Reopening of long-term care facilities is ‘an absolute necessity for our well-being’
For nearly a year, nursing homes and assisted living centers have been mostly closed to visitors. Now, it s time for them to open back up and relieve residents of crushing isolation, according to a growing chorus of long-term care experts, caregivers, consumer groups and physicians.
They re calling for federal health authorities to relax visitation restrictions in long-term care institutions, replacing guidance that s been in place since September. And they want both federal and state authorities to grant special status to essential caregivers family members or friends who provide critically important hands-on care so they have the opportunity to tend to relatives in need.
Reopening Long-Term Care Facilities âan Absolute Necessity
By Judith Graham
Thursday, March 04, 2021 (Kaiser News) For nearly a year, nursing homes and assisted living centers have been mostly closed to visitors. Now, itâs time for them to open back up and relieve residents of crushing isolation, according to a growing chorus of long-term care experts, caregivers, consumer groups and physicians. This story also ran on CNN. It can be republished for free.
Theyâre calling for federal health authorities to relax visitation restrictions in long-term care institutions, replacing guidance thatâs been in place since September. And they want both federal and state authorities to grant special status to âessential caregiversâ â family members or friends who provide critically important hands-on care â so they have the opportunity to tend to relatives in need.
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Melissa Traub hasn’t hugged her 92-year-old mom since March. Like countless others locked out of a family member’s nursing home because of COVID-19, she has spent nearly a year listening helplessly on the phone as her aging mom struggles to comprehend her isolation.
“I have to hear her crying when she’s having an anxiety attack, asking, ‘Why can’t I just come live with you?’” Traub said. “She’s incontinent. She’s in a diaper. I would have to move to a bigger place and hire live-in help.”
But Traub’s mom is now fully vaccinated, as are most of the residents in her Reseda nursing home. Traub has had her first injection, and her second is scheduled in the coming days. So why can’t she go give her mom a hug?