The coronavirus pandemic has led to unprecedented changes in nursing homes and assisted living communities. As a precaution, new nursing home regulations in some states now restrict visits from family and friends to slow down the spread of the virus. However, just because you can’t meet up with your senior relative in person doesn’t mean you can’t stay connected.

How to Keep in Touch

Give Them a Call

If your senior relative owns a phone, call them regularly to check on how they’re feeling. You can stick to a set schedule for contacting them, but remember that unscheduled calls can be a welcomed surprise as well.

Make Use of Technology 

Aside from phone calls, try video conferences to see their current condition better. Gather short video messages, emails, and virtual cards from relatives and close friends and send these to perk up their day. You can even teach them how to play online games with you as entertainment.

Send Care Packages

Show your love by sending them packages filled with supplies and objects they enjoy, such as snacks, books, and other comfort items. Include photos, handwritten letters, cards, and printed emails they can read if they’re not handy with technology.

Why It’s Important to Maintain Connection

It’s unclear how long the nursing home regulations that prevent visits will stay in effect. Even if your senior relative is surrounded by their peers and caring professionals, they may still feel anxiety over not knowing when they’ll see you again.

Seniors also tend to have lower immune systems and medical conditions that make them more susceptible to the coronavirus, which only gets exacerbated with anxiety. You should keep the line of communication going with your senior relatives.

Frequent interactions can keep their mind and body healthy and remind them that they have family members who love and care about them. It can also ensure that they are not being neglected at the nursing home.

Though nursing home regulations may prevent you from visiting your elderly loved one, keep in touch with them regularly to ensure they don’t become victims of nursing home abuse. If you suspect that this is happening to them, a seasoned attorney from Reed Law PC LLO in Omaha, NE, can help. Call (402) 933-0588 or inquire online to set an initial consultation with a lawyer.