Reduced visits to CHSLDs | “It’s very difficult to accept”

Relatives of seniors in CHSLDs will have “a heartache” during the holidays: the rule of one visitor at a time will be difficult to accept, even if the surge in cases makes this precaution necessary, estimates an expert.

Florence Morin-Martel
Press

“My mother will probably spend her first Christmas in a place where she does not feel at home, and in addition she will be all alone, breaths Isabelle Picard, her voice shaken by emotion. It’s very difficult. Her mother, Micheline Rousseau, has been staying at the CHSLD Providence – Saint-Joseph in Montreal since June, due to a loss of autonomy following a fall last winter.

Since December 23, visits to CHSLDs have been limited to one person at a time and to a maximum of two people per day. Outings are prohibited, except in “exceptional situations”, indicates the Government of Quebec.

In the case of private seniors’ residences (RPA), residents can go out. But if they show symptoms of COVID-19 afterwards, they must get tested and self-isolate while waiting for the result. Two people at a time are allowed on tours, for a total of four visitors per day. In CHSLDs as in RPAs, those who visit their relatives must present their vaccination passport.

Her mother would like to see her grandchildren and “eat a good meal on beautiful plates”, she laments. M^me Picard is perplexed as to the fact that two people can visit a loved one in a CHSLD on the same day, without however being able to go there at the same time.

Josée Riopel finds it appalling that her in-laws, who have been a couple for 67 years, will have to spend their first Christmas apart. Since last summer, his stepfather has been living at the CHSLD Paul-Lizotte, in the north of Montreal, while his stepmother was deemed too independent to follow him. But the 90-year-old won’t be able to see her husband this Christmas because she isn’t able to visit him on her own, says M^me Riopel. “I understand that the spouses no longer stay in the same place, but it is not their choice,” she argues. I think it doesn’t look good. ”

M^me Riopel says she understands that it is necessary to limit the damage of the Omicron variant, but she maintains that the spouse of a resident in a CHSLD should be able to accompany a caregiver. “My mother-in-law is worried about her husband,” she says. Especially since he will spend the Holidays without her. “Last year, people said there would be other Christmases,” she recalls. But you never know if there’s going to be another Christmas. ”

Environments “very at risk”

Residents of CHSLDs or RPAs are triply vaccinated, but their immune system responds less well to vaccination, warns Alain Lamarre, professor-researcher specializing in immunology and virology at the National Institute for Scientific Research. These people are very at risk, especially as the number of infections could continue to climb, he says.

With the Omicron variant, “very transmissible”, these are living environments where you have to be careful, continues Mr. Lamarre. Outbreaks have already been declared in several CHSLDs, argues the professor.

“Now is the time to be careful,” continues Mr. Lamarre. Especially if we remember what happened during the first wave in CHSLDs. It’s still scary. ”

“Last Christmas was awful”

For Dany Bérubé, whose mother lives at CHSLD Vigi L’Orchidée blanche, in Laval, Christmas Eve took place a little before December 24 this year, since he already receives people at his home that evening. Bernadette Chenard, aged 99, has an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s disease. “Christmas, not Christmas, is a day like any other for her,” he argues. But she still recognizes her children and seeing them remains “her only pleasure in life,” he says.

Mr. Bérubé is delighted to be able to visit his mother this year, unlike the last holiday season, which he describes as a “dreadful” time. “We were three months without seeing her,” he says. We weren’t allowed to go. When I returned, it took several weeks before she recognized me. ”