Long-term care homes get creative about visits
For Paul Leroux, the hardest thing right now is not being able to hold his husband’s hand.
Leroux is a resident at Extendicare Medex on Baseline Road. And like thousands of long-term care residents across the province, he’s had no face-to-face visits since March 14, when the province advised that long-term care homes should no longer have visitors in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID -19.
Leroux, a translator, has lots of ways to connect with the world outside. He emails his family in Montreal and uses Facebook to keep in touch with friends in the U.S. and Italy, an opportunity to use his fluent Italian.
He also calls his husband, Alex Wisniowski, every day at 11:30 a.m. and they email each other often during the day. Sometimes, Wisniowski drops off a bag of newspapers, and they wave at each other from a safe distance. But Leroux still misses Wisniowski’s physical presence.
“I miss holding his hand while we chat or watch TV. In my dreams, we always seem to be apart, and I spend my time trying to find him,” Leroux said.
“You can’t overstate the importance of physical connection,” said
Samantha Peck, the executive director of Family Councils Ontario.
It could take months of physical distancing before the outbreak is over. And this has been the hardest part for families and residents in long-term care, Peck said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
But necessity has been the mother of invention. Powered by social media, good ideas for connecting are everywhere.
At The Grove Nursing Home in Arnprior, staff started a program of “window visits” after a staff member saw a woman standing outside her mother’s window while the two chatted by phone. Staff now co-ordinate window visits for anyone who wants one.
It’s hard to say if the idea originated in Arnprior, but window visits have spread like wildfire. All rooms at The Grove are on the ground floor, but in some multi-storey care homes, a ground-floor room with a window is the designated window-visit room, while observing transmission-prevention protocol, Peck said. Some have a designated staff member to co-ordinate and manage the visits.
AdvantAge Ontario, which connects not-for-profit long-term care homes across the province, has also shared some ideas.
One care home is leaving out sidewalk chalk so family members can leave messages or draw pictures outside. Another has allowed messages on sheets to be wrapped around trees. One resident’s family in Waterloo held a drumming ceremony beside a window.
Of course, there are high-tech video alternatives such as Skype, FaceTime and Zoom. In Toronto, a resident is reading books to children via Skype.
At Bonnechere Manor in Renfrew, the staff put together an upbeat slide show of residents holding up signs with messages for family members set to the tune of Sugar Sugar by The Archies, and posted it on Facebook.
“We wanted to send a message: Don’t worry about us,” said Shelley Sheedy, the director of long-term care for the County of Renfrew. “Each resident was asked what message they want to send. ‘I’m still playing cards,’ was one. ‘I have all the books I need,’ was another. It was fun to do.”
Other efforts have gone old school. “Some people are bringing back the trusty old paper and pen,” Peck said. “They’re asking kids to draw pictures for the residents, or organizing neighbours to be pen pals.”
Meanwhile, care homes are also figuring out ways to allow family members to bring care packages to residents. Some are accepting items as long as they are in sealed packages and can be wiped down with sanitizer. Packages including books, magazines and newspapers are quarantined. And sorry, no home-cooked food.
Some residents rely on family and friends to help not just with visits, but with day-to-day care such as feeding and bathing, Peck said.
“Staff are doing their best to deliver high-quality, psychosocial care. But you can’t replace the connection people have with their families.”
For Wisniowski, who is the chair of the family council at Extendicare Medex, one of the hardest things is not being able to see that Leroux is doing well with his own eyes. And he misses socializing with friends he has made there.
Long-term care is no stranger to flu outbreaks and have protocols in place, Peck said. But one of the major unknowns for families is how long this will last.
“That’s the hardest part.”