My mom, 84, early stages dementia, probably Alzheimer's, is at a NH/ Rehab. The place had been the subject of at least 3 law suits in the last 5 years, brought against them by our state's Attorney General for things like negligence and wrongful deaths. Actually the state is in the process of purchasing it from its private/corporate owners. What I liked about it when she first got there was that they were clearly trying to turn a new leaf, and visitation is allowed, no appointment needed, 24/7.
But, starting on December 22, nearly three weeks now, visitation is forbidden. 7 total staff members and visitors had tested positive for Covid. Everyday a robot voice autodials my cell phone with information. My mom is supposed be doing a 60 day stay. She is losing it in there.
She is vaccinated, I am. Is this normal? What can I do about this? I cannot get anyone on the phone to at least tell me what their protocol for quarantine is. Not even any rough estimate of when I would be able to visit.
Until we are more vaccinated, then we won't see a massive change. We need the 'herd immunity' that comes with over 50% of the population being vaxxed.
Even the, the immunosuppressed will be at higher risk, Both DH and I are considered so, but he has still traveled for business and flown all over the country.
https://covid19-sciencetable.ca/ontario-dashboard/
There are two care plans, that two adversarial parties are pushing for, and sadly my mom's fate lies in the hands of the Probate and Family court.
I could get into the details of the epic battle, but it would belong in a different post.
The 60 day figure is based on state law via which she was placed, after discharge from the hospital.
She has been there since two weeks before the lock down, and I know for a fact there is not much PT/OT going on. The most movement that occurs is when I would visit and we would do laps with the walker around the place. The facility wears multiple hats, if you will. It calls itself a 'Nursing and Rehabilitation center" in some contexts, and also "Hospice" in others. Based on my visits there, I never saw anything going on that would deem it anything beyond a Nursing Home.
When she first got there, they were stressing me to sign a lot of paperwork. Consent for psychiatric meds, consent for physical restraint(a bed frame/gate) and then just one form, if signed, indicated consent to Dental, Counselling, Podiatry.
I wrote in a paragraph on each form stating that consent was provided only to services covered by Medicare and Medicaid if applicable. Any out of pocket expenses would have to be cleared first.
In my area it changes almost daily concerning visitation. All it takes is one staff member or resident to be positive for COVID and it shuts the whole place down. This new strain is very contagious.
The thing that is not right is you cannot contact someone at the facility. Nor does it seem they have contacted you. At this point your Mom is being held against her will. She is not a resident.
If she was admitted as a post hospitalization rehab patient (MediCARE benefit), I’d suggest that you try to speak to the PT / OT that is working with her as to your moms “progress” and where she is on a care plan based on her admit codes (this would be her ICD-10 codes & in her discharge notes). That “60 Day” is not fixed / guaranteed IF this is a Rehab admission. Rehab is totally different that being in a facility as a LTC resident. I’d be real concerned that if staffing for therapists have been snafu’d due to Covid, that her rehab not been ideal. So her chart is not exactly where it would be in preCovid times.
I mention this cause if shes kinda right now almost at 3 weeks & this is a rehab stay, Medicare stops the 100% coverage at Day 20/21. It then goes to 80% coverage for up to 100 days IF, and only IF, she shows progress as entered by the PT, OT, ST. Personally I’d be real concerned that if she’s not progressing enough, she’s going to be discharged from being a rehab patient and then her choices are stark. So either leaves the NH or goes thru the process to become a LTC resident at the NH. I’d suggest that you try asap to speak with the therapists, SW or admissions at the place to see exactly what’s what as that initial 100% Medicare rehab benefit is ending. Also billing - if they don’t already have the insurance info - is going to want details as to how the 20% is getting paid….. in my experience a rehab NH tends not to fret the 20% as Medicare is still paying 80% and Medicare pays double/ triple of what a LTC resident room&board rate is. So a facility is beyond happy 😃 to have rehab patients.
Her rehab status perhaps might be why your not getting much traction to your phone calls. So it’s not just Covid compliance issues but the whole rehab eligibility past initial 20/21 issues atop Covid.
Is there a plan as to what happens once she’s out of rehab?
My daughter lives in CA and hasn't been in her 'physical office' since she got her new job there 18 months ago. She hasn't personally met most of her co-workers.
They just roll with the punches and come home to visit as often as they can. Utah is a lot more open (but, no, I don't know where you could get a rapid test unless handed to you by a Dr.)