Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Nursing home visits resume, but many turn away families
After governor’s late order, most facilities not ready
Family members began calling and showing up at nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Florida on Wednesday to see loved ones who had been isolated for six months.
The problem? Most of the facilities weren’t ready and didn’t allow anybody in.
“Most of them didn’t see the governor’s emergency order until 10 o’clock last night,” said Kristen Knapp, communications director for the Florida Health Care Association, the state’s largest advocacy group for nursing homes.
“While we recognize families are anxious and want to reunite, they need to give us a little time to put policies in place to make sure this is done safely so we don’t put anyone at risk,” she said.
The Emergency Order that lifts restrictions for visitation to long-term care
centers, issued late Tuesday, requires facilities to screen visitors, limit the number of visitors allowed, schedule visitation ahead of time, clean and disinfect visiting areas between visitors, and follow other protective measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Essential caregivers who will be allowed to have daily visits must be trained in infection control. No one will be allowed in facilities that have had a new case of COVID-19 within the prior 14 days.
“It would have been good to have more time between the time of the order and when it went into effect,” Knapp said. “It went into effect immediately without facilities being able to communicate to families everything involved. We cannot just open the door.”
Phyllis Robinson said she understands the safeguards required, but wants to see her parents in a Boca Raton assisted living facility right away — while her father with Alzheimer’s still knows her. “I’m anxious to have a real visit and I haven’t heard anything yet about when I can do that,” she said.
“You can’t tell these families to be patient. It’s been six months,” said Mary Daniel, a member of the state’s Task Force on the Safe and Limited Re-Opening of Long-Term Care Facilities. “The facilities knew this was coming, so a lot of it should already have been arranged.” Yet, Daniel, who runs a Facebook group called Caregivers for Compromise and who went to work as a dishwasher in order to see her husband in his facility, said no one wants to rush to open to visitors without precautions. “If they open too soon and we bring the virus in, it would be devastating.”
In Aventura, Renee Garvin scrambled Wednesday to get her facility, Vi At Aventura, ready for visitors. She combed through the 11 pages of guidelines in the emergency order and began to create a plan. On Wednesday, she welcomed visitors by appointment in designated outdoor areas wearing masks and social distancing. Garvin said allowing visitors indoors, including family who will be designated caregivers, will take a few days. “We want to make sure everyone is safe as move we into the next phase,” she said.
The guidelines do not require visitors be tested for coronavirus before entering. Garvin said she’s not concerned. “Someone can get tested and get COVID the next day,” she said. “We are making sure a combination of precautions are in place.”
Even while visitation restrictions require appointments, family members arrived at some assisted living facilities Wednesday expecting to enter, said Pascal Bergeron, the Southeast Regional Director for the Florida Assisted Living Association.
“All of us have hearts and understand the situation,” he said. “We are managing today the best we can, but some people will have to wait.”
Bergeron, the operator of a Hollywood assisted living facility, North Lake Retirement Home. said he welcomed two visitors Wednesday in a former recreation area for 30 minutes each. In between, he put in place a 10-minute disinfection process and assigned a staff member to monitor the process. “We are feeling our way through this,” he said.
Nima Okun had hoped to kiss her 88-year-old husband on Wednesday but when she tried to get into his assisted living facility in Delray Beach, she learned the facility has a newly infected staff member, which means she can’t get in for at least 14 more days. “I want to see him, but I understand they have to be very careful,” she said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered all 4,000 eldercare facilities in the state closed to visitors in mid-March to protect the population most at risk from COVID-19. Over the last 10 days, his appointed task force met to find a way to re-open, weighing the effects of isolation of residents against the risk of introducing the deadly virus into a facility.
At a news briefing Tuesday, DeSantis said closing in March was the right thing to do at the time. “It probably saved a lot of lives,” he said, but now “this is important to folks in these facilities. This is a huge part of their lives to have these interactions.”
If a visitor runs into an issue, they should contact the Agency for Health Care Administration at 1-888-419-3456 or Florida’s Long Term Care Ombudsman at 888-831-0404.