Positive Test for COVID-19 at Bennett Centre Long Term Care

Georgetown, January 5th, 2021 - COVID-19 has been detected in a staff member at the Bennett Centre Long Term Care which is a part of Bennett Village. Halton Region Public Health confirmed the test result from a swab collected December 28th, 2020 and declared an outbreak. The affected staff member is recovering at home. At present, there are no positive residents. We are working closely with Halton Region Public Health to monitor the situation. According to Public Health Ontario, any long-term care home with one positive case (resident or staff) is deemed as an outbreak. We continue to follow Public Health directives, including screening twice a day of residents and staff. The Bennett Centre has a diligent and thorough infection control mandate in place. This result happened despite a proactive response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the seriousness and ease of transmission of the virus. Hand hygiene and social distancing remain the best way to stop the spread of infection. The cooperation of our Bennett family and our community in adhering to government social distancing directives is critical for keeping our residents safe within our long-term care homes. All Bennett Centre Long Term Care programs are operating with enhanced protections for our residents including cancelling outings, cancelling group activities, paid quarantine for staff suspected of COVID-19 exposure and enhanced cleaning of common areas and high touch surfaces. “Since March 2020, the Bennett Centre Long-Term Care has had three positive cases total. At present, we have one staff tested positive. No residents at the Home have tested positive at this time. I want to commend all the Bennett staff for their outstanding job in keeping our residents safe. Safety is our number one priority at the Bennett Centre Long-Term Care” stated Brian Clark, Chair of Bennett Village Board of Directors. “Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Bennett Village Leadership Team have taken proactive measures to ensure our residents, families and staff are safe and informed. This included ensuring the home has adequate PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), daily Staff COVID-19 briefings, weekly COVID-19 updates to families and family teleconferences, ongoing training of PPE, and daily hand hygiene audits. We are confident that the Bennett Centre Long-Term Care will be COVID-19 free shortly” said, Soo Wong, Executive Director of Bennett Village.