One of our core values at The Refinery House is ‘people first.’ That sentiment extends beyond our staff and clients to include our broader community in the Fraser Valley. Almost exactly one year ago (May 25th, 2020), we cautiously re-opened our doors after being closed for two months with entirely new and worksafe approved protocols which included amped up sanitization and safety practices.
We are a year into adapting to, and operating in, this pandemic. We’ve never been more keenly aware of our impact on each other, our need for interdependent teamwork, and our reliance on honest and direct communication. We are proud of how our staff and clients have risen to the challenge in this difficult year, upholding a standard of care that allows us the kind of shock we are experiencing today.
Over the last year, more than 15,000 services have successfully been provided at the Refinery House without any known workplace transmission until this week. We were devastated to discover that on Friday and Saturday of last week we had undiagnosed, symptomless cases in the salons resulting in transmission. We are proud to say that once positive test results were received, we took immediate action in voluntarily closing down our spaces to wait for instruction from Fraser Health. We are pleased to note that we have been assured that the protocols in our spaces were top notch and our staff were deemed to have been using the utmost care. We are also incredibly thankful for our clients’ heartfelt reactions and have so much gratitude for their continued trust in our staff and spaces. Fraser Health has directed contact tracing for anyone who may have been impacted and have been nothing but kind and supportive in their assistance to help us assure everyone’s safety. We’ll be re-opening on May 17th and expect to rebook any impacted appointments shortly if you haven’t already been contacted to do so.
This has obviously been a very difficult week at the tail end of a challenging year. This virus is sneaky and precarious and sometimes gets through our best efforts. We are facing this as a strong team, happy to put the safety of our community at the forefront of this story. Prior to re-opening we’ll be reassessing all our protocols with the help of Fraser Health and Worksafe and look forward to having you visit us in the safest most welcoming way we know how. We’re sincerely so proud to be part of this strong community.
Thanks for your trust and support,
Aly + Heidi + Refinery House Team