The president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health Centre is asking family members of the homes’ residents to be patient and respectful as visitation resumes.
Visits to Ontario long-term care, group homes and retirement homes started Thursday amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but under strict conditions.
For long-term care homes, the rules are one visitor per resident at a maximum of one visit per week for an outdoor visit only.
For retirement homes, outdoor and indoor visits are allowed, with the number of visitors being left to the discretion of the home.
However, all visitors must have tested negative for COVID-19 in the past two weeks and passed an active screening questionnaire. Hands must be washed and/or sanitized upon arrival and departure, and all visitors must wear a mask, stay in a designated area and maintain physical distancing.
Jo-Anne Palkovits, who is also the administrator for St. Joseph’s Villa and St. Gabriel Villa, said visits to the two LTC homes will start Monday, but visitors deemed “essential” for certain residents have already been allowed to visit this week.
“We are being very cautious,” said Palkovits.
Both homes experienced a COVID-19 outbreak during the pandemic, and one resident at St. Joseph’s Villa died as a result.
“We are following all of the directives from the ministry, public health and our own internal guidelines based on our infection control committee,” said Palkovits.
Currently, there are no cases of the virus in either home, she said.
“There’s definitely a fear, and we don’t want to bring it back into our facilities,” she said. “My staff are rockstars. They've done an amazing job containing the outbreaks we had, and keeping it out since. So, while we're welcoming family members, we're also being very cautious to ensure the ongoing safety of our residents.”
The fact LTC homes are now allowed to arrange visitation is welcome news, though, she said. Some residents haven't seen any family members for three months.
“We did a lot of work in terms of virtual connections and window visits, but being able to see their family members will be wonderful,” Palkovits said.
When the “essential” visitors were allowed into the facilities this week, many tears were shed by the residents, visiting family members and staff. Essential visitors are family members of residents identified by the clinical team to require a family member, who often have that special touch with their loved one, and for various clinical reasons.
With outside visits now allowed, staff at both facilities are preparing for Monday.
“It's going to be a tremendous amount of work for our staff, who have to get the residents ready, who have to screen the family member for symptoms of COVID-19,” Palkovits said.
Each site will be different in terms of how many visitors they will be able to accommodate at a time, Palkovits said, “but they are doing the best they can to get as many family members in as quickly as they can.”
Many family members have said they are still too nervous to come in for a visit, though, and would rather continue the virtual or window visits, to prevent the possibility of infection.
“Family members have been very understanding, but we still need to get the message out that we still need to follow our policies and procedures. We cannot have everyone just show up on Day 1.”
