As the COVID-19 pandemic put the world on lockdown and prevented most physical interaction between people, the restrictions forced many to live several weeks in near-isolation.
While many groups and entities suffered from the lack of face-to-face contact, among those most affected were nursing home residents. Already at higher risk for contracting severe COVID cases, nursing home residents have fought the virus on two fronts as facilities implemented extra-strict guidelines to keep residents safe.
Now, Grandview Manor has begun allowing outside visits for residents and family.
The pandemic has been especially difficult for nursing home residents. Already living alone, residents are not allowed to leave the premises except for medical appointments, and no visitors are permitted inside the building itself. Between the lack of visitors and interaction with fellow seniors, 2020 has been a hard year for Grandview residents.
“It’s been really hard for me because I have family that live nearby, and I don’t get to touch them or hug them,” said Grandview resident Martha Rogers. “[They had come] a couple of times a week, now I get to see them for a few minutes on Sunday afternoon out in the parking lot.”
Amid the monotony of spending every day alone in her room, Rogers said the pandemic has been hard on her and her fellow residents. While Strum and her staff can only do so much to make the shutdown more bearable for Grandview residents, at least one person feels that Grandview has done well in its efforts to prevent the virus’s spread.
“They’re hard, but they’re necessary,” said resident Martha Alexander of the precautions taken by the facility. “Knock on wood, we haven’t had any cases here in this facility. … I would say they’ve done an excellent job.”
“We have done a lot of things as far as precautions go, ranging from updating infection control procedures to physically altering aspects of our building,” said Hannah Strum of Grandview. “Of course everyone has to wear medical-grade masks and PPE [personal protective equipment]. We’re not doing congregate meals or group activities or anything that would have our residents together. Mostly people are spending a lot of time in their rooms or doing individualized activities.”
In addition to PPE and social distancing guidelines, the home has added several hot water tanks to the building for use in hand-washing stations and converted a bathroom into a dedicated shower room for its staff (staffers must change clothes when they get to work to ensure sterilization). Residents and staff are tested for the virus every two to three weeks, and recently the home acquired a high-tech device for sanitizing surfaces.
“We purchased an electrostatic sprayer, which is a super-fancy cleaner that sends electrons through the cleaning chemicals so it has a higher potency,” said Strum. “It gets deeper into the surfaces and kills all sorts of viruses, not just COVID. It kills norovirus, the flu, and things like that, so that has helped a lot in disinfecting. It was very hard to get.”
Grandview has expended great effort to virus-proof its facilities. The guidelines are especially apparent in visits between residents and family.
“We have always allowed visitors to visit through the door or through the window,” said Strum. “Several iPad tablets were donated to us and other facilities as well so that family members can Facetime [video call] the residents, and that was a big thing. We also have started allowing outside visits. Family members or friends or whoever can call and schedule an appointment, and we have a designated area outside where the resident will sit at their specific place and the visitor will sit at their specific place and socially distance.”