Families of seniors living in long-term care are calling for a further relaxation in restrictions, in the wake of new rules that allow everyone in care to have a social visitor, even if their facility has an outbreak.
The province announced the change Tuesday, easing restrictions that had barred all but essential visitors since Jan. 1.
Under those prior rules, only residents with a “designated essential” visitor got visitation. But most seniors in care don’t have such an approved visitor, meaning no visitors were permitted.
Tia Tang, whose 83-year-old mother lives in care, told Global News she was denied status as an essential visitor — meaning she was unable to see her mom.
“I reached out and asked if I could go visit her, and they said no, only essential visits, not social visits,” Tang said.
“It’s really hard. My mom is 83 and god knows how many years you know? Sometimes she doesn’t understand what’s happening outside so she’s thinking, ‘No one’s coming to visit me.'”
Rahel Staeheli’s 93-year-old grandmother went into long-term care in March 2020, and found herself under lockdown conditions within the first week she was there.
Staeheli hasn’t seen her grandmother in more than a month, and said she was thrilled to hear that everyone in care will now have access to a social visitor, even if there is an outbreak in their facility, but that more needs to be done.
“Too little? Yes, absolutely. Too late? I mean yeah, for some, unfortunately for sure, who passed away alone, it’s heartbreaking and it’s too late,” she said. “That said, it’s never too late.”
Staeheli said her grandmother’s health has declined precipitously in the last two years, with the onset of dementia and severe anxiety, along with the loss of vision, hearing and mobility.
“Suffice to say the quality of life without a visitor or loved one — there is none,” she said.
“At one of the visits recently she was holding our hands and said she couldn’t let go because she was terrified that she may not see us again. My heart is broken, it’s absolutely broken.”
Staeheli said she wants the concept of “essential” visitors revisited, arguing that having access to a loved one, or even just human contact is in itself essential.
The latest policy changes are a step in the right direction, according to B.C. seniors advocate Isobel Mackenzie, but she too said seniors need to be empowered to choose their visitors.
“We still don’t have residents having the right to designate their own essential visitor,” she said.
“What was unreasonable was that some residents could get a visitor and some couldn’t when we had essential visits only. That’s been remedied with the statement that all residents will receive a designated visitor.”
Given the wide community transmission of the Omicron variant, Mackenzie said it was still reasonable for long-term care homes to try and restrict the number of people coming into the facilities, describing the current regime as a good balance for the short term.
But she said the combination of vaccines and the lower virulence of Omicron have cut case fatality rates in long-term care from about 30 per cent to about 4.3 per cent.
She said she hoped to see restrictions in care homes fully relaxed as restrictions in other sectors are also peeled back.
Staeheli said she’s just happy that her grandmother will now get to see a friendly outside face again.
“She absolutely needs one,” she said.
“I think every human needs an essential visitor, and especially the seniors who have gone through the last two years.”
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