China News Service, August 5th. According to a report by the American Overseas Chinese News Network, the New York nursing home has been severely affected, and family visits have not yet been opened. On the one hand, nursing homes stay closed to protect the elderly, and on the other hand, family members are concerned about the health and safety of their relatives. This is an unacceptable dilemma for Chinese families who value affection and companionship.
Not long ago, two Chinese families came to visit their relatives at the Brooklyn Binsons Rehabilitation Center. The two families know each other and have elders living in this nursing home, so they came together to visit. So far, the nursing home does not allow outsiders to visit, so family members can only see their relatives through the glass windows. They bring gifts, and the staff turns on the phone speakers so that the elderly can hear and speak with their relatives. These two elderly people are both in their eighties and come to visit their grandchildren who have children and are in college. They are happy to see their relatives making various greeting gestures through the glass and receiving gifts from their relatives. Smiled.
20% of beds available in nursing homes
During the epidemic, more than 6,000 people in New York State died of new coronary pneumonia in nursing homes. The government has issued many regulations to strictly control nursing homes. Although hospitals have been opened for visits, nursing homes are not yet available. Some people decided not to go to nursing homes due to fear of contracting the new coronary pneumonia and because they were unable to visit, so many beds were vacated in nursing homes. Lai Liyuan, vice president of business development at Binchenxu Rehabilitation Center, said that there are indeed a small number of people who dare not live in nursing homes because of fear of infection. In fact, most nursing homes now have no patients. The main reason for vacating many beds is that they are not allowed. Visit. At present, the entire nursing home industry has an average of 20% vacant beds, and some vacancy rates are as high as 30% or 40%, while the vacancy rate of good nursing homes is only 1%, usually 97% to 99% of the full capacity.
Lai Liyuan said that the Chinese attach great importance to accompany and take care of their elders. Some people say that if they can visit, they are willing to send their elders to nursing homes, but they can't make visits to make their families feel at ease. Some nursing homes have outdoor venues such as gardens, where family members can be arranged to meet with relatives outside. Those without outdoor venues can only look across the window.
Hospitals tend to let patients go home to recover
Lai Liyuan said that the government now encourages patients to go home for recovery. Each hospital has its own set of methods according to government guidelines and prefers to send patients home. For example, 30 patients in a Brooklyn hospital had knee surgery not long ago. Among them, 29 were sent home after being discharged from the hospital, and only one considered going to the rehabilitation center. He said that some patients need professional rehabilitation treatment. If they go home, the burden of helping them recover falls on their family members.
Nursing homes are not allowed to visit until 28 days without infection
The government requires that nursing homes must not have any patient or staff infected with the new crown virus for 28 consecutive days before they can be opened for visits. If one person is found to be infected, the date must be recalculated. He said that this is a very strict requirement. It is understood that no nursing home meets this requirement. The Binchenxu Rehabilitation Center has no residents infected for a month and a half, but an employee tested positive not long ago and returned to the starting point. Usually a nursing home has 200 beds, a large one has 500 beds, and there are hundreds of employees. The government requires each employee to be tested once a week. Lai Liyuan said that if someone is infected, everyone on the entire floor will be tested and reported to the Department of Health. (Lin Jing)