Province Will Start Allowing Visitors at Long Term Care Homes

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Thursday, 11 June 2020 13:22

"Today we are announcing a cautious restart of visits, starting on June 18th, to long term care homes, retirement homes, group homes and other congregate settings that are not currently in outbreak."

ONTARIO - The province of Ontario is going to start allowing people to visit their loved ones in Long Term Care Homes, starting on June 18th.

Premier Doug Ford says they will have extreme measures in place to keep the residents safe.

"Today we are announcing a cautious restart of visits, starting on June 18th, to long term care homes, retirement homes, group homes and other congregate settings that are not currently in outbreak. We need families to be able to see their loved ones and today we are taking the first steps to reunite families, to help reunite loved ones in the safest way possible."

Ford says he understands how difficult it was to not visit family members.

"Trust me, I know, I know the tremendous toll this has taken on people, not being able to see your loved ones and for many families, not being able to be the side of their loved ones in their final or most difficult moments is heartbreaking, it's hard to imagine anything worse and it was a tremendous sacrifice and we must never forget what these families had to go through."

Ford says they want everyone to understand that these settings are still vulnerable.

"I know this day, we have all been desperately waiting for but we can't take this progress for granted. We can't forget that these settings are still vulnerable to COVID-19 outbreaks, so we must remain vigilant, we must move forward, but we must do it carefully. In the coming days and weeks, we will continue to monitor the situation closely, we are working on expanded visiting opportunities as soon as it is safe to do so."

Visits will resume next Thursday, one week after the release of visitor guidelines. They will be subject to strict health and safety protocols, including requiring visitors to pass active screening every time they visit, confirming with staff that they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the previous two weeks, and complying with the infection prevention and control protocols. This includes bringing and wearing a face covering during visits.

Additionally, long-term care and retirement homes, as well as other residential care settings, must meet the following conditions before they welcome visitors:

Homes must not be in outbreak;
Homes must have an established process for communicating visitor protocol and the associated safety procedures; and
Homes must maintain the highest infection prevention and control standards

For retirement homes, visitor admissions will vary from home to home depending upon their individual circumstances.

Other residential care settings will also be allowed visitors under similar rules. These residential care settings include homes serving people with developmental disabilities, shelters for survivors of gender-based violence, and children's residential settings.

As the COVID-19 outbreak evolves in Ontario, the direction on visits at long-term care homes, retirement homes and residential settings will continually be updated keeping the safety and emotional wellbeing of residents and staff at the forefront.

You can listen to his remarks below: