We live in an area where Covid rates are now very low, masks are not required, and pretty much everything is back up and open as usual. The ALF where my mom is is still under pretty strict requirements. We can visit, for an hour. Only two visitors per week. We can take her out on the weekends for a few hours (which makes no sense to me.)
It's difficult to schedule a visit during the weekdays. I'm just curious if other places are opening back up more freely now in other parts of the country. Whenever I ask, they just say they are following "company" and CMS guidelines. I see nothing specific though.
As of last month, NYS Dept of Health recommends against residents leaving adult care facilities for home or family visitation or social outings. If a resident leaves for a social outing, they must be Covid tested 3X in the 14 days following their return to facility.
If they go for a doctor’s appointment, they don’t have to test after.
It seems it was easy to shut things down, but not much of a plan of what comes next . They ask if we’re fully vaccinated, but so far, it doesn’t make any difference in “the rules”.
The nursing home my mom is in only allows 1 visit per wk per patient for 45 minutes.
This was at the same time as we could only visit her for short, Compassionate Care Visits in her room. These two, disparate rules never made sense to me.
Now, we can visit her as often as we want, but only in her room, or outside. I would much rather visit in the dining room or activity room, since conversation is almost impossible. Sigh.
This is in Florida.
In NJ most AL's have just opened their dining rooms up to residents only with social distancing. Masks are required for everyone. Visits (indoor) from family members must be scheduled and are for limited time frames, which of course limits the number of visitors who can be in the building at the same time. A few are allowing resident to leave with families for short trips; many are not because they don't know the environment in which the resident might be involved. Basically..... right now..... it's bit of a crap shoot.
Yesterday was the first time since March 2020 that I was anywhere in that place other than the visiting room just off the lobby. I walked with the nurse through the common room where everyone was having lunch, and I was astounded at how much the residents had deteriorated since I last saw them. Granted, it's memory care and there was a lot of turnover anyway, but two of the most vibrant people in there a year ago were now staring off into space from wheelchairs. I was heartbroken to see them. The staff told me the lockdown was extremely hard on all the residents.
Their policies are all over the place, but I hope they open up all the way on June 15 when California's governor has decided this will all magically go away.
Son had blown in to town and the docs listened to HIM, not ME, the appointed POA. So, DH gets hauled HOME by said son, who then flew home thinking he had been our savior. All he did was make a difficult problem a lot worse. I CANNOT catch my hubby--and was repeatedly told not to even try. I expect he will be back in the hospital this week.
Now I am 24/7 care of a man whom I cannot leave alone, b/c he passes out (and frequently vomits!) every time he stands up.
So, here in my state they are opening up again--must be properly vaccinated, but that's about the only criteria. We're mask free pretty much everywhere but medical facilities and I don't think that will ever change.