OPINION — Memory care centers: Lockdowns equal death

I’m writing to call to your attention to an urgent situation regarding visitation at memory care and all senior living facilities in Idaho and around the country. And I’m not just complaining. I have ideas, and I want to help and have communicated that to Gov. Brad Little and Director of Health and Welfare Dave Jeppesen.

I have been an Idaho resident for 44 years. My father moved our family here in 1976 when he bought a business just outside Ketchum. He was appointed to serve on Gov. John Evans’ first Idaho Travel Council. He was a successful entrepreneur.

My dad passed of Alzheimer’s about seven years ago. He suffered for almost three years in care, and my mother diligently visited him five to seven days per week in Boise. He eventually lost mobility and speech, but when we visited we found joy in simple things like music, touch and soft talk, which always seemed to bring a smile and on most occasions a tear. Trust me, growing up under his stern hand, I never watched him shed a tear ever, but I know our regular visits were so important and meaningful to him even after the loss of much of his memory and faculty.

My mother now suffers from dementia. She has been in memory care for more than a year and a half here in Coeur d’Alene. She is the kindest, most upbeat woman I have ever known. Never a negative comment, always willing to do whatever is suggested. She was a hard worker, working side-by-side with my dad in all of their business endeavors. She volunteered to help others, whether it was back in New Jersey or prior to my dad’s illness at St. Luke’s Hospital, greeting at the front entrance in both Sun Valley and Boise.

Memory care is difficult when the residents have regular family visits, most often by a spouse or child, as many of the other individuals in a person’s life who suffers from dementia disappear because of the pain in seeing the decline. Out-of-town visitors are almost nonexistent. I know of many residents at various facilities that have few visits and others that have daily visits. I visit my mom regularly. Anything other than an in-person visit is very difficult and not very rewarding for either party. Without regular visits, memory care is excruciating. I saw significant decline in my mother and other residents after the three-month and one-week restriction on visitations due to COVID-19 put in place by Gov. Little. I fully understand this was done to keep them safe.

Let’s be clear. Memory care residents are not recovering. They will die from the disease, sometimes quickly, sometimes after a long struggle. The care they receive is palliative, not curative. That said, I do not wish COVID-19 to be unleashed into a facility. Many facilities either never reopened upon entering Phase 4 of The Idaho Rebounds Plan or made the decision to shut down visitations again due to the uptick in cases in Kootenai County. Many of our citizens don’t wear masks, are partying at bars like there never was a virus, going to state line raceway to cheer on cars and eating in restaurants, all shoulder-to-shoulder with tourists intermixed. So now, after five visits to get reintroduced to my mom, where we could take a short walk, talk and hold hands, visits have been halted. This is unacceptable.

In my business leadership roles, I worked every day to find solutions to difficult situations and problems, not to take the easy route. We as a state and country have decided to take the easy route without really weighing the emotional and spiritual toll this takes on so many of our seniors, especially those with memory issues. Can we really ethically do this again, let our seniors live in loneliness and isolation for months to come?

Back in May, I worked with the Health and Welfare department and suggested many rules to be implemented for visitation safety as we reopened facilities in Phase 4. They were very receptive, and we had several conversations and email exchanges where the long term care strike force used and implemented many of the recommendations. They were great to work with and I would, at any time, participate again to brainstorm solutions as should any of you reading this that want to make change.

Some facts:

The Phase 4 protocols for reopening long-term care facilities are somewhat gutless, most likely due to liability concerns for the state and facilities. Why not tell the facilities how to execute visitations, whether it be skilled nursing, memory care, assisted living or independent living? I read through the Stage 4 Protocols for Long-Term Care Facilities and all of the attachments and they have no real requirements. Plans don’t even have to be approved and these are facilities that have to pass an annual inspection down to what are the appropriate power cords that can be used in the facility every year. Even with the tight operating rules and inspections to hold a license, the state has backed off on detailing how a facility should allow visitations.

So all 500-plus facilities in our state have to come up with their own plans and make their own calls on whether we can visit our loved ones that are in facilities and how those visits will be conducted, just guidelines, no rules or requirements. And these are all facilities that are heavily regulated by state agencies.

Do we really believe that a spouse or son or daughter is a greater risk to our loved one than the caregivers that enter the facility every day to care for our loved ones? These extraordinary workers provide amazing care, but quite frankly are low paid, may have multiple jobs, have families at home, may go out and eat and are at risk as well to contract the virus. Are our loved ones really safer with the CNA’s versus family because we take their temperature upon entry? How can we be assured that staff is safer than a designated family member from infecting a facility? Their workload has increased because family members are not there to support them. Turnover has increased. It is a difficult job made substantially harder because family members are not there.

Why not test the caregivers regularly if we are concerned enough to shutdown visitations? Mainly, I believe, because tests are becoming harder and harder to come by and the Crush the Curve that has been advertised by the state as a way to get tested has zero test facilities in North Idaho.

In a Wall Street Journal article on June 29 about the increase in deaths of memory care residents in our country, an additional 250 deaths are occurring everyday with people suffering some form of dementia. Robert Anderson, chief of mortality and statistics with the CDC attributes many of these deaths to be collateral damage due to the loss of steady routines and family visits. A fact we should take to heart.

I do not want my mother or anyone in care to die alone. Let’s figure this out and make opening for visitation mandatory with more protocols, if necessary. I refuse to accept another lockdown, especially if it is because people have to have a drink in a bar. Based on many conversations I have had with facility operators, caregivers and family, I know I am not alone. Send a note to Director Dave Jeppesen at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Dave.Jeppesen@dhw.idaho.gov and tell him we need to figure out a better way than to isolate the amazing seniors who built this country from their loved ones for months again.

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David Passaro is a

Coeur d’Alene resident.