Berksilver: Visitation & COVID-😷

Part of our Berksilver series on family visitation at California RCFEs, hospitals, and the COVID pandemic

Picture posted by the Silverado team of the outdoor visitation area near the front of the community.

BIG NEWS

• WHOOPS, BIG NEWS: The Berkeley Health Officer has put all outdoor visitations on hold until further notice after the discovery of a positive case with a Silverado associate. See email from Bob on Dec 9, 2020, covering the details and next steps. When they re-open, we can expect appointments to be made here using Schedulista:

Silverado Berkeley

More about Virtual Visitations here

We’d love to add detail about “window visits” here if anyone would like to write up a summary of best practices. Just reach out to Barbara at tientown@gmail.com.

Details about Visitations — when we had them

• More on statewide regulation changes from August from CANhr.org here.

Porch area under construction on the front (west-side) deck along Sacramento St.

At a high level, the idea was to invite families to visit their loved ones in scheduled time windows and under social distancing controls. In anticipation, they’ve designated three areas where residents can meet with families without traversing other neighborhoods.

One of the areas is the newly-constructed enclosed space at the front porch (west side). The other two are on the north (garden near the parking lot) and east side (outdoor dining area) though details will be confirmed as requirements are worked out. Stay tuned for more from the Silverado.

State Rules on Visitations

The State of California’s DPH circulated an All Facilities Letter (AFL) on June 26 describing some changes to the visitation rules. These rules seem to be precisely consistent with what the Silverado is doing. In an email on July 29, the administrator shared that the DPH (presumably City of Berkeley)

says they will start to consider in person visits (with precautions, of course) when Alameda county sees a sustained drop in covid-19 cases, or a decrease in deaths due to covid-19, or hospitalizations for covid-19 decrease.

I understand that the Belmont Hills facility has restarted visitations under these rules, though there may be some subtle differences in what’s required from the city of Berkeley and Alameda county. The CANHR.org has shared further insight into those rules and the key five points.

Facilities MAY allow additional visits if the following five conditions are met:

1. There have been no new transmissions of COVID-19 at the facility for 14 days;

2. Facility is not experiencing staff shortages,

3. Facility has adequate supplies of PPE and essential cleaning supplies to care for persons in care;

4. Facility has adequate access to COVID-19 testing; and

5. Facility is requiring visitors to wear face coverings, i.e., facemasks or cloth face coverings.

Families Advocate for Visitation Rule Changes

We’ve recently learned about a series of advocates pushing for changes in these rules across the country in the interest of the long-term care home residents in general — and dementia patients in particular.

Essential Caregiver access has started to open up in states across the country as reported by AARP which is consistently covering this now:

Nursing Homes Ease COVID Lockdown for Essential Caregivers

An article in CalMatters, “Through the looking-glass: Family members fight restricted access to loved ones in long-term care,” lists several active family and advocacy groups mobilizing for terms under which at least one “essential caregiver”would be allowed access to residents in these homes. Among the consumer groups:

• Essential Family Caregivers on Facebook (I’ve applied for membership)
• Caregivers for Compromise on Facebook (California edition)

Visitation Saves Lives website managed by CANHR a lobbying organization from Sacramento. Ongoing campaign #visitationsaveslives is pushing this effort through social media as well.

In addition, as I’d mentioned earlier, there’s the The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care (formerly NCCHR), an advocacy organization has taken up the impact of COVID-19 with a variety of resources.

If you’re up for it, sign and share a petition posted on whitehouse.gov “Allow Us To Reunite With Our Family Members Locked In Nursing Homes.” (petition originally shared on the Facebook group, “Essential Family Caregivers” advocating for this.) You can find more at the Visitation Saves Lives campaign website here:

Visitation Saves Lives - Visitation Saves Lives

This article from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) highlights the patchwork of policies on visitation across the country and the medical benefits of visitation with family and loved ones.

The CANHR group has been advocating for visitation rights long before COVID. They updated their legal summary of rights in July 2020.

HHS Announces Allocations of CARES Act Provider Relief Fund for Nursing Homes

CMS Homepage

Home - Long-Term Care Information

| Consumer Advocates For RCFE Reform

Visitations During Hospital Stays

Should your loved one need to go to the hospital, as I understand it, a dementia diagnosis should put them in a disability category such that an essential caregiver should be allowed to stay with them. More here from CommunicationFirst, a disability rights advocacy organization.

CommunicationFIRST