COVID-19 spike drives concerns about isolation in long-term care

A new surge of COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan is bringing back old challenges for older adults living in long-term care.

Visitor restrictions, which were loosened in the summer after months of effective lockdown, have been reimposed at facilities across the province as COVID-19 transmission rises.

“We're kind of right back where we started in April and May,” Sherbrooke Community Society Inc. CEO Suellen Beatty said.

Beatty has spent decades working at the Sherbrooke Community Centre long-term care home in Saskatoon. She said the home was facilitating as many as 500 visits a week so families could see and help care for loved ones and elders.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority announced on Tuesday night that visits to homes in Saskatoon were restricted to “compassionate reasons” effective Wednesday morning, due to rising case numbers. Those measures will be reassessed by Nov. 3.

Restrictions are also in place at homes in Prince Albert and other communities.

“The decision to restrict family presence is not taken lightly,” the SHA release said. “These measures are in place to keep you, your loved ones, and health-care workers safe.”

Beatty said staff had to turn away five people at the door on Wednesday morning who had not heard the news. She appreciates why it is necessary and families are understanding, but she worries it will exacerbate “the loneliness and the helplessness and the boredom that some people already experience in long-term care,” she said.

Jane Mcphee, a member of the Saskatoon Council on Aging and part of its age-friendly community development committee, said she's concerned that as transmission rises, older adults may once again be isolated from loved ones for months on end.

“We seem to have gone back to Square 1. We don't seem to have developed a plan that could be sustainable through another wave of the virus.”

She thinks it speaks to bigger issues with the COVID-19 response that, in her view, doesn't give older people enough autonomy, she said.

The council recently produced a report that argued the pandemic has highlighted a need for greater funding and support for people in care beyond the pandemic, as well as more support for older adults who live independently, with family or in other types of supported housing.

In the meantime, she wants to let other members of the community know their decisions will be vital to restrictions lifting.

“It's not just yourself you're keeping safe,” she said.