As you may expect during a pandemic, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities are being affected quite heavily by COVID-19. The age and vulnerability of those living in care facilities has meant that many families have been left worrying about their loved ones and unable to visit. Of course, you can talk to your family member in a care facility and help them to understand what’s going on, as well as stay in touch remotely using video chat with the support of the nursing home staff.
Given that COVID-19 is highly contagious, it can move through a nursing home at lightning speed. Nursing homes have people moving in and out all of the time, and it’s important to know what to do if your loved one is in a nursing home facility right now.
If Your Loved One Is In A Nursing Home – No Cases
There are some nursing homes with no cases of COVID-19, which is a blessing! The most important thing, in this case, is to keep the nursing home during COVID-19 as safe from the virus as possible. Most nursing homes with no cases of the virus are stopping volunteers and visitors from coming through the doors. The goal is to keep the aged population protected, and keeping the residents safe means limiting patient visitors. This may feel harsh to some, as isolation is a big deal in nursing homes, but isolation for a little while is better than contracting the virus, especially when isolation can be combated with video calls to see each other. The staff members visiting every day for work should be wearing the appropriate clothing and PPE, and there should be social distancing guidelines in place, too. Face Masks should be put onto residents who need to leave their rooms, so ensuring that you impress upon your loved one that this is a must is important.
If Your Loved One Is A Nursing Home – Cases
If the home your loved one is in contracts cases of COVID-19, there should be a special wing or floor for those patients to reduce the spread of it elsewhere. Those residents who develop symptoms should be in isolation and remain in their rooms, distance, and wearing a mask.
It’s so important that you are able to keep your loved one’s spirits up at this time, and you can do it with window stations set up for visitors, video chat and support from the staff to facilitate those video chats, too. Visitors can be escorted to the windows to wave to family members. It’s not the same, but it’s better than the alternative. Call the nursing home and ask for some help if you’re trying to get in touch with someone you care for. You want to know they are safe – it’s human nature.