Sherbrooke Community Centre hit with seven COVID cases, Elmwood Residences retesting

It has been quite the few weeks at Saskatoon’s Sherbrooke Community Centre.

The facility has gone from the start of vaccinations within its walls last week to Thursday, when multiple COVID-19 cases have been identified.

Eric Anderson, the centre’s communications leader, said he is unable to say due to patient privacy whether those who have fallen ill received their COVID vaccinations. Anderson did give the rundown on Sherbrooke’s current situation.

“We found out this morning that we have seven residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 in our Kinsmen Village,” he said. “All of our residents within the Kinsmen Village are being tested for COVID-19 (today), as well as all of our staff (who) work in the Kinsmen Village.”

Anderson said the seven individuals are a part of two specific houses of the Kinsmen Village. At Sherbrooke, there is a “traditional” style of care on one end of the facility, with the “village model” having two separate groupings, Veterans and Kinsmen.

Within the villages, nine to 10 residents occupy each a “house,” according to Anderson.

The model has worked in other instances, he said, adding it gives them flexibility to work fast to isolate positive individuals.

“We’re able to isolate the residents within their house. Since Tuesday, we’ve had our residents isolated within their respective rooms. We’re able to isolate each house from one another as well. We’re very fortunate to have that village model set up,” Anderson said.

Sherbrooke was recently put into a “suspect outbreak” in late December, with a positive outcome for the long-term care home.

“We had a resident that tested positive on Dec. 26 and so what we did then was we immediately isolated all the residents within that specific house in our Kinsmen Village. We did that for two weeks,” Anderson explained. “We were able to contain it just to that one resident.”

Anderson praised the staff at the facility, saying they have been put through tons of training to deal with COVID-19.

“We’ve been hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst … Now is the time all of that hard work goes in to action,” he said.

“We feel confident that we know what to do in terms of infection control and taking all the steps to keep our residents and our staff safe. Now we just have to do it.”

Anderson said he’d have more of an idea of how its staffing levels will fare following test results from Thursday. He added Sherbrooke is working closely with both the Saskatchewan Health Authority and Public Health officials to determine its next steps of action.

Saskatoon Group Home sees symptomatic residents following outbreak

Sherbrooke Community Centre isn’t the only home in Saskatoon linked to a COVID outbreak.

Elmwood Residences’ Kinsmen Manor had four team members test positive from Jan. 10 to 12. All of its residents have tested negative, but it’s preparing for another round of testing Thursday.

In a Wednesday Facebook post, Elmwood said the majority of impacted residents are experiencing “only mild symptoms,” yet added that two residents are now experiencing “significant” symptoms.

It said another update would be available at some point Thursday.

Elmwood Residences has been operating since 1969 in Saskatoon. According to its website, it supports 120 individuals as of 2020, including 32 residents at Kinsmen Manor.