Family members of those living in long-term care facilities demand new visitation policy post-vaccination rollout
MILLTOWN – Former Mayor Gloria Bradford spent 13 years as the voice of the borough.
“She was the first woman mayor, very independent and strong,” her daughter Diane Salkeld said as she described her mother.
Now Salkeld is the voice for her mother, who is suffering from dementia and lives in an assisted long-term care (LTC) facility. Bradford has spent the year – like so many in LTC facilities – battling isolation and separation from family and friends due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Salkeld, along with Family Advocate Care Experience (FACE NJ) for Seniors, a group of 1,000-plus family members of residents in LTC communities in New Jersey, is raising awareness of the life-threatening effects of isolation and demanding a new visitation policy by the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH) to allow safe, in-room caregiving visits by family members immediat