Family caregivers of residents in longterm care homes experienced a collective trauma as they were kept away from their loved ones during the pandemic. This isolation has long-ranging impacts.
We all watched as the horrors unfolded in long-term care in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian LTC residents represented 81 per cent of the national reported COVID-19 deaths.
Family caregivers watched as the tragedies and distress occurred, while they were forbidden from visiting their loved ones in these homes. Family caregivers felt powerless in the face of draconian visitation bans levied by governments. They had to watch helplessly as their loved ones deteriorated. Relationships between essential family caregivers and LTC staff and management became strained, and often adversarial. Families felt that they were being purposefully kept out to hide the ongoing negligence exposed early on in the pandemic.
The futility of these video conferences led family caregivers to give up. Technology, in this case, was promoted as a lifeline to essential family caregivers but it turned out to be an inadequate means of communication. Many recounted their loved ones’ physical decline from being able to walk to becoming wheelchair-bound. They also witnessed residents’ deterioration, severe weight loss to the point of being “skin and bones,” unexplained injuries and often drastic cognitive changes.