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My mother's nursing home frequently goes on quarantine status due to staff testing positive for Covid-19. When this happens, she is not allowed outside her room and visits are banned. They have been on lockdown status for as long as two straight months; a minimum lockdown is 7 days and they have two or three of them a month. My mom went to this nursing home 2 years ago for rehabilitation after being released from the hospital. At that time, she came in using a cane but otherwise was a cognizant, functional person. 6 weeks later she was discharged from rehab classified as appropriate for assisted living but because there were no assisted living facilties available, remained in the nursing home and is still there. Today, she can't walk because they've allowed her to lie in bed since Covid without providing any opportunity for exercise during lockdown, she has suffered 3 severe UTIs and has been hospitalized for them, and has lost significant weight. But more concerning than her physical deterioration is her mental deterioration. During these quarantines, patients have no interaction with others except for the staff who occasionally enter their room. My mom has gone from an intelligent, very social person to a woman who doesn't understand the simplest question. Isolation is killing my mom faster than Covid ever would. These elderly residents were not asked about what they wanted regarding precautions from covid. Every single thing that has been done on their behalf has and is being done without their consent.


I don't know what to do. The facility says they don't have the time nor staff to give patients individual attention, yet I see several employees standing in the hall together talking and laughing all the time. How do you force a nursing home to provide activities and interaction with residents when families are banned from doing so?

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Are the lockdowns state mandated or an individual NH decisions? If not a state requirement for all NH’s I’d look into a new place for mom to live, one with better social interaction, as long as you believe that mom is capable of it
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Sounds like a mess. Can you find a better facility? Im sorry to hear your Mother is having to be in a place like this. Contact your local Ombudsman if available and tell them your concerns.
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Its what it is. They don't have the manpower. You may be seeing staff on a breaks. Believe me the DON would not allow staff to stand around talking when there is work to be done. Can't have activities because means the people will be together.

The only thing I suggest is next time she is in the hospital have her transported to your home. NHs are not prisons. Then ask her PCP to prescribe therapy for her in ur home. They can evaluate. Maybe if you can get her up and about with loving attention she can get into an AL.
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