A little over a decade ago, if memory serves, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs euphemistically renamed their 100 or so odd skilled nursing facilities as “Community Living Centers,” (CLCs) as part of their push to emphasize the “homelike” environment that they wanted to promulgate as part of their person-centered philosophy of care.
As of today - 2023 - as far as I am aware - the VA CLCs nationally continue to mandate “universal masking” of staff and all residents who are cognitively able to comply with the rule.
This is not “homelike” in any way, shape, or form.
We are not treating our veterans, many of whom have served their country bravely and selflessly in traumatic conditions of war - humanely, or like they are living in a “home.”
And it’s all done “for safety”- heaven forbid they get Covid! Instead let’s let them suffer from depression, isolation, paranoia. Seems much safer. And those that have hearing loss? Let’s condemn them to complete silence. Seems fair. Communication is so “yesterday” anyway.
It’s so depressing to think about. I’m so sorry for these sweet people. I will say that sometimes a kindly worded letter confronting this issue can be effective. Our local headstart program was still masking despite the requirement to go so. I call our program and was able to speak to the director about the issue of masking. I asked for her permission to email her the research and adverse effects of masking. I concluded with “sometimes you have to be brave and just go what’s right. We need to stop stealing from kids.” It worked! She stopped masking those precious babies that week. If you post vas that are still masking, I will write letters.
Thanks for bringing a light to these forgotten people!
And it’s all done “for safety”- heaven forbid they get Covid! Instead let’s let them suffer from depression, isolation, paranoia. Seems much safer. And those that have hearing loss? Let’s condemn them to complete silence. Seems fair. Communication is so “yesterday” anyway.
It’s so depressing to think about. I’m so sorry for these sweet people. I will say that sometimes a kindly worded letter confronting this issue can be effective. Our local headstart program was still masking despite the requirement to go so. I call our program and was able to speak to the director about the issue of masking. I asked for her permission to email her the research and adverse effects of masking. I concluded with “sometimes you have to be brave and just go what’s right. We need to stop stealing from kids.” It worked! She stopped masking those precious babies that week. If you post vas that are still masking, I will write letters.
Thanks for bringing a light to these forgotten people!
f'ing ridiculous.
Yup. Not that the VA has a good history of service to veterans.