Yakima Herald-Republic: Guest column: Care facility residents need advocates
February 13, 2022 | Resident Advisory Council
By: SUSAN HARTER Washington State Long Term Care Resident Advisory Council
It was uplifting to read “Finding that Sweet Spot,” Feb. 2 about how residents, families and staff at long-term care homes have been coping during the pandemic. Blossom Place and many other facilities are doing a good job under difficult circumstances.
No population was more harmed by COVID than residents and staff of long-term care, accounting for between 35-40% of all deaths. The statistics are shocking, but they don’t describe the real-life impacts on us. As a resident in a long-term care home, I can attest that we continue to be subjects of a twin pandemic: COVID infection and prolonged isolation, which itself is causing a decline in physical and emotional health, and even death.
It’s been said that some residents have been treated like prisoners, locked in their rooms alone for months at a time, and it’s true. This happened not just in the early days of the pandemic; it’s still happening. When there’s a COVID positive employee or resident, instead of isolating and quarantining that person, facilities often go back into lock-down, barring visitors and strictly limiting resident in-house contact.
One of the best ways to protect residents is to ensure they are not cut off from family, especially when there’s short staffing, which is happening in so many long-term care homes.
Click here to read full article on the Yakima Herald-Republic