In an effort to try to keep out the novel coronavirus, some staff lived at the Harbour Landing Village retirement home in Regina for more than 55 days to ensure the safety of over 70 residents.

Officials said when the pandemic started to get serious in early March, they made the decision for some members of the senior leadership team to stay overnight to make sure all front-line caregivers had the support they needed.

“In total we had three people live here for under 60 days overnight and another three that run a fairly regular rotation,” Janson Anderson, Harbour Landing Village president and CEO, said.

He added that the other big reason was to make sure that residents and their families had peace of mind against the risk of exposure to the virus from the care workers’ spouses and partners.

Anderson, who was among the senior leadership officials to stay overnight at the retirement home, said it was an interesting experience requiring a lot of adjustments.

He said it was tough being away from his family.

Despite the hardships of not being able to see his own family, Anderson said the sacrifice was worth it.

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“Just knowing that we could be here to make sure that our residents were safe, our staff felt supported and they were safe and then we all came together like so much as an overall village.”

“Every Wednesday the residents will put together a big parade for all of the staff members that were coming for shift change in the afternoon, they’ll make signs and posters thanking staff members, so everyone got to feel that gratitude coming from our residents,” he said.

Since the story began making the news, Anderson said Harbor Landing Village has been receiving an increase in the number of inquiries about potential move-ins and have made renovations and updated their rooms to accommodate more people.

The retirement home is looking at the end of May or the beginning of June for the staff to be able to go home, but said they will continue to take extra precautions and review their policies to ensure the safety of residents, for as long as the COVID-19 pandemic lasts.

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