Care facilities can open for in-person visitations

    ELK HORN – Peggy and Rollie Hansen hadn’t been able to hold hands or hug for nearly seven months before they finally got the chance recently due to newly-updated guidance on care facility visitations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
    Rollie is a resident of the Salem Lutheran Homes in Elk Horn, with Peggy living in town.  Married for 66 years, the pair has had to communicate from afar due to safety concerns with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and into 2021.
    Once they got the chance to physically give each other a hug again it was “the best feeling in the world,” the two said.
    As Iowa anticipates more than one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered in upcoming months, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with the CDC, says nursing homes can expand visitation options during the pandemic public health emergency.
    That’s welcome news to care facilities.  Nicklos Norby, administrator at the Salem Homes, said through COVID they have been doing their best to accommodate compassionate care visits with the goal of meeting the psychosocial needs of its residents.
    “These new regulations even further help our residents be with their families,” he said.
    “Prior to COVID-19, many of us overlooked the impact a hug can have.  
    “Now that we are once again able to have a resident hug their loved one goodbye, we can’t be thankful enough.”
    Nationwide, more than three million vaccine doses have been administered within nursing homes to staff and residents.
    According to the new guidance, facilities should allow responsible indoor visitation at all times and for all residents regardless of vaccination status of the resident, or visitor, unless certain scenarios arise that would limit visitation such as residents infected or in quarantine.
    While regulations have eased, the Iowa Department of Public Health still recommends adhering to all of the core principles of COVID-19 infection control, including physical distancing, hand hygiene and masking to stay safe.
    “This has given all of our staff and residents a bit of hope that we are starting to round the corner of this pandemic, and that we may soon have a little bit of normalcy back in our lives,” said Norby.