Letter to the editor: Suffering in long-term care facilities

People in local long-term care facilities are suffering far more from abandonment and neglect than covid-19. From what I’ve experienced, adequate staffing adjustments have not been made to accommodate residents’ needs. Families are not permitted inside the facilities to give attention, stimulation, love and care. Yet it seems the number of food service workers, nurses and aides has not dramatically increased to supplement this shortfall that “lockdowns” have created.

Food service workers provide meals in individual rooms on foam plates with plastic utensils rather than serving residents in dining rooms. It is impossible to serve food hot, properly cooked and well presented without improved techniques and increased staff.

Aides and nurses are overtaxed. Minimal physical care services as well as increased sanitizing procedures are not the only considerations that must be addressed during this time.

Imagine being trapped in your bedroom for 102 days. Who will take a resident for a wheelchair stroll outdoors to help maintain mental health? Who will sit and visit with an aging, lonely senior who misses loved ones? Who will manage room organization, maintain toiletries and organize clothing like family used to? Who will notice or respond quickly when an ailing individual becomes acutely sick or disoriented?

Society is not acknowledging the greatest four-month tragedy that has ever been perpetrated on its seniors. That tragedy is not covid-19!

Kathy Alt

Unity