B.C. expands long-term care visitation, allowing one social visitor per resident Tia Tang, whose 83-year-old mother lives in care, told Global News she was denied status as an essential visitor — meaning she was unable to see her mom.“I reached out and asked if I could go visit her, and they said no, only essential visits, not social visits,” Tang said.“It’s really hard.
My mom is 83 and god knows how many years you know? Sometimes she doesn’t understand what’s happening outside so she’s thinking, ‘No one’s coming to visit me.'”Rahel Staeheli’s 93-year-old grandmother went into long-term care in March 2020, and found herself under lockdown conditions within the first week she was there.Staeheli hasn’t seen her grandmother in more than a month, and said she was thrilled to hear that everyone in care will now have access to a social visitor, even if there is an outbreak in their facility, but that more needs to be done.“Too little?
Yes, absolutely. Too late? I mean yeah, for some, unfortunately for sure, who passed away alone, it’s heartbreaking and it’s too late,” she said. “That said, it’s never too late.”Staeheli said her grandmother’s health has declined precipitously in the last two years, with the onset of dementia and severe anxiety, along with the loss of vision, hearing and mobility.“Suffice to say the quality of life without a visitor or loved one — there is none,” she said.
About 40% of January 2022 COVID-19 deaths in B.C. tied to long-term care outbreaks “At one of the visits recently she was holding our hands and said she couldn’t let go because she was terrified that she may not see us again.