Cape nursing homes begin allowing limited visits

After three months of virtual lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing homes and senior living communities in Missouri are gradually reopening their doors — and in some cases their windows — to visitors.

As Missouri entered Phase 2 of its Show Me Strong Recovery program Tuesday, which eased many of the state’s coronavirus precautions, the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) released general recommendations related to nursing home visits and said “facility-specific” guidance for a phased-in approach to reopening will be released soon.

By mid-March, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities throughout the state had prohibited virtually all visitors from entering in order to safeguard the health of their staff and residents. Nationwide statistics have shown older people are more vulnerable to the coronavirus than the general population.

“Since the underlying health conditions of residents in these facilities make them more vulnerable to COVID-19, the full reopening of all facilities will occur gradually and in phases,” according to a statement from Dr. Randall Williams, DHSS director.

A document released last week by DHSS said the state will ease restrictions to allow for outside and window visitation at long-term care facilities assuming proper social-distancing protocols and other criteria are met.

“Each facility will make the final decision to allow visits,” Williams said. “Facilities may want to consider having a policy in place to determine these activities can be expanded without jeopardizing the health of the residents.”

According to DHSS, 222 Missouri long-term care facilities have reported at least one case among their staff and/or residents. Locally, it was recently reported four staff members at the Lutheran Home tested positive for coronavirus. However, there have been no reported cases of the virus among residents or other area facilities.

Data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) indicates Missouri ranks below national averages for COVID-19 cases among nursing home residents, resident deaths and staff cases per 1,000 residents. This, plus a 43% decrease in coronavirus hospitalizations in Missouri since May 1, factored into the decision by DHSS to issue less-restrictive visitation guidelines.

Locally

A check of several local nursing homes and long-term residential facilities found policies have either been recently initiated or are about to be enacted that will allow limited visitor access while still safeguarding residents from possible exposure to COVID-19.

“Our current visitation policy is consistent with the most recent guidance distributed by DHSS,” said Stephanie Holland, media and communications director at The Chateau Girardeau senior living community.

“Outdoor and window visits are appropriate as long as steps are in place for monitoring them,” she said. “The Chateau is currently scheduling visits that follow social distancing and other safety precautions we have in place.”

Holland said guidance from DHSS was specific to outdoor visitation and window visits.

“It did not address thought on timing for resuming visitation inside the building,” she noted. “No current guidance from anyone suggests visitors be allowed inside.”

Therefore, she said, visitors are still “strictly prohibited inside our main building.”

Holland said family members can call and schedule window or outdoor visits with residents in Chateau’s “regulated” areas.

“We are currently arranging for outside and window visits that are scheduled, supervised and maintain all protocols for social distancing and sanitizing,” she said.

The Missouri Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau has been closed to family members and other visitors since March 7 as the coronavirus outbreak began to spread in Missouri, but starting Monday, the facility will allow limited outdoor visits in accordance with guidelines from DHSS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“These visits must be scheduled in advance and are limited to two visitors per veteran,” said Jamie Melchert, director of communications with the Missouri Veterans Commission in Jefferson City.

Melchert said visitors will be required to comply with certain visitation guidelines.

“They will be required to not directly come into contact with the veteran and to also answer some medical screening questions prior to the visit,” he said. “Initially, all outdoor visits will be monitored by staff as well.”

Life Care Center of Cape Girardeau also remains closed to visitors, but window visits with residents are allowed.

“We look forward to allowing our residents to visit with their families again in a safe environment and we will be in contact with our residents’ families to let them know when we have the go-ahead from all parties concerned as well as what precautions they must follow to visit,” said Julie Collins, vice president of Life Care Centers of America’s Missouri region. “In the meantime, our staff continues to facilitate window visits and phone and video calls through apps such as FaceTime and Skype. Each of our facilities has iPads set up to encourage these calls.”

Collins said Life Care will continue to evaluate conditions and will adjust its visitor policies accordingly.

“Because of the unique COVID-19 situation in each community, as well as in each facility, each nursing home must work with the local and state departments of health to follow the guidance provided,” she said. “We want to thank our residents and their families for their patients and trust as we make sure we are safe to move forward with each step of reopening visitation.”

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