Safe Social Engagement

 

Hello Long-Term Care Friend, There has been an exceptional toll on older adults living in long-term care/congregate care settings due to social isolation, we want to help. We have attached a list of innovative ideas shared by your peers in long-term care, to safely combat isolation, and to increase social engagement and genuine human connection. Please read and distribute to all staff including activity staff, nursing, nurse aides, social workers, families, and friends. One of the interventions is a hug tunnel.  There is a group in northern Colorado that is creating a ‘How to Build a Hug Tunnel Guide’ so that we can help families and friends be able to safely hug their loved ones living in long-term care, even as colder weather approaches. Stay tuned! Additional key messages: Compassionate care visits should be considered as an intervention for residents who are experiencing a rapid decline in their health and well-being due to isolation. Indicators of isolation-related decline include any or all of the following:  a decline in overall status due to worsening mental health  memory or cognitive decline progressively worsening conditions of grief and/or depression, confusion, anxiety  physical decline due to COVID-19 isolation restrictions https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/residential-care-strike-team-faqs-compassionate-care-visitation  Hospice and palliative staff are essential workers and can help facilities care for residents. Some facilities have contracted with their local hospice and palliative agencies to help assist at mealtimes and with other personal care.   Your local Ombudsman can work with your team to advocate and help support your residents and their families in this challenging time. They can also help interpret the visitation and compassionate care visit information. Every state and region has an ombudsman program: https://theconsumervoice.org/get_help or see attached Colorado Ombudsman map.  We are aware that shortages of PPE and testing may still exist. CDPHE can help with this please make sure your facility has signed up and is using EMResource. One big reason why this is so important: “Beyond the staggering U.S. deaths caused directly by the novel coronavirus, more than 134,200 people have died from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia since March. That is 13,200 more U.S. deaths caused by dementia than expected, compared with previous years, according to an analysis of federal data by The Washington Post.” (Wan, 2020).   If you are interested in joining the committee that created the flyer (Long-Term Care Subcommittee to the Colorado Healthcare Ethics Committee) contact Risa Hayes at rhayes@telligen.com or peggy.budai@uchealth.org. We would love to have you! We want to help make your job easier and hopefully more fun in the process. Thank you for all you are doing to keep our loved ones safe and happy. We appreciate you and we are all in this together!   PS. I know it happened a few weeks ago, but in case anyone missed it, Governor Polis declared September 6th-12th Long-Term Care Worker Appreciation Week. Here is a video of the Governor's message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B15IaxRpsFw With Gratitude, Long-Term Care Subcommittee for Colorado Healthcare Ethics Resource Group