Wednesday, marked the easing of restrictions in long-term care homes, bringing back a sense of normalcy to residents of those facilities.
When the COVID-19 pandemic started back on March 13, 2020, it created harder restrictions in long-term care homes, causing residents to have very little to no interaction with their family members or loved ones.
Carla Devlin-Scott and Nicole Vingerhoeds both have family members in long-term care homes and this pandemic has created a real struggle for them and their families.
“The residents were kept in there their units. Their activities were canceled at the beginning. They weren't free to roam the home as they wanted to, we weren't allowed in at all. We were very lucky that my mother had a window so we could visit her through the window while talking to her on the phone.” said Devlin-Scott who’s mother Jean is a resident at Pinecrest Home.
Carla is Jean's caregiver, so she is allowed to visit her mother, but the same can’t be said for the rest of her family
“It's been very difficult on us as the family members, but I think it's been more difficult on our loved ones,” noted Devlin-Scott
Part of the easing of restrictions is allowing fully immunized residents the opportunity to leave the long-term care homes for a day and overnight social outings and trips.
Carla noted that her mom this time of the year loves going to greenhouses and planting flowers so when she can she will take her mom to a greenhouse and let her look around. Also, she is excited even to be able to take her mom out for something as simple as ice cream.
Nicole Vingerhoeds grandmother Isabel Kearney is a resident at Pinecrest Home and is very excited for restrictions to be eased.
“I'm extremely happy and feel very relieved for the residents and the family members. It has been an incredibly challenging year and a half,” said Vingerhoeds
One of the biggest challenges for Vingerhoeds has been the fact that a lot of her family and friends haven’t been able to visit with Isabell including her two sons.
“She's a very important person in our family and there are great-grandchildren she's never gotten to see,” says Vingerhoeds
A very important person in Isabel’s life has been her best friend Margie who hasn’t been able to see her as she was not an essential caregiver. Margie and Isabell grew up living close to each other as kids and through COVID, it's been the longest they went without seeing each other.
Vingerhoeds added that last week Margie and Isabel were able to reunite. They got to spend some time outside together and said they’re like “old school ladies.”
Vingerhoeds is looking forward to having her two boys bring their bikes and scooters and spend some time with their great-grandmother.
Both Carla and Nicole wanted to thank the staff of Pinecrest Home for working so hard to keep their family members safe and protected through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Below is a list of the eased restrictions in long term care homes:
- Residents who have been fully immunized can leave their long-term care homes for day and overnight social outings and trips.
- Residents with mobility limitations or health conditions (essentially, factors unrelated to weather) that make participating in outdoor visits highly unlikely or impossible may have one general visitor at a time inside the long-term care home, in addition to an essential caregiver.
- Regardless of resident and visitor vaccination status, brief hugs can now take place. Where both the resident and visitors are fully immunized, close physical contact, including handholding, can now take place safely. It continues to be important that residents and visitors adhere to public health measures in the home, including good hand hygiene and appropriate masking.