With the coronavirus infecting nursing homes across the country at an alarming rate, many families are wondering whether their loved ones would be better off at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first thing you need to do is weigh the individual’s needs and the support you are able to provide whether it is family assisting or bringing in outside homecare providers.  The answer to this is different for everyone.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised long-term care facilities to undergo a variety of steps to protect residents and staff, but it has not issued guidance or recommendations about decisions to move nursing home residents out of a facility. “This is a personal decision that each family should make in consultation with their healthcare provider based on their unique circumstances,” CDC spokeswoman Kate Grusich says. In determining the individual’s needs, you should start by evaluating their situation, asking the following questions:

• Does their nursing home have any COVID-19 positive cases? If they do, how are they handling this and has the COVID positive patient been moved to a hospital or are they treating them at their facility?
• Are facility employees practicing proper safety protocols?
• Is your loved one able to communicate how they feel about the situation?
• What type of medical care does your loved one need?
• Are they mobile or do they need help with even the most basic tasks that require constant assistance?
• If your loved one relies on your visits for emotional support, you will need to consider what this isolation will do for their psychological health.
• Will the impact be enough to cause a lasting effect?

It’s important to think through practicalities of bringing a loved one home.  How is your home set up, is it both wheelchair and/or walker accessible and can you maneuver these throughout your home?  Is your bathroom large enough to provide safe access with this type of equipment? There are lots of details to consider and it’s important to have a checklist if you decide to move your loved one into your home, even temporarily.  Critical items on your checklist should include:

• Transferring prescriptions to your local pharmacy
• Making sure you have enough medication until you can fill that prescription
• Handling physician appointments
• Working with your Home Health Care Agency to schedule any therapists, (physical, occupational, etc) that your love one requires.

Cost is also a factor in making this decision.  Most private homecare is covered by Long-Term Care policies and in many cases if the patient is a Veteran or the spouse of a Veteran, the “Aid and Attendance Pension Fund,” provides a lifetime of care benefit for both the Veteran and their surviving spouse and will pay for this care as well.

If you decide that moving your loved one to your home in the care of a Homecare Company, you will need to notify your facility, as there are both state and federal laws regarding the discharge process. If this is a temporary move, you will need to find out if you are able to re-admit your loved one after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.  If this is the case, make sure to get this in writing.

If you are looking for the same level of care in the home setting, and family members can’t fulfill all of the care-giving needs, finding the right licensed and bonded Homecare Company to fill in those gaps, is the next step to feeling secure bringing your loved one home. Ensuring that the Homecare Company has Certified Nursing Assistants who are trained in COVID-19 safety precautions and have the necessary PPE (personal protective equipment) is going to be a key factor in feeling comfortable about this decision.

Ultimately the decision about whether to move your loved one home or keep them in a facility depends on the individual and the type of care they need, the level of support their family can provide, what their medical professionals recommend and how the facility is handling the coronavirus.  Only you can decide what is best for your loved one.