Dozens of families marched through the streets of Wolfville, N.S., on Saturday, demanding more consistent implementation of government-issued visitation guidelines in long-term care homes across the province.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, residents of long-term care (LTC) facilities have all experienced some form of lockdown, many confined to their rooms for most hours of the day, and permitted supervised, time-limited visits with select family members once or twice a week.
That isolation has resulted in degrading health for many seniors, say their family members, who also want permission to take them on small outings, and for visits home.
READ MORE: Families concerned long-term caregiver changes won’t be implemented, and N.S. can’t enforce them
“My mom is living with significant dementia,” said protester Beverley Harris, whose mother, Jessie Haas, 93, lives at the Wolfville Elms Residential Care Facility.
“In the last few weeks, months, most of her conversations to us have been, get me out of this place, I feel like I’m in jail. I want to die, I want to go to sleep and not wake up.”
The provincial government recently loosened some restrictions on LTC visitation, allowing two designated givers daily access to their loved ones indoors, but families say they’ll need to keep advocating if they want to see those changes implemented in all facilities right away.
READ MORE: Nova Scotia easing restrictions to allow designated caregivers to help long-term care residents
In the past few weeks, families have told Global News that some LTCs are still not allowing indoor visits, despite approval from the Health and Wellness Department, and they’re not confident that caregivers will be allowed daily visits everywhere either.
This week, the provincial government confirmed it has no legal power to compel LTCs to restore the visitation freedoms that were restricted during the most intense stages of the pandemic.
Long-term care home operators say they’re prioritizing the health of their residents, and offering what visits they can — safely — with the space and staffing at hand.
Nursing homes in Wolfville, including Wolfville Elms, Wolfville Nursing Homes Ltd. and Wickwire Place Assisted Living Residence, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this story.
“She follows the news and reads the newspaper every day, so she knows that the province has eased restrictions just about everywhere,” said Elaine Eye, speaking about her mother, 97-year-old Margaret Eye, who lives at Wolfville Elms.
“The kids are back to school, we all go shopping, but she can only have one scheduled, supervised, 30-minute visit outside a week and that’s very degrading and not respectful of who she is and has been all her life.”
READ MORE: Advocates call for long-term care plan from N.S. government
Eye said her mother, once comfortable walking around with a cane, now struggles to walk. Margaret’s grandchildren also attended the protest on her behalf.
“I’m not a public speaker but this issue is so important. We’re not sure how much longer our family has with her.”
The families, many of whom belong to a Facebook group called “Reunite Families of Long-Term-Care Residents,” have written collective letters expressing their concerns to the Nursing Homes of Nova Scotia Association and Health Minister Randy Delorey, and individual letters to Premier Stephen McNeil and their local MLAs.