Seventy-five-year-old Betty Lindsay remains in a special rehabilitation unit at Pioneer Village, a long-term care home in Regina, while undergoing intensive chemotherapy for stage 3 ovarian cancer.
Her daughter, Heidi Lindsay, said Betty was looking forward to the Mother’s Day family reuniting this weekend with her four children, including a daughter who lives in Winnipeg. Subsequently, several cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Betty’s ward on 1 May and general visits were suspended.
Heidi said she asked the ward manager if they could arrange a family visit to the yard with physical distancing and masks, and she was told, “No, your mother can’t even go out alone.”
Heidi is angry that her mother, who does not have COVID-19, will not be allowed to visit her family outdoors at the same time as Saskatchewan residents who are actually infected with COVID-19 have a legal right to leave their homes. . The province lifted its mandatory isolation rules in late February.
“My mother, from the moment she found out, cried non-stop. Very emotional, very sad. That was something she was really looking forward to, “Heidi said.
But health care worker Dr. Johnmark Opondo, speaking on behalf of the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said the policy not only allows these visits, but encourages them.
About 75 nursing homes and hospitals in Saskatchewan have outbreaks – with two or more COVID-19 cases – as of May 5, according to the SHA website.
The most restrictive red level level for family presence guidelines still allows a specific family member or support person to enter the facility at any time of the day to help with the physical or emotional care of the resident, but anyone else is considered a visitor and is not essential. During epidemics, visitors are not allowed except to see patients dying.
The guidelines state that outdoor visits are determined after consultation with local medical staff.
Betty Lindsay loves lilacs. Her family surprised her with a party for her 75th birthday in the backyard in 2021 (Submitted by Heidi Lindsay)
Opondo told CBC News that Mother’s Day visits are important and that he is urging care facility managers to accept family visits this weekend for residents who are not sick or positive for COVID-19, even if their ward is declared hearth area.
“The recommendation is, ‘If I want to take my mom out for lunch or Mother’s Day lunch, there’s no reason I can’t do it unless she’s actively ill,'” Opondo said.
Residents who are considered close contacts but have no symptoms can leave the family visit facility – and take a COVID-19 test on their return – or gather in the open, he said. Only residents who are positive or ill with COVID-19 should be isolated, he added.
However, the doctor stressed that red level restrictions, which prohibit unrestricted public access to outbreak areas, are needed at the beginning of each outbreak to protect medically fragile residents.
Changes in visits
The Lindsay family is particularly sensitive to the loss of access to their loved one after a painful experience at the beginning of the pandemic.
Heidi’s father, Jim, lived at the Wascana Rehabilitation Center in Regina. His grown children took turns visiting him every day and helping him with physical care. This ended abruptly in early April 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions banned all visitors to care facilities. Jim died four days later.
Betty and Jim Lindsay with their grandchildren. Jim died at the Wascana Rehabilitation Center in April 2020, days after restrictions on COVID-19 visitors barred his family from seeing and supporting him. (Submitted by Heidi Lindsay)
After his death, Heidi was recruited to be part of a family working group to expand the SHA’s criteria for compassionate visits – a change that will allow a family support person to provide physical and emotional care to residents, not just the end. life visits.
Last weekend, May 1, Heidi arrived at her mother’s restaurant and saw “a hand-scratched note with a marker and a piece of paper hanging on the door, saying it was closed and no visitors allowed,” she said.
Heidi said a nurse asked her to leave and she informed the nurse that – as the main support person – she had “every right” to be there. She said she asked the manager to arrange an outdoor visit for other family members and was told it could not happen.
“I am so incredibly disappointed with this ongoing knee reaction to the COVID outbreak,” Lindsay said. “Every member of our family has been vaccinated, strengthened and also received Omicron at the beginning of the year.
Heidi said her mother liked the Pioneer Village care staff and “didn’t want to make waves.”
‘Time is precious’
Dr Opondo said visitor bans were short-lived and needed to “reduce traffic” as staff tried to implement epidemic precautions and tighten infection control.
“At the beginning of any outbreak, it’s like moving to assess, understand and define the outbreak, and then start implementing interventions. And once we see that things are stable and improving, we quickly relax, “Opondo said.
The healthcare professional does not agree with the term blocking in these cases. He said the SHA limits the scope of the outbreak area to small units, not entire facilities.
“I’m looking for the smallest possible footprint because I don’t want to influence people unnecessarily. he said
Heidi Lindsay was on a family task force at the start of the pandemic to help the Saskatchewan health authority expand its family presence guidelines for long-term care homes. She was disappointed that her mother’s nursing home did not seem to be pursuing the policy. (Kirk Fraser / CBC)
Provincial Health Minister Paul Merriman said he expects the facilities to be “possibly open” with temporary restrictions that are short-lived.
Opondo did not address the Lindsay family’s complaint, but said he generally expected the SHA facilities to find a safe way to connect patients and families.
Heidi hopes the doctor’s message will reach front-line workers.
“Time is precious,” Opondo said. “And I don’t want people to waste time. We have already sacrificed enough. So the SHA’s policy is very clear, we want to support a high-quality, safe family presence when we can. “
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