COVID-19 has changed the way we care for our loved ones living in nursing home and assisted living facilities. If you’re in this situation, then there’s probably no end to your list of questions or the depth of your worry and concern. Will my loved one be safe? When will I get to see my family member again? Do the employees caring for my family have what they need to keep them well? While there is little within our control, there are steps that you can take and questions that you can ask to help ease your fears and provide you further insight on your loved one’s care and needs during this troubling time.
Monitor news in their area
If you live far away from your loved one, news reports will most likely be the quickest and easiest way to gather information about the pandemic’s toll in their area, nursing home visitor restrictions, shelter-in-place orders and other issues that may affect your ability to care for your family member.
For example, it wasn’t long ago that Washington State was identified as one of the earliest COVID-19 clusters in the country. As the situation unfolded, news reportsquickly zeroed in on heartbreaking events at one nursing home in particular, Life Care Center in the city of Kirkland, north of Seattle. Poignant images of families reduced to gazing at their loved ones from the other side of a windowpane spoke volumes at a time when the pandemic’s true severity was still hypothetical for much of the country. By March 18, a CDC report linked 129 cases to the facility, including 81 residents, 34 workers and 14 visitors. Sadly, the total cases recorded at the time included at least 37 deaths.
While Life Care Center of Kirkland was the first nursing home thrust under the national spotlight during this pandemic, it is far from the only one providing skilled nursing care for the very demographic that authorities have deemed most susceptible to COVID-19. The situation did, however, serve as a case study on the devastating effects when shortcomings occur at long-term care facilities.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued more than $600,000 in finesafter an inspection at Life Care Center of Kirkland found, “serious deficiencies to be widespread and constituting in Immediate Jeopardy to resident health or safety.” Points of concern included the lack of an infection control surveillance program at the facility and the failure to report to the State Department of Health in a timely manner. The facility has until September to address the agency’s concerns or risk losing federal funding, according to news reports.
Other facilities may be the same. If you fear your loved one has been injured because of COVID as a result of a defective facility, then call us today for help.
Then please call us or fill out the form to the right for a free case evaluation.