Long-term care providers sensing extra strain from family members due to COVID-19 policies should not feel singled out. Many providers across the country are being put under immense pressure by resident families to loosen their COVID-19 restrictions — even when there are cases within the facility.
Frustration among families has begun to set in over the last month following reports that visits still remain limited due to ongoing struggles with outbreaks among some facilities, according to an Associated Press report.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in March loosened indoor visitation policies for nursing homes in light of widespread coronavirus vaccine access.
But some facilities that still have COVID-positive patients are being criticized by family members that visitation restrictions go too far.
“We’ve done our darndest to advocate for folks to get those visitation rights,” Kim Shetler, a data specialist in Pennsylvania’s long-term care ombudsman office, told the news organization. “It’s their home. They should have that right to come and go and have the visitors that they choose.”
Providers noted in the report explained that they’re trying to work their way through respective state and federal allowances for visitation, while also doing what’s best for their patients and workers inside and still offer more visits for residents and their families.
“We’ve never had a real long, lengthy period of time where we’re able to have visitors,” Jason Santiago, chief operating officer at The Manor at Seneca Hill in Oswego, NY, said in explaining ongoing restrictions. “We’ve got to do things that make more sense for these residents, make more sense for these families.”
