Visiting Nursing Home Residents During the Holidays
The Consumer Voice, the premier national nursing home residents’ advocacy group, recently issued the December issue of its monthly newsletter, The Gazette. In it the group sends out a reminder on the importance of visiting nursing home residents—during the holidays and throughout the year.
It goes without saying that visits help improve resident health and quality of life. As with all of us, residents’ general sense of well-being is improved with more interaction with friends and family. It is vital that nursing homes not feel like locked-down isolation where residents are cut-off from activities outside of the facility.
The Nursing Home Reform Law of 1987 is very clear in its endorsement and protection of visits. The law requires nursing home staff to provide immediate access to the resident for all relatives with consent. The family is free to determine when to visit and what to do while visiting. There are many options to make the visits interesting and enjoyable. They could include eating meals together at the facility, helping the resident decorate a room, or watching old family movies together. The most important thing is simply taking the effort to be by their side.
In addition, visits from others often ensures that residents receive reasonable care—facilities usually dislike the embarrassment of having visitors see unkempt locations or negligent treatment of residents.
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