PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Weeks after the Presque Isle Rehab and Nursing Center nursing home instituted new COVID-19 regulations restricting visitors and employing social distancing, its administrator says residents are doing well during this uncertain time.
New methods of communication and activities have taken the place of age-old practices, allowing nursing home life to continue. Visitors come not through the door, but over FaceTime. Residents still play bingo, but staff relay numbers using a series of radios.
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Initially, the home allowed visitations, but screened all visitors and staff before they entered the building, including temperature checks and questions about their travel history.
That policy was in place from Tuesday, March 10, to Saturday, March 14, when administrator Mark McKenna said the home closed itself to visitors to follow new guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
On Friday, McKenna said that while it had been difficult for residents and their loved ones to adapt to the new guidelines, the home had found ways to get the 56 residents at the facility adequately socialized.
He said the nursing home was using technology to allow residents to communicate with their family members, including video calling programs such as Skype and FaceTime. Some family members are also interacting with family members through the closed windows of the home.
He said staff was providing more one-on-one activities to those living in the home. They were also regularly brought outside to “lift their spirits.”
He said residents could only leave the facility when staff bring them to “medically necessary” appointments, during which the patient and staff member wear masks. He said these appointments are also providing residents a chance to be screened for COVID-19.
Anyone who’s visited nursing homes knows they are usually very social places, with endless discussion and activities. Not so much since the advent of the new COVID-19 regulations: residents must now be six feet away from each other at all times.
“Residents are basically confined to their rooms in order to maintain the distancing,” McKenna said. “Group activities and dining have been suspended.”
With group eating suspended, McKenna said staff were bringing meals to residents’ rooms. While it is not currently being instituted, he said the nursing home will switch to disposable utensils, plates and cups if there is a COVID-19 case within the building.
McKenna said there was no way to predict how long the regulations would continue and that he and other staff would continue to follow guidance from the national CDC and Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Though he said it was a difficult time, McKenna remained optimistic about how his residents were handling the crisis.
“I want to relay to families that the residents are doing well and look forward to seeing them in-person again,” McKenna said. “I also thank everybody for their understanding of our policies at this time and pray that we can return to normalcy soon.”
