If you currently have a loved-one in an assisted-living or nursing home, you are probably facing a certain level of anguish. The grim reality of what led them to this point is hard enough, but knowing their quality of life is only getting worse can be unbearable. Now, you have little or no opportunity to have an in-person visit – sharing your love: Hugs, memories and appreciation. A glimmer of light in an otherwise dark day.
You can stand outside their window. Doesn’t really cut it. Pretty hard to convey true emotions with plate glass between you. All in the name of COVID. How ironic when nearly all the residents are knockin’ on deaths’ door.
So why can’t we visit? I would say one reason is the apathy which runs rampant through the nursing home system. If you have a “picture” of a wonderful place where everyone working there truly loves their jobs and patients, rip it up. Yes, there are, usually, a handful of very good people in-each.
But my personal and profession experiences have allowed me to visit many of these settings. The strong odor of disinfectant barely covers the urine smell; considering the jobs associated with taking care of elderly people, it is easy to understand why they are constantly understaffed.
The vast majority of personnel are clearly unhappy with their employment choice, and those performing the least desirable tasks are only there because no one else will hire them. For example, my cousin has always been a drug addict, and he has spent his entire life working in these facilities. And I know of countless others who fit this mold.
Yet, these people who work at said facilities leave each day; they comeback for their next shift. But we have no idea what these workers do in their off-time – some, we simply would not want to know, and how seriously do their employers take precautions, regardless of the virus. Yes, theoretically, their temperatures are taken, hand disinfectant used and the proper medical attire is worn. Wow! Pretty stringent.
Do you see the irony? From Doctors to Nurses to Associates and Janitors, the employees can come and go; their guidelines are very basic. But we can’t? Seems pretty stupid.
There are common-sense ways to make our visits as safe as the workers: Our temperatures can be taken; we can pay a nominal fee to wear the proper mask, gloves, gown, hairnet, etc. Besides, we truly love the patient being visited and will do anything to protect them.
So why can’t we visit our loved-ones in nursing homes? Is it to save lives, ridiculous government regulations or because of the homes themselves? Regardless, it is inexcusable.
“To exact revenge for yourself or your friends is not only a right, it's an absolute duty.”
– Steig Larsson
For all of those who make it impossible to see loved-ones as they descend further away from the person we once knew, I hope you receive the same treatment on your deathbed.
Though Revised, original printed at American Thinker.
