Day 14
My kitchen friend wants to see her mom.
We set up a FaceTime call in the morning but it doesn’t go so well. Her mom has advanced dementia so communicating through a screen is hard. My friend - let’s call her Kay - almost prefers not to see her, because it makes her too sad not to be there where she could help. The nursing staff do their best, but they’re always changing and they don’t remember all her mom’s idiosyncrasies - like that she won’t eat or talk unless she rinses her mouth with water first.
What’s ironic is that I can visit Kay’s mom if I want to, just by donning my PPE and heading upstairs. In fact, I saw her yesterday. But as a non-clinical staff member, Kay is classified as a visitor, and has been barred from entering the floors since mid-March. So she prepares the meals that her mother eats every day, and asks the nurses for updates when she sees them.
Last week, the news broke that visitors will be allowed back into the long term care homes across the province. The directives have been conflicting and confusing - Do visitors need a test first? Can they visit the hot zones? - and the staff have mainly reacted with concern and alarm. How are we going to cope with this new variable, when we’ve barely started to get things under control?
But for Kay, the change in policy is a lifeline. The social worker gives her a lengthy form, hot off the presses, by which she can apply to be her mother’s designated caregiver. If all goes well, we’ll soon have our first official visitor. All the way from the first floor.
Day 15
We set up a FaceTime call in the morning but it doesn’t go so well. Her mom has advanced dementia so communicating through a screen is hard. My friend - let’s call her Kay - almost prefers not to see her, because it makes her too sad not to be there where she could help. The nursing staff do their best, but they’re always changing and they don’t remember all her mom’s idiosyncrasies - like that she won’t eat or talk unless she rinses her mouth with water first.
What’s ironic is that I can visit Kay’s mom if I want to, just by donning my PPE and heading upstairs. In fact, I saw her yesterday. But as a non-clinical staff member, Kay is classified as a visitor, and has been barred from entering the floors since mid-March. So she prepares the meals that her mother eats every day, and asks the nurses for updates when she sees them.
Last week, the news broke that visitors will be allowed back into the long term care homes across the province. The directives have been conflicting and confusing - Do visitors need a test first? Can they visit the hot zones? - and the staff have mainly reacted with concern and alarm. How are we going to cope with this new variable, when we’ve barely started to get things under control?
But for Kay, the change in policy is a lifeline. The social worker gives her a lengthy form, hot off the presses, by which she can apply to be her mother’s designated caregiver. If all goes well, we’ll soon have our first official visitor. All the way from the first floor.
Day 15
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