Riverside Health Care said they are pleased to announce the resumption of long-term care services at Emo Health Centre. Emo long-term care residents along with their staff had been temporarily relocated to the Rainycrest long-term care following an air-conditioning system failure at the facility.
The moving of residents, their supplies and clothes took place on Monday and Tuesday.
“The new unit is a deluxe air-cooled condensing unit – dual refrigeration circuit 30 tons cooling,” said Kathryn Pierroz, communications coordinator at Riverside Health Care. “It was manufactured and built for our facility specifically. The Compressors are outside of the building and consist of two 15 tonne units that are very energy efficient. The two unit system allows for a backup should any issue arise.
The unit also required the purchase of a coil, which connects to the AirHandling Unit. That piece was purchased through a donation from the Emo Hospital Auxiliary, said Pierroz. The Riverside Foundation for Healthcare was also a crucial financial partner in the installation, she added.
A code green (means there is a situation requiring a partial or complete evacuation when an area or facility is, or may become unsafe) was issued after a code grey had been in effect since Tuesday, June 16, 2020. Code grey means the facility is experiencing loss of utilities, such as power, telecommunications, sewage, potable water, or closure of fresh air intakes, resulting in the potential loss of use of an area.
“Residents of the long-term care facility in Emo were temporarily relocated into a vacant unit at Rainycrest, which had been emptied as part of the COVID-19 pandemic planning,” said Pierroz. “Residents and staff were segregated from Rainycrest.”
The entrance and exit along with resident allocation of care staff was completely separate from those of Rainycrest, Pierroz added.
Family visits were not effected as the Emo Long-Term Care was operating on its own, just within the Rainycrest facility, completely segregated with separate entrances,exits and outdoor areas.
“Visits ran the same as they would in any long-term care facility and were coordinated no differently then before the move, minus we took a few days to situate ourselves in the space,” Pierroz said.
Riverside’s president and CEO, Henry Gauthier, said the leadership and teamwork demonstrated by their staff, management, the Riverside Foundation for Health Care and the Emo Auxiliary is greatly appreciated and was instrumental to the successes of this project.
“Our focus is to continue to provide excellent quality care in a safe and healthy environment, with the well-being of our residents a continued focus and priority,” Gauthier said.
Pierroz said Emo residents are in great spirits and many have expressed enjoying the “change of scenery”.
“They have been taking full advantage of the beautiful courtyard we have off that unit at Rainycrest and the green space as we have been having a beautiful summer,” Pierroz said. “They have expressed enjoying watching the trains go by and the many deer out the large windows which overlooks the grounds, including all the fawns.”
The Fort Frances Times was not given permission to use names of residents who gave the quotes below.
“I will miss the large windows to watch the baby fawn and deer and the trains, but I am happy to go back closer to home,” a resident of the Emo Long-Term Care Facility said.
“It has been a small holiday. Everyone had a good time and watched lots of trains roll by. Will be nice to get home,” another resident said.
Besides the completion of the air-conditioning system, there are other projects currently being implemented such as kitchen upgrades, buffing of floors in resident rooms and the painting of the Emo Health Centre cafeteria, which also serves the residents of Golden Age Manner.
