HARTFORD, Conn — COVID-19 infections are at low levels across Connecticut’s nursing homes. That’s good news. The bad news is it’s now been seven months since family members have been able to give their loved ones a hug.
Deb Ellis of Meriden is part of a grassroots group of Connecticut families who have loved ones in long term care facilities. They are advocating for expanded in-person visitation. "Isolation is going to kill people," said Ellis. "And I’m not sure it’s going to be just the residents. If something happens to both of us during all of this. I want my obituary to read that I died from complications with COVID even though I never had the virus."
In August, the state expanded compassionate care visits to make it easier for loved ones to say goodbye. But aside from that, visits are limited to outside or digital. Liz Stern is from Stonington. Her mother suffered a stroke four years ago and is at a nursing home. She said, "Cognitive ability is so skewed. To put the face of a loved one on a screen and expect them to communicate with a screen is unreasonable." Regarding outdoor visits, she went on to say, "Six feet apart. Your loved one has a mask. You muffle the sound. Her voice is compromised. It becomes almost a frightening exercise in futility."
It’s been seven months since Liz or anyone else has given their nursing home loved one a hug. "For so many, touch is the only thing that’s left. That’s it’s there’s no verbalizing. You sit there and you stroke a hand, you touch a face," said Stern, who also pointed out that some bed-ridden residents are not able to be wheeled outside.
Families sent letters to the Governor’s office, department of public health and the state’s long-term care ombudsman, Mairead Painter. Painter said, "I want the state to support their order. I want every nursing home to individually meet with residents and family members find out what their individual needs are and then meet them." Painter said some nursing homes are interpreting the recent state order expanding compassionate care visits differently and that there needs to be less ambiguity and more clarity.
Painter says some homes are violating the order by limiting visitation to 30 minutes a week. Families told FOX61 they understand nursing home visitation had to be limited to minimize the spread of the virus. About 70% of the state's total COVID deaths have been tallied at long term care facilities. "We will get tested; we will wear PPE. Give each resident one essential caregiver. Not the whole family," suggested Ellis, who told FOX61 the virus has put transparency on the back burner. "There are some real horror stories there. The phones ring and ring and ring at those facilities and there’s never any answers...They changed a medication a couple of weeks ago. I had no knowledge that they changed it."
The Ombudsman says she’s pushing for more accountability. Painter wants streaming cameras feeds inside nursing homes and she wants Gov. Lamont to rescind an executive order that gives nursing home immunity from civil lawsuits. She is also calling for lawmakers to address the issue in an upcoming special session. "Legislation related to our camera bill and the other extremely important issue out there is the immunity to long-term care facilities. I think it’s incredibly important that that is rescinded," said Painter.
Schools have reopened so students' social and emotional needs can be met. Families say the elderly have those same needs. For the last week of data available there were only 13 current infections across the states 213 nursing homes. FOX61 reached out to the Governor's office and the Department of Public Health for a response to the concerns of families. In a statement they wrote, "Every decision we make during this pandemic has been with public health and safety in mind - and we know being physically out of touch has been incredibly hard for families, especially those with family members in nursing homes. That's why we made the updates we did. This is a rapidly changing emergency, and we're consistently evaluating ways that we can safely let families know they can spend more time together."