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Letter from Executive Director Lui Franciosi - May 2025

May 15, 2025

Dear Residents and Families of Dania,

I want to provide you with an update on past and upcoming events on the Dania campus.

We would like to invite you to the official grand opening of our new seniors affordable housing complex - Dania Gardens – will be on Monday, May 26, 2025, at 11am.  The building contains 155 suites constructed with the support of The City of Burnaby and The Province of British Columbia to help seniors in need of housing.  The event location will be 4277 Norland Avenue, Burnaby, BC, and it will have a host of speeches, food and dance to celebrate this special day for Dania Society.

We are also delighted to tell you that the Danish Ambassador to Canada Nikolaj Harris and Danish Honorary Consul Mikkel Høegholm Strøjer will be in attendance.  We will also have Burnaby Mayor Hurly and four councilors coming.  Due to the BC Legislature being in session that day, BC Minister of Housing Ravi Kalhon has sent his regrets, but he will provide a video message of congratulations that will be played to all participants at the ceremony.  MLA Raj Chouhan, Anne Kang, Janet Routledge, Rohini Arora and Paul Choi have extended their congratulations, and they will be displaying a joint congratulatory certificate on the day.  If you are interested in attending, please RSVP me via email or phone by Thursday, May 22, 2025.

Again, we observed minimal cases of residents and staff with respiratory related illnesses.  Families and staff have been superb in containing the spread as much as possible through enhanced infection control and prevention methods like mask wearing in all resident areas, especially at Dania Home. 

On April 30, 2025, the BC Ministry of Health ceased funding the Ambassador/COVID Screener role at all assisted living and residential care sites.  We now have one less person at reception of Dania Home and no one at Dania Manor. Dania does not have additional funds to support this role, and no future Ministry funding is anticipated.  Therefore, at Dania Home, a Resident Service Representative will be present during normal business hours, but visitors will need to ring the intercom for a nurse to open the door after hours. We encourage families to obtain the door code from their loved one’s neighborhood nurse. For Dania Manor, visitors are asked to ring the intercom for a nurse to open the front door.  We have fallen back to our pre-pandemic methods of entry, and we do appreciate your patience with this transition.

Lastly, Family Council Chair Craig McCulloch and I would like to welcome all current and new family members to our monthly meetings where we discuss important topics that concern BC’s healthcare system and the impact it has on our residents, families and staff.  Our next meeting is Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 6:30pm.  For those that are unable to attend in-person, we also have a virtual method available.  Here are the ZOOM meeting details:

 

Topic: Dania's Family Council Zoom Meeting Invitation

Time: May 20, 2025, 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85405822591?pwd=ECVqvrqpKe4C3N6fXh0q8OqfuwWyyv.1

Meeting ID: 854 0582 2591    Passcode: 783039

If you have any further questions, please contact me anytime. I am always available to you by phone or email.  Thank you and stay safe.

Sincerely,

Lui Franciosi

Executive Director

604-292-8132

luif@dania.bc.ca

About the author

Lui Franciosi

Executive Director

604-292-8132
luif@dania.bc.ca