'Protected them to death': COVID-19 restrictions at nursing homes under fire
Related video above: NH hopes to encourage hospitals, nursing homes to make mental health beds available
Barbara and Christine Colucci long to remove their masks and kiss their 102-year-old mother, who has dementia and is in a nursing home in Rochester, New York. They would love to have more than two people in her room at a time so that relatives can be there too.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We don바카라 게임 웹사이트t know how much longer she바카라 게임 웹사이트s going to be alive,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Christine Colucci said, 바카라 게임 웹사이트so it바카라 게임 웹사이트s like, please, give us this last chance with her in her final months on this earth to have that interaction.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Pandemic restrictions are falling away almost everywhere 바카라 게임 웹사이트 except inside many of America바카라 게임 웹사이트s nursing homes. Rules designed to protect the nation바카라 게임 웹사이트s most vulnerable from COVID-19 are still being enforced even though 75% of nursing home residents are now vaccinated and infections and deaths have plummeted.
Frustration has set in as families around the country visit their moms and, this Father바카라 게임 웹사이트s Day weekend, their dads. Hugs and kisses are still discouraged or banned in some nursing homes. Residents are dining in relative isolation and playing bingo and doing crafts at a distance. Visits are limited and must be kept short, and are cut off entirely if someone tests positive for the coronavirus.
Family members and advocates question the need for such restrictions at this stage of the pandemic, when the risk is comparatively low. They say the measures are now just prolonging older people바카라 게임 웹사이트s isolation and accelerating their mental and physical decline.
바카라 게임 웹사이트They have protected them to death,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Denise Gracely, whose 80-year-old mother, Marian Rauenzahn, lives in a nursing home in Topton, Pennsylvania.
Rauenzahn had COVID-19 and then lost part of a leg to gangrene, but Gracely said what she struggled with the most was enforced solitude, going from six-day-a-week visits to none at all.
Rauenzahn바카라 게임 웹사이트s daughters eventually won the right to see her once a week, and the nursing home now says it plans to relax the rules on visits for all residents in late June. But it has not been not enough, as far as Gracely is concerned.
바카라 게임 웹사이트I believe it바카라 게임 웹사이트s progressed her dementia,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Gracely said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트She바카라 게임 웹사이트s very lonely. She wants out of there so bad.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Pennsylvania바카라 게임 웹사이트s long-term care ombudsman has received hundreds of complaints about visiting rules this year. Kim Shetler, a data specialist in the ombudsman's office, said some nursing homes바카라 게임 웹사이트 COVID-19 restrictions go beyond what state and federal guidelines require. Administrators have been doing what they feel is necessary to keep people safe, she said, but families are understandably upset.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We바카라 게임 웹사이트ve done our darndest to advocate for folks to get those visitation rights,바카라 게임 웹사이트 she said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트It바카라 게임 웹사이트s their home. They should have that right to come and go and have the visitors that they choose.바카라 게임 웹사이트
A recent survey by National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, an advocacy group, found time limits on visits remain commonplace, ranging from 15 minutes to two hours. Some facilities limit visiting hours to weekdays, making it difficult for people who work during the day, or restrict visits to once or twice a week.
Rauenzahn바카라 게임 웹사이트s Pennsylvania nursing home has been limiting most residents to a single, 30-minute visit every two weeks.
Federal authorities should 바카라 게임 웹사이트restore full visitation rights to nursing home residents without delay,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Consumer Voice and several other advocacy groups said in a June 11 letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Residents are 바카라 게임 웹사이트continuing to suffer from isolation and decline because of the limited visitation permitted in the current guidance,바카라 게임 웹사이트 the letter said.
Advocates also take issue with federal guidance on how nursing homes deal with new COVID-19 cases. The guidance says most visits should be suspended for at least 14 days. Some family members, administrators and advocates complain that the recommendation has led to frequent lockdowns because of one or two cases.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We바카라 게임 웹사이트ve never had a real long, lengthy period of time where we바카라 게임 웹사이트re able to have visitors,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Jason Santiago, chief operating officer at The Manor at Seneca Hill in Oswego, New York. He said continued isolation is inflicting a heavy toll. 바카라 게임 웹사이트We바카라 게임 웹사이트ve got to do things that make more sense for these residents, make more sense for these families.바카라 게임 웹사이트
While the federal government recently eased restrictions for vaccinated nursing home residents, New York state has not gone along. Those who eat together in communal spaces must remain socially distanced, for example, and they have to be masked and 6 feet apart during activities, no matter their vaccination status.
That makes crafts, bingo, music 바카라 게임 웹사이트 바카라 게임 웹사이트a lot of what nursing home life is about바카라 게임 웹사이트 바카라 게임 웹사이트 more difficult, said Elizabeth Weingast, vice president for clinical excellence at The New Jewish Home, which runs elder-care facilities in and around New York City.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We prioritized vaccinating nursing home residents and that바카라 게임 웹사이트s wonderful, but they바카라 게임 웹사이트re not getting the same liberties that you or I have now,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Weingast, who recently published an calling for a loosening of restrictions.
Her co-author, Karen Lipson of LeadingAge New York, which represents nonprofit nursing homes, said the rules 바카라 게임 웹사이트force this kind of policing of love that is really, really challenging.바카라 게임 웹사이트
With the virus infecting more than 650,000 long-term-care residents and killing more than 130,000 across the U.S., nursing homes had a duty to take precautions when COVID-19 was out of control, said Nancy Kass, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins University. But she said she is baffled by the continued heavy emphasis on safety at the expense of residents바카라 게임 웹사이트 quality of life, given 바카라 게임 웹사이트we바카라 게임 웹사이트re not in that state of affairs anymore.바카라 게임 웹사이트
In Ohio, Bob Greve was desperate for a change of scenery after being cooped up in his Cincinnati-area nursing home for most of the last year. But the administrator wouldn바카라 게임 웹사이트t permit a visit to his son바카라 게임 웹사이트s house because of COVID-19 concerns 바카라 게임 웹사이트 even though both men are fully vaccinated.
The policy led Greve to a 바카라 게임 웹사이트breaking point,바카라 게임 웹사이트 according to his son, Mike Greve, who said his 89-year-old father called six, eight, even 10 times a day out of boredom and frustration and talked constantly about getting out.
Mike Greve said he pressed the nursing home administrator for outside forays, only to be told: 바카라 게임 웹사이트If I let you take your father out, I have to let everybody else.바카라 게임 웹사이트 Greve said the administrator was worried about residents bringing COVID-19 back with them.
The administrator did not return phone and email messages from The Associated Press. A day after AP sought comment, Greve said, the administrator called him into the office, offered to allow his father out for a visit and said the policy would be changed for everyone else, too.
Father and son spent a glorious afternoon soaking in the sunshine at Greve바카라 게임 웹사이트s house, where his dad spotted a deer.
바카라 게임 웹사이트He said, 바카라 게임 웹사이트Hallelujah바카라 게임 웹사이트 I don바카라 게임 웹사이트t know how many times,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Greve said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트He said, 바카라 게임 웹사이트I don바카라 게임 웹사이트t know how you got me out, but I바카라 게임 웹사이트m so happy I could cry.바카라 게임 웹사이트바카라 게임 웹사이트
