COLD LAKE – A positive COVID-19 case has been confirmed at the Cold Lake Lodge.
In a Nov. 19 statement, Lakeland Lodge and Housing Foundation CAO Connie Surgeson confirmed they learned of the positive result on Nov. 17 and the person is isolating.
“The individual last had contact within the lodge on Nov. 15 and physical distancing, proper use of PPE, and proper hand hygiene were consistently maintained,” Surgeson stressed in the release.
According to Lakeland Lodge and Housing Foundation board chair Chris Vining, it was an employee who received the positive test result.
“It was a staff member who had a shift while she may have been contagious, but at the same time, she was following all of our PPE protocols while she was at the lodge” he told LakelandToday. “She was wearing appropriate PPE when she was around residents and I think one of the good things is we were ready for a case like this. Staff enacted the plan as quickly as they could, got Alberta Health Services (AHS) involved, and the appropriate staff members who were in direct contact are isolating and all residents and staff have been tested.”
Vining noted they only have one active case linked to the facility at the moment.
“We’re optimistic that we caught this before we had any spread to residents - as of right now we are anyways. We’re still obviously a little early into this, but all of our indicators and signs are very good and we have no residents showing signs of symptoms and they’ve all been tested as well.”
Extra precautionary measures were taken by Public Health and they were on site on Nov. 18 to administer rapid testing on the residents and staff. Employees not working during the testing time were directed to book an appointment with Alberta Health Services for testing.
“Lakeland Lodge and Housing Foundation and the Cold Lake Lodge are deeply concerned about all of our residents and staff and are working hard to prevent further spreading of the virus by isolating symptomatic or confirmed cases, through increased sanitization, limiting access to essential personnel, screening of all persons accessing the facility, and working closely with AHS, Public Health, and the Communicable Disease Control to ensure residents, staff, and designated family and support persons are aware of the situation,” Surgeson expressed.
Sugeson stressed the importance of looking after those who call the lodge home and who work there.
“The health and safety of our residents and staff remains our top priority and we’re confident in the measure we have in place.”
The Cold Lake Lodge is considered an outbreak, Vining stated.
“If there’s a case when someone was working they were considered contagious, then we’re considered in an outbreak and we just move to that next level of safety and precautions for staff that residents.”
That next level includes strict PPE use and hand washing, closely monitoring residents for any signs or symptoms, limiting visitation to designated individuals, and residents being allowed to leave for for designated purposes for essential reasons.
“The lodge isn’t in a completely lock down at all, it’s just a little bit more rigorous,” Vining said.
Robynne Henry, Bonnyville Nouvelle
