A total of 17 staff members and five residents tested positive for COVID-19 at Vernon's Venture Training over the Christmas period. The organization that runs six group homes for individuals with developmental disabilities in Vernon saw every staff member and resident in one home test positive for COVID-19.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK / Venture Training
January 06, 2021 - 2:00 PM
A total of 17 staff members and five residents tested positive for COVID-19 at Vernon's Venture Training over the Christmas period.
The organization that runs six group homes for individuals with developmental disabilities in Vernon saw every staff member and resident in one home test positive for COVID-19.
The organization, which also goes under the name Vernon and District Association for Community Living, had one resident and one staff member test positive on Christmas Eve, executive director Ryan Cucheron told iNFOnews.ca.
"Then we had to move into our exposure control plan but we really had to ramp it up because almost our entire program staff (were) getting taken out," Cucheron said.
Five casual staff members also tested positive along with two staff that worked in another residential facility. Cucheron said there were no other COVID cases in the five other homes Venture Training runs.
Cucheron praised his staff for stepping up to care for the residents in the infected home.
"Everybody is wearing full gowns, gloves, masks, face shields, at all times in the home," he said. "Fortunately for us, we have a lot of staff that are very dedicated... (and) very caring, it wasn't hard to find people that wanted to step up and work there, a lot of people were worried about the residents of the home and wanted to go in and make sure they were OK."
Cucheron said two residents that were hospitalized were released yesterday.
"Luckily the treatment for the two that went to hospital went well," he said.
Cucheron said it appears everyone else who tested positive is doing well.
Since the first COVID test on Christmas Eve, Venture Training has since tested all 160 staff, and with the exception of the 22 positive cases, all other staff and residents have tested negative.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2021