Families plead to visit care facilities
Committee looking into letting seniors see guests during pandemic
Four and a half months into the pandemic, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he is forming a committee to develop creative ways to allow Floridians to visit their loved ones in elder care facilities as desperate family members beg for a fix.
The committee will consider ideas brought to DeSantis during a roundtable discussion in Jacksonville on Tuesday — everything from giving family members protective gear for visits to letting them in if they have antibodies for the virus.
“The ultimate vision may take a little bit of time,” Florida’s governor told family members during the round-table discussion. “I don’t want to give false hope. There are going to have to be precautions…It’s worth putting forth the effort, being thoughtful about it, being innovative.”
DeSantis listened as elder advocates and family members said isolation resulting from a state ban on visitors to long-term care facilities since March is devastating for their loved one’s mental health. DeSantis has considered the ban critical to protecting the elderly from the virus.
Even with a ban on outside visitors, more than 5,800 residents in Florida’s long term care facilities have been infected with coronavirus and more than 3,155 deaths have occurred among residents and staff. But DeSantis conceded that 4 1⁄2 months is a long time for Floridians to go without
seeing their family members in person.
“We have to look at this and say is there anything we can do right now, or if certain indicators are met in a week or two weeks or a month,” DeSantis said. “I think if you have a way forward, I think that would put a lot of people at ease knowing there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
One option floated was to allow visits from family members who test positive for COVID-19 antibodies. Another option could be using rapid tests that deliver results in 15 minutes to screen visitors at the door. However, those types of tests are in short supply.
Another option would be for family members to participate when staff get tested every two weeks, and use the test kits sent by the federal government. Or the state could provide family members personal protective equipment (PPE) to wear during visits.
On Tuesday, DeSantis asked Mary Mayhew, Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration secretary, and family advocate Mary Daniels to form a committee, solicit feedback from Florida’s families and propose ideas. He wants the committee to learn from what other states have or haven’t done well in opening their nursing homes to visitors during the pandemic.
“For the last 4 1⁄2 months residents of long-term care facilities have not had the ability to have family members visiting them. They have not had the type of human contact that makes a difference,” DeSantis said. “That human cost, the emotional cost of having these measures in place to limit the spread of COVID, those costs are profound.”
Mayhew said Florida has more than 154,000 individuals in long-term care facilities and more than 200,000 staff who care for them. Mayhew, who oversees licensure and regulation of nursing homes, said she regularly tries to weigh protecting the elderly from the virus with the consequences of a lack of human interaction. She said it’s time to create a plan to reopen to visitors. “We have an opportunity to create a framework to do this safely,” she said.
Speaking for families, Mary Daniel said she has been asking since March to come to Tallahassee to represent herself and hundreds of thousands of others who are helpless and hopeless. “Our goal is to get to our loved one. They need a hug from us. Not a picture of me on FaceTime. Not me at the window. They need us,” said Daniel, who joined the cleaning crew at her husband’s assisted living facility in Jacksonville to spend time with him.
“I like the small steps but my goal is to safely and as quickly as possible with the right guidelines get us back to our families,” she told DeSantis.
“We will be tested every time we go. We will wear whatever you want us to wear. We will be the most stringent rule-followers you want us to be. We will self isolate. We will follow every rule we have to follow,” she said.
Daniel said some states have an essential caregiver designation for a family member that allows them in by appointment, while other states are doing outdoor visits in protective gear. And, some family members are offering to pay for a private test or buy a machine to process test results onsite.
“I am confident we will come up with ideas and put them into implementation for the state of Florida,” she said.