Residents of Amica at Rideau Manor, a retirement home in central Burnaby, are receiving mail once more after an outbreak of the flu caused a stop in delivery for more than a week.
According to Canada Post, the mail carrier arrived at the residence March 5 to find a notice posted to the door notifying any outside service providers of a contagious outbreak of the flu in the home.
"They were alerted that there was a major flu outbreak and to please not enter unless absolutely necessary, and use alcohol rub to enter," said Anick Losier, a spokesperson for Canada Post.
The next day, Canada Post notified management at Rideau Manor that mail service will resume once the flu outbreak had passed.
"It basically tells them we interrupted mail delivery and where residences can pick up their mail," Losier said.
But management at Rideau Manor denies they ever received the "problem report" and that mail delivery simply stopped.
"Mail was delivered to Amica (at Rideau Manor) from (March 3) until Wednesday, March 12, when delivery stopped," said Brian Dicken, general manager at Rideau Manor.
Dicken said mail delivery didn't resume until March 21, nine days after he said they sent a written confirmation to Canada Post indicating the flu outbreak had ended.
But Canada Post says they never received any written confirmation until March 21. Up until that day, Rideau Manor management had only contacted Canada Post via phone, which isn't enough to reinstate delivery, Losier said.
"On the thirteenth of March we received a phone call from the building suggesting that the building was no longer contagious. So at the time we said we needed this in writing to confirm for our files and for our health and safety committee," she said.
Dicken, however, said that a written confirmation was sent March 15, asking that mail delivery be reinstated March 18. This didn't happen and again management contacted Canada Post, who then, according to Dicken, said service would resume the following day.
It didn't.
Manfred Schmid, a resident at Rideau Manor, said he didn't receive mail from March 4 until March 21. For seniors, depending on pension cheques, this is too long to wait for service.
"At the time it just seemed sort of a ridiculous situation, it was almost one week after everything had cleared and they still weren't delivering," he said. "I wanted my bank statement and bills."
Schmid said he received his mail March 21 but it wasn't all there. He said there may be a backlog and expects it'll take a few more days to catch up.
