FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.
Families around the country are petrified of what might be going on inside the nursing homes charged with safeguarding their relatives from the virus.
“If there is an outbreak, people are clamoring for everyone to be tested, both residents and staff,” says Brian Lee, executive director of Families for Better Care, a national advocacy group for improving conditions at senior care facilities. “Because you can be asymptomatic and be a carrier. That’s what families have told us they want.”
In Florida, one out of four nursing homes have residents or staff who have tested positive for the virus, Lee said.
“I’m surprised how many nursing homes are having outbreaks,” Lee said. “They are outpacing the ALFs. Nursing homes are providing 24-hour care and you’d think they’d be the most equipped. And one in four are having a COVID outbreak right now.”
Florida has 698 licensed nursing homes with 85,140 beds. The state has four times as many assisted living facilities: 3,100 with nearly 110,000 beds.
South Florida has 144 nursing homes and 1,306 assisted living facilities across Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.
Many families are worried that health care workers are going to jobs at other facilities, getting exposed to COVID-19 and spreading it around to the most vulnerable population.
“They’re bringing it into the facility from working at multiple facilities and being out in the community, through no fault of their own,” Lee said. “Once COVID-19 gets a toehold in a facility, it’s really hard to manage it.”
Universal testing would help solve the problem, Lee said.
“Unless we know who’s sick, we can’t quarantine those folks from everyone else,” he said.
Some people might want to rush in to get their relative out of a senior care facility that has an outbreak of COVID-19 cases. It is an option in some cases, but Lee cautions against making any knee-jerk decisions.
“You don’t want to be rushing in there, throwing your fists on the table and saying I want my loved one out of there,” Lee said. “Don’t do that.”
If you have concerns, ask the facility what it is doing to manage the outbreak.
“Maybe they’re quarantining folks and spot-cleaning everything, and maybe they’re doing a good job and you want to leave your loved one there,” Lee said.
If you think they’d be better off with you at home, work together with the facility to have your loved one discharged, Lee advised.
“These places are not prisons,” Lee said. “You can still have your loved one discharged from the facility. But you need to be a legal guardian or have power of attorney. I would recommend working with the chain of command at the ALF or nursing home.”
You’ll need a discharge plan.
Here are some questions to ask yourself: Can you take care of mom or dad in your house? Do you have the medications and the equipment needed to keep them safe?
“If you take someone home, you want it to be seamless, from departure to arrival,” Lee said. “How long will you be able to pay for it? Are you going to be able to care for them? It’s hard work.”
If you do end up taking a relative home, be patient. It’s not going to happen in a day.
“It can take a few days to go through the process,” Lee said. “You have to make sure there’s a transfer plan, and the facility wants to make sure the person can be cared for properly once they leave.”
In addition, you’ll need to make sure your loved one has any medical help they might need.
“They were moved into that facility in the first place for a reason,” Lee said. “You don’t want to take them home and have something catastrophic happen.”
One Hollywood woman says she’s terrified for her 86-year-old grandmother, a stroke victim who cannot walk or speak.
The woman, who did not want to be identified, says her grandmother has lived at the Golfcrest Healthcare Center in Hollywood for more than a decade.
On Saturday, she learned that two staffers and six patients had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“The six patients are all in the hospital,” she said. “The two staff were sent home.”
In the meantime, she feels helpless.
“We don’t get updates unless we push for details,” she said. “Because of the lack of information, it’s hard to know what’s going on. We’re in the dark. We’re terrified. This can go out of control quickly. These people are the most vulnerable.”
She talked to her grandmother’s doctor and the nurse administrator about taking her home. They both said it was a bad idea.
“She’s on a feeding tube and she does have some medications that have to be administered,” the woman said. “We can’t bring her home. She needs round-the-clock care. We didn’t know if we’d be putting her into a more dangerous situation. We don’t want to make the situation worse.”