Care homes expand visitation

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This article was published 22/02/2022 (1377 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Long-term care homes, hospitals and health centres in Manitoba are expanding in-person visits as the province prepares to lift all COVID-19 restrictions by mid-March.

Starting this week, general visits are being permitted in addition to visits from designated family caregivers at care homes.

Visitation policies will be expanded gradually, Shared Health announced Tuesday. The first phase of the expansion allows two fully vaccinated general visitors indoors by appointment, or one unvaccinated visitor can visit in a designated indoor room or an all-season visitor shelter. Four outdoor visitors will be allowed, vaccinated or unvaccinated, and physical distancing and mask requirements remain in place.

Long-term care homes that experienced recent outbreaks stopped allowing visits, except for fully vaccinated designated caregivers. After most personal-care home residents received their third booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines, general visits were reopened, said Jan Legeros, executive director of the Long Term and Continuing Care Association of Manitoba.

She said she expects these gradual changes to give designated caregivers more flexibility and loosen time limits on general visits.

“I think this is certainly a big step forward for the residents in long-term care. They’ve been isolated for such a long time, and they really need to see their family and their loved ones,” Legeros said.

The “balancing act” between keeping residents safe and keeping them social is likely going to continue, she added.

“It’s always been a balancing act in terms of ensuring that the residents have the visitation that they require to prevent social isolation, and… preventing COVID-19 from entering the residence and causing illness and tragedy amongst the residents and staff.”

As a designated family caregiver for his mother, John Dobbin said he remains on high alert while visiting her care home. He doesn’t believe vaccine requirements should be lifted for anyone who enters a care home. He said he’s still very worried about unintentionally exposing his mother to the virus and doesn’t believe Manitoba is “out of the woods.”

“Our seniors are going to be the ones who suffer the most because of a premature opening for the most vulnerable in our society,” Dobbin said.

“I think that most personal care homes are going to be extremely cautious. My only fear is that the government would be pushing them to places they don’t want to go.”

His 83-year-old mother, Gail Dobbin, lives at Beacon Hill Lodge in downtown Winnipeg.

“They just finished an outbreak that lasted nearly three months… so it’ll take some convincing for me to believe that there’s no risk,” he said.

Visits are important, and his mother’s “level of engagement” has improved as a result of outbreak protocols ending, but there is still risk. Outdoor visits aren’t doable for many seniors, he noted.

“Engagement is hugely important, but the risk versus reward has to be carefully measured.”

A representative for Revera Inc., which operates Beacon Hill Lodge and many care homes in Manitoba and across Canada, didn’t respond to a Free Press request for comment on expanded visitation Tuesday.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca