When the Biden administration announced a set of proposed nursing home reforms last month, consumer advocates were both pleased and puzzled. The reforms call for minimum staffing requirements, stronger regulatory oversight, and better public information about nursing home quality — measures advocates have promoted for years. Yet they don’t address residents’ rights to have contact with informal […]
Penny Shaw is a writer and advocate working on behalf of individuals with disabilities and nursing home residents. A university faculty member and administrator with a Ph.D. in French literature, Shaw developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare neuromuscular condition, in 2001. In 2002 she moved to a nursing home in Braintree that specializes in neurorehabilitation, where […]
Editor’s Note: Judith Graham’s article (first published July 13, 2020, by Kaiser Health News) captures many important issues related to nursing home visitation policies adapted for COVID-19. I can report from personal experience that the socially distanced visits Graham describes, now available at many long-term care facilities, are an imperfect solution to a “heart-wrenching problem.” […]