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OSWEGO, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — It has been almost three months since Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned visitors from nursing homes because of COVID-19.
The governor said at his daily briefing Thursday the State Health Department continues to review the ban but is not ready to lift it because the virus is still very present in the State.
Nursing facilities like The Manor at Seneca Hill in Oswego have been using technology to keep up with the critical interactions between its residents and friends and family.
Jason Santiago is the Chief Operating Officer at The Manor at Seneca Hill run by Oswego Health and also oversees their senior independent living facility Springside at Seneca Hill.
He says, “To not be able to see your loved one for a hundred days that’s a big ask for family members. So, that makes it that much more critically important that we’re making the time to connect with those family members.”
The staff at The Manor have been using technology, like iPads with FaceTime, to allow residents and loved ones to continue interacting.
Even though it’s virtual, Santiago says it’s working. He witnessed one case firsthand with a resident suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia able to connect with family.
He tells NewsChannel 9, “With Alzheimer’s and dementia you can see that sometimes they’re not aware of the reality around them, so when they were conferencing with their daughter I saw the smile light up on her face. So, it went from a state of confusion to seeing that familiar face and seeing that smile that just lit her up and her eyes wide open and it was just a great thing great to see. That’s just how critically important that communication, those person to person connections are, so I understand why we still have to have the visitor restrictions because there’s a lot of unknowns with COVID-19 but to be able to bridge that gap to make people with Alzheimer’s, dementia or people that need 24 chronic care to be able to have those kind of connections is critically important.”
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the social work staff at The Manor make phone calls to families to update them on what was going on at the facility and in general with senior living facilities.
“It really gets to the root of why we get into this line of business. It’s not always glamorous but when you have things like that happen where you see the smile on someone’s face when they connect with a family member, it makes it all those issues well worth it,” Santiago says.
Nursing homes in New York State have been hit very hard by COVID-19 but Santiago is happy to report they haven’t had one positive case for the virus in either of the senior facilities operated by Oswego Health.
