Freedom Lifestyle Villages COVID-19 update – 14 May 2020
It is wonderful to be able to acknowledge the move from Level 3 to Level 2 on Thursday 14 May 2020. From the relative security of household bubbles and home deliveries under ‘Threedom’ the move to Level 2 will bring more flexibility and more of a return to business as usual as well as the ability to catch up with friends and family we have not seen for some weeks. However, it is still about playing it safe, and the health, safety and wellbeing of our residents and staff remains our primary focus.
WHAT DOES LEVEL 2 LOOK LIKE IN OUR LIFESTYLE VILLAGES?
Play it safe. As the government has outlined, life at Alert Level 2 means we can resume many of our everyday activities – but we must do it safely. Our objective is to make available many of the village facilities that we had in place previously whilst still supporting physical distancing and hygiene etiquette.
This means that those villages with gates will see them open and village centres will be open for use by residents. However, we acknowledge that COVID loves crowds and Freedom Lifestyle Villages will continue to implement best-practice measures that support Government recommendations as well as those we believe will help minimise any spikes in COVID-19.
These include:
- Access to gyms and libraries is available again with the provision of only 2 at a time.
- Gatherings can happen – happy hours, group activities, morning teas etc can resume – as long as they are limited to 10 people, there is a 1 metre physical distance between people and people are seated and served.
- Contact tracing is crucial. Any gathering (whether inside or outside) will record attendees to ensure contact tracing can be conducted if necessary.
- All visitors staying overnight with, or intending to stay with, residents to will still need to complete a declaration form confirming their travel history, contact with COVID-19 and anyone in self-isolation.
- Ongoing promotion of physical distancing and good hand hygiene will remain with sanitisation stations available in high touch areas such as mail rooms.
WHAT WILL CHANGE?
Villages with gates will now be open during the day. All contact tracing requirements for visitors to resident homes will now sit with our residents. All contractors / maintenance teams working in the village will continue to register at the village office.
With the freedom to travel regionally, Freedom Lifestyle Villages once again welcomes prospective residents to come into the village and look at the wonderful opportunities that a lifestyle village offers. Contact tracing will still be in place and the Village Manager will communicate the physical distancing and hygiene requirements for anyone moving into the village.
Residents will be relishing the opportunity to leave the village and resume contact with family and friends they have not seen for some time, and we can celebrate shopping, walking and travelling within New Zealand with the additional precautions encouraged when leaving home. As a result, it is anticipated that any online supermarket shopping will now be delivered directly to our residents’ homes, and any click and collect options will be managed directly by our residents. However, village managers will be available to support any resident who still needs assistance.
The village van is also now available to resident drivers to support visits to shops and other local community destinations. Sensible seating and good hand hygiene will be essential as will contact tracing.
WHAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO DELIVER
Our Village Management team will continue to provide support for online supermarket shopping, prescription deliveries and medical appointments for any resident who requires assistance during Alert Level 2. Supporting residents to prevent any occurrence of COVID-19 in our villages remains a priority.
Our weekly Freedom newsletter will continue to connect all our village residents together until June when we hope to see an increase in social activities and the return of individual village newsletters. We have loved the positive feedback from our residents on how it has made them feel connected with the wider Freedom family and have enjoyed seeing the artwork, poems and generosity of spirit in our village communities as residents reach out to support each other.
Freedom Lifestyle Villages would like to thank once again all our residents, staff, contractors and suppliers for the efforts they are taking to ensure the wellbeing of everyone in the village. Do play it safe, stay strong and keep being kind.
Ngā mihi.
