We are actually holding these visitors to higher testing standard than the staff. We don’t ask the staff, who actually provide hands-on care, to get tested every two weeks.
Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician at Mount Sinai Hospital, referring to strict visitor protocols now in place at Ontario’s long-term-care and retirement homes.
After more than three months in nursing-home lockdown, Bruce Owen-Wahl walked into the morning sunshine and got a glimpse of his wife, in a sundress.
“Hooold on!” he said, “Look at those legs!”
Verna Andrews laughed. Her 71-year-old husband, who has Lewy Body dementia, reached for her hand, unaware of the COVID-19 infection-control protocols from the Ontario Ministry of Long Term Care.
Andrews pulled away, afraid to break the rules on the first day visits began.
On Thursday, the Ontario government started allowing one weekly visit for one family member. After the husband and wife did a subtle safe-distancing dance, staff at Peel Region’s Sheridan Villa guided them to a table with pink flowers under a white tent.
Half a dozen of those minitents were set up across the parking lot, although only two Sheridan Villa residents’ spouses qualified for a morning visit after receiving their negative COVID-19 test results in time.
“It was a lovely visit, but it was just a visit,” Andrews said, an hour later. “I want to care for him, to be his caregiver. He doesn’t look as robust as he did three months ago. His walking is hesitant.”
For many families across Ontario, it has been a long and painful three months. The lockdown began March13, when the government banned visits except for residents who were gravely ill or in palliative care. Window visits began. So did virtual meetings through FaceTime or Skype.
What seemed like a cheerful way to connect lost its glow as the months progressed. When Andrews waved to her husband through the glass on the firstfloor, he tried to wrench open the window pane. “He kept saying, ‘Come in.’ He couldn’t understand why I wasn’t inside. Then he couldn’t sleep at night. He thought I was going to leave him.”
As the weeks turned into months, families with loved ones in homes across Ontario stood outside weeping, staring through the glass at a father or a mother who had grown thin and confused.
The lockdown forced residents to sit in their rooms, alone, every day. Some lost the ability to walk. One woman said her loneliness was so painful it felt like a disease.
As Alberta opened homes to visitors, Ontario held fast to its rules. Family caregivers, such as Andrews, asked to be let inside, if only to feed and bathe a partner or a parent, as they had always done. So far, Ontario is not allowing family inside unless their relative is deemed to be in the palliative, or nearing the end of life, stage.
On Thursday, when Ontario lifted its ban on visits to longterm-care and retirement homes, Gerry Kupferschmidt arrived at Sheridan Villa at 9 a.m. for his outdoor visit with his wife. Laura, 73, has advanced dementia.
Staff brought Laura’s wheelchair to a tent, out of the sun. Kupferschmidt sat with her and talked about their early years together, when they met in a Guelph high school chemistry class.
It was a struggle to communicate, 74-year-old Gerry later said, because Laura’s language skills have declined over the past three months.
“I can’t understand her words. I try to nod ‘yes,’ or shake my head ‘no,’ and hope I get it right,” he said. Laura has recently been deemed palliative, so he will now be able to visit her inside the home.
“I’m feeling a lot better that I can see her more often now,” said Kupferschmidt, a forensic science consultant.
Families have waited long enough — especially when experts say the pandemic could last a year-and-a-half, said Lisa Levin, CEO of Advantage Ontario, which represents not-forprofit and municipal nursing homes, such as Sheridan Villa.
“It’s not conceivable that you can’t visit your loved one for maybe 18 months,” Levin said. “The average length of stay in long-term care is often 18 months, and then many people pass away. It’s a really tough issue.”
With visits come tight restrictions. People are told to stay six feet away from their mother or husband. Visitors must have personal protective equipment, such as masks and gloves. Visitors must be swabbed for CO
VID-19 every two weeks, with negative test results.
Levin said she is asking Ontario’s chief medical officer of health to consider less-intrusive methods, such as saliva samples, approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S.
“We are happy the ministry has put guidelines in place because it can’t be a free for all,” Levin said. “Just like anything else, as we are opening up society, you have to put safeguards in place. The virus is as contagious as ever.”
Dr. Nathan Stall, a geriatrician at Mt. Sinai Hospital, said the requirement for a COVID-19 test every two weeks is so challenging that many, especially those in their 80s and 90s, will be unable to make regular visits.
“We are actually holding these visitors to a higher testing standard than the staff,” Stall said.
“We don’t ask the staff, who actually provide hands on care, to get tested every two weeks. So, for many people, it seems that these (rules) are just created to be so strict and onerous that people weren’t going to pursue the visits.”
Stall said he was interviewed on Zoomer radio recently when a woman called in, questioning the demand for the COVID-19 swab every two weeks.
“I found the woman’s story so persuasive because it highlighted so many things that I was worried about. The outdoor restrictions, I’ve talked about this with infectious disease experts. During outdoor visits with a mask, the risk of transmission is probably negligible.” That woman was Verna Andrews. She has strong opinions about the need for COVID testing every two weeks. Andrews, who is in her 70s, tested negative a few days ago. The nurse stuck the swab so high up her nose it “wiggled in my brain,” she said.
“I bled for two days. I’m sure it’s going to stop people from visiting. Imagine if you are elderly and have to go get tested every two weeks.”