Visitor ban necessary ‘sacrifice’ for patient

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This article was published 17/03/2020 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shawna Forester Smith receives everything she needs from staff at Riverview Health Centre, but the twice-daily visits from her husband help sustain her.

The coronavirus threat, however, will erase the precious few hours they have together.

Visitors are no longer allowed in long-term care facilities such as Riverview, Manitoba Health announced Tuesday. Exceptions will be made for compassionate reasons, including end of life.

While Forester Smith and her husband, Brent Smith, were together during the dinner hour Tuesday, signs went up at at the Winnipeg centre, stating: “No visitors are allowed until further notice.”

As upsetting as the directive is, it’s absolutely the right thing to do, she said.

“The thought of not seeing my husband, my parents, my sister, my in-laws, my friends, that’s hard. You feel isolated as it is being here. It is going to take its toll on people,” said Forester Smith. “But, on the other hand, if it’s going to save lives, then I think we have to make those sacrifices.

“It’s not going to be forever. But if it’s going to keep people safe and keep our health-care providers safe, we want those restrictions in place… If it gets in here, people are going to get really sick and people are going to die.”

The 37-year-old Winnipegger has lived at Riverview’s chronic-care unit for three years. During that time, Smith visited the facility focused on rehabilitation, palliative and long-term care needs anytime he wanted, day or night.

However, as the COVID-19 threat increased, the rules tightened and patients could only see one visitor at a time between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Now, the couple’s visits will have to be done by telephone or video chats.

“For me, this is my second home. I come every morning before I go to work to bring her coffee and spend time together, and I come after work and stay until it’s time to go to sleep. I’ve done that every day for three years. I don’t think there’s a single day that I haven’t been here,” Smith said.

“When I walk out the door, it might be the last time I see her for weeks or months, and that’s very difficult. But not being able to be in the same room together for weeks or even months is better than forever, right? You have to think that way. It would be shortsighted to try to push for extra hours or days right now, when that could mean something bad for the future.”

Forester Smith has monitored news reports for two months, from the outbreaks in China in early January to the first confirmed cases in Canada later that month, to the nation’s first death from COVID-19 in early March.

“Now that we’re seeing cases in Manitoba, we’re getting anxious, because we know it’s only a matter of time before it starts to spread in the community. It could already be in the community and it just hasn’t been discovered yet,” she said.

Forester Smith, one of the youngest patients in the facility, said Riverview staff have been incredibly supportive during a stressful time.

“(On Monday), after my husband left, I was a wreck. My nurse hung out with me and let me talk and reassured me, telling me it’s OK to be upset and that someone is always here to talk,” she said. “They’re all here to support us, and we’re all going to get through this together.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell