By SARAH GUDENEAU, Solutions News Bureau
The COVID-19 pandemic has had detrimental effects worldwide, especially on assisted living facilities — home to some of the most vulnerable populations. Olivia Johnson, a junior in nursing school, explains what it’s like to be a caregiver in a nursing home during the pandemic, the added challenges COVID-19 brings, and the ways caregivers are getting creative to ensure residents can communicate with their loved ones.
What made you go into nursing, or want to be a caregiver in general?
I knew healthcare was always for me, but nursing stuck out to me because I like how you’re consistently with the patient for 12 hours unlike the doctor where they just come, consult for five minutes, and then they’re on to the next patient. You get to truly know them [the patients] and care for them in their most vulnerable state — you see them from their worst to when they get discharged, so it’s inspiring to be there through that whole process.
Describe your role at the nursing home.
I work in the memory care unit of assisted living as a caregiver. I started in 2020, when COVID was already happening. The building was already on lockdown. We had to wear masks and face shields. Nobody in our building at that time had COVID, which was something that we were proud of, so we were very COVID-safe.
What is your day-to-day schedule like in the caregiver role?
I usually work the morning shift, so I walk in at 7 and do rounds with the midnights to see what happened during their shift. I’m assigned a set of patients and I wake them up, dress them, help shower those who are scheduled to, transfer them into their wheelchairs, and bring them to the general living area because they have to be observed 24/7. I help pass out food during breakfast and help feed the patients who can’t feed themselves.
After breakfast, we get everyone set up in the living room for activities like bingo, exercise classes or movies. By then, it’s time for lunch, and after everyone does more activities. Then we take everybody to the bathroom again to make sure they’re clean, checked and changed. My shift ends at three, so when afternoons come in, I do rounds with them. I also answer phone calls from patients’ families and give them updates.
What is a specific issue, or major challenge, you face as a caregiver?
Visits during COVID are challenging. During the visiting ban, I worked as a COVID swabber and I saw and interacted with the residents and they’d tell me about how depressed they felt because they wanted to see their loved ones and talking over the phone isn’t the same thing. Many residents are hearing impaired and they need to read lips to understand.
What was a response the nursing home took to make visiting possible for family members?
The family members could do window visits to minimize the spread of COVID. They would go up to the resident’s room’s window from the outside. Some of the visitors would just sit there with them and keep them company, but others would call. Every resident has a phone in their room, so the visitors would call them on their phone so that they could hear them better.
Did the window visits help?
The window visits not only helped the residents and their loved ones but also all the employees. Every day we would have a morning meeting where the employees were updated on various things that were occurring that day. Window visits became part of the meetings each day. All the employees would get excited for the residents who had visitors coming that day because we knew how much they had been longing to see their families. It truly lifted everyone’s mood.
In what ways were window visits limited in effectiveness?
The upstairs people would get upset because they couldn’t do window visits as easily, so then family members had to make an appointment so they could use the windows downstairs in the lobby for visits. Then it wasn’t private since we [the caregivers] would be sitting down there with them.
What do you want people to know about yourself and caregivers in our community?
We love the residents and care for them, but when they press their pendant and are impatient because we didn’t come the minute that they pushed, they have to understand that we’re taking care of 30 other residents. Even with family members they’re like, “Oh, why is this bed not made yet?” Does a bed being made really matter when somebody else is on the floor because they fell? We have to prioritize, so I feel like [I want them to have] just patience.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity, and Johnson’s name was changed for privacy reasons.
This story was produced in collaboration with the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations and universities dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about successful responses to social problems. The group is supported by the Solutions Journalism Network.
