Posted on 12/30/2020 3:33:42 PM PST by george76
When she had the routine of home, Angie Sinopoli was the talkative matriarch of a large Italian family who heaped praise on her children and grandchildren, even as her memory faded. Her youngest son, Steven, came by her house and cooked her dinner nearly every night. But after a couple of falls and bouts in rehabilitation centers, she ended up in a Syracuse nursing home on March 10. Two days later, it stopped all visits to protect residents from the coronavirus. Mrs. Sinopoli hasn’t seen family in more than nine months. Her vocabulary has dwindled to about 20 words.
Early in the pandemic, the ban on visitors in nursing homes was understandable. It was vital. More than 35 percent of coronavirus deaths in the United States have been linked to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. But as the pandemic drags on, and as nursing home patients get vaccinated, strict prohibitions on visits are taking an unnecessary toll on patients, particularly those with dementia who rely on routines and familiar faces to ground them.
Chronic loneliness increases the odds of an early death by about 20 percent, according to the 2008 book “Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection.” The stress hormones that come from feeling socially isolated can have as serious an impact on the human body as smoking or obesity, presenting such a public health crisis that the British government appointed a minister for loneliness in 2017. For elderly people who struggle to hear and see on phone and video calls, the loneliness of nursing homes could feel overwhelming even before the pandemic set in.
Social isolation because of the coronavirus in nursing homes has increased depression, weight loss and other forms of physical deterioration, especially for Alzheimer’s patients, who often need more help than understaffed centers can provide.
“We’ve lost part of the long-term care work force by restricting families,” Dr. Sheryl Zimmerman, co-director of the Program on Aging, Disability and Long-Term Care at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the School of Social Work, said in an email. “Sure, the risk of spreading COVID-19 (or any other infectious disease) is less when visitors are restricted, but the consequence of social detachment may be greater, and this is a serious risk: we’ve known for more than 40 years that isolation increases death.”
Families play an important role in the routine care of patients in long-term care homes, which often include feeding, grooming and encouraging mental and physical exercise. Since the pandemic began, at least five states have expanded access for “compassionate care” visitors who are allowed in even when the general public is kept at bay. Minnesota eased restrictions on visits over the summer after medical examiners began listing “COVID-19 social isolation” as a cause of death or a contributing factor for patients in long-term care centers.
In New York, State Senator Rachel May, head of the Committee on Aging, filed a bill in September after hearing from hundreds of constituents who were beside themselves with grief and worry after months of being blocked from seeing loved ones. At a hearing that inspired the legislation, the mother of a 9-year-old boy in a pediatric nursing home facility testified about the child’s decline after he went months without a visit from the mother, who used to read to and play with him.
“We are seeing actual deaths as a result of the isolation,” said Dr. May, whose Ph.D. is in Russian language and literature.
Current guidelines for New York issued by the Department of Health allow limited visits in facilities that have had no coronavirus case for at least 14 days. But that hasn’t helped the family of Mrs. Sinopoli, who is in the Bishop Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, a 440-bed facility that has not been coronavirus-free for the required length of time since the start of the pandemic, partly because it accepted coronavirus patients to lighten the load of hospitals. Although New York law specifies that virtual visits be allowed, the state’s guidelines for in-person visits are seen as more stringent than those issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal agency that sets standards for many nursing homes.
Those national guidelines have allowed for “compassionate care” visits since the beginning of the pandemic, but the term was widely interpreted as referring to special visitation for patients on the verge of death. In September, the agency issued a clarification that “compassionate care” visits could also be used for patients in other situations, such as those who recently transitioned to a nursing home and have been traumatized by the sudden lack of family contact. The national guidelines also suggested that more outdoor visits could be held if space and weather permitted.
Supporters of “compassionate care” legislation say asymptomatic staff members who work at more than one center — not visitors — have been the main driving force behind nursing home outbreaks. In New York, visitors are required to show proof of a recent negative test.
The current version of the bill expires with this legislative session on Dec. 31, but Dr. May said she intended to refile it in the new session. It probably has enough bipartisan support to pass.
If it passes, the Department of Health would have 120 days to develop regulations to allow families to designate one visitor per patient to assist with “mental, physical, or social well-being” if a medical health professional deems such visits necessary. The bill made sense in September, when it was filed with the support of AARP New York. It makes even more sense now. The only downside is that waiting an additional 120 days feels excruciating to people like Steven Sinopoli.
The good news is that Mrs. Sinopoli has just gotten her first vaccine shot, raising hopes that a safe visit may soon be possible. On Christmas Day, Mr. Sinopoli dropped off some photographs for his mother at the nursing home. The nurse who brought them to her texted him afterward and told him that his mother held onto the pictures and would not let go.
I doubt that “loneliness” has ever been listed as a cause of death anywhere.
The US version of sending them “to the showers”. It just takes longer.
No, they list it as “Covid”.
Lonliness diminishes the will to live - which absolutely can cause death.
Cuomo only let people with the virus into nursing homes in order to murder them.
Happened to my Aunt Julie. Couldn’t have visitors. She stopped eating
Absolutely pathetic. Our family is so lucky that my brother lived with our parents during their lengthy illnesses. They felt love everyday and did not need to go to a nursing home. He will always be a hero in my heart.
I’d rather just be put to sleep.
My mother is in a nursing home in Virginia and my sister lives a couple of miles away. My mother wasn’t allowed to leave for Christmas. Instead they took her to a spot where my sister and her family could drive by and wave to her. El Chapo has more freedom than she does.
Indeed.
Same happened to my Grandmother. She also had dementia, and 2 strokes, but she stopped eating at the end.
And it won’t be on your death certificate or mine my friend, but We Both Know it will have been one of the bigger causes of our deaths.
Both of our posts make that obvious.
I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.
And I ain’t lonely and I ain’t sick.
I am truly sorry.
My mother has it so good and she takes it for granted.
Her memory is slipping but she doesn’t need a nursing home, has kids and sisters that take care of her.
She has a “friend” that visits her every day. She thinks the person is lonely. We are paying her to go there 4 hours a day.
I think of your mom and how terrible this is and how lucky my mom is and I want to slap her.
Not that I ever would.
There but for the grace of God she could have needed a nursing home earlier and been alone in a cuomo prison.
I pray things change where you are. I will pray for your mom
This falls under “Cruel and Unusual Punishment”.
Worst part of COVID, abandoned family
DNyuz is an Armenian website that plagiarizes content word for word from major news sources.
They literally copy and paste entire articles and embed their advertising code for profit.
As one can imagine, a source like this completely lacks transparency as there is zero information to be found about authors, owners, location, or mission.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/dnyuz/
My friends talk about visiting their folk with a plexiglass in between them. We have become an entire nation of prisoners.
It happened to my sister this year. Her husband came by every day until he couldn’t.
I told her that he was not going to a nursing home, that the reason we had bought the home we did was so if it became necessary they could move in with us.
It was not necessary this time and he is doing much better but they now know they will always have a place to go no matter what.
I was shocked that she had not known that already.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.