situations.

We will continue to provide updates to you throughout the week as changes take place.  

All outdoor visitation for the community continues to be on hold and we will conduct window visits for both Assisted Living and Memory Care. The Assisted Living dining room will remain closed and residents are being encouraged to remain in their apartments.

We have been in continued close communication with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Jefferson County Health Department and are following their direction and protocols, as well as those of our Medical Consultant, Dr. Gagandeep Singh.  Staff continue use of masks and PPE, and our leadership team is fully engaged in providing ongoing education and follow-up to ensure its proper use.

Please remember that you can always check our Hotline for regular updates and those can be heard at (720) 545-0363.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to Village at Belmar’s Executive Director, Rebecca Norris, at (303) 351-5455.

Sincerely,

Tom & Susie Finley – Founder & Principal