Seniors advocate says family visits vital to well-being of long-term care residents
According to B.C.’s Seniors Advocate, the average stay in a longterm care home in the province is around 18 months, which means about 50 per cent of residents in such facilities die less than two years after moving in.
Most of the seniors in long-term care haven’t been in the same room as their loved ones for three months because of restrictions put in place to halt the spread of COVID-19, which has proven to be especially deadly for people in their 80s.
Isobel Mackenzie, B.C.’s Seniors Advocate, says many of the recent calls to her office are from families who have parents or grandparents living in long-term care and are hoping to see visiting restrictions lifted as soon as possible.
With the pandemic seemingly under control in the province,
Mackenzie wants to find a way to allow for limited non-essential visits to start taking place.
“We all know that we can’t have no visitations in long-term care until the pandemic is over. That would mean no visits for a year or more,” she said Monday from Victoria. “So how do we manage to have visits in our long-term care homes that allow seniors and their families to have meaningful engagement with each other for the last years of their life?”
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said recently the challenges faced by long-term care homes are being reviewed by public health officials.
But Mackenzie points out that mental health challenges increase as seniors go without personal connections.
“People want to balance this need for safety with the need to allow families to see their loved ones, because
that at some point becomes a safety issue, too,” she said.
“We need to understand that there is no situation that is riskfree. Yes, there is a risk to opening up ... But there’s a risk to not opening up the care homes, as well.”
According to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, four long-term care homes in the province continue to deal with outbreaks.
The restrictions on “essential visits” have been eased somewhat during Phase 2 of B.C.’s reopening
There is a risk to opening up ... But there’s a risk to not opening up the care homes, as well.
plan, but they’re mostly related to end-of-life and vital medical decisions. Henry said last month that limited non-essential visits might be permitted sometime in June, but on Monday provided no update.
“We’re working with the sector so that when the time is right ... visits can resume in a safe way,” she said.