For Impacted Families

 

Preserving Presence

Family caregivers toolkit. In some places, family caregivers are being called upon to assist in the care of their loved ones.

    • Read this very useful toolkit “Guidelines for Preserving Family Presence in Challenging Times – May 28, 2020”

    • Study & review PPE protocols. For example this video from the Ottawa hospital. 

    • Keep windows open - See these experiments with micro-droplets in rooms with low-ventilation and rooms with open windows.

    • Caregiver Mental Health During COVID-19 Outbreak toolkit (Ontario), self care toolkit (BC)

 

Know Your Rights

Please visit this website for fantastic advice on how to navigate discriminatory triage policies:

https://nobodyisdisposable.org

  1. PREPARE THESE 4 CRITICAL LEGAL DOCUMENTS including Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare (or Medical Power of Attorney), Durable Financial Power of Attorney, Advance Directive, Will or Trust (n.b These documents may differ from province to province and state to state. This project is U.S. based)

  2. STRATEGIES FOR ADVOCACY even if the advocate is not allowed in the facility.

  3. POTENTIAL SURVIVAL STRATEGIES TO CONSIDER IF YOU FACE DISCRIMINATION including how to build connections with health care providers, navigate triage committees, and use the law to get the care you or your loved one deserves. 

  4. SAMPLE LETTER TO PROVIDERS to help communicate with medical providers, taking into consideration the feeling of intense power imbalance.

Additionally, this document aims to provide measures to ensure older persons’ human rights are met during the COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 and human rights concerns for older persons (AGE Platform Europe, Belgium)

Building a Network of Families

  • Do a search on Facebook to make sure no other groups exist for the facility you are trying to organize for. This ensures you aren’t duplicating someone else’s efforts. If you find that there aren’t any existing groups, start one! Starting a group for families and friends of residents and workers in the facility is a great way to start organizing locally.

  • Set up the Facebook group so that you have control over who is joining. Facebook allows you to set up screening questions to potential members of your group. Setting up screening questions allows you to make sure the person is real and aligned with the mission of the group.

  • Begin building the community’s network by inviting people to the Facebook group. Some facilities may have existing communication networks (newsletters, email lists, resident committees, etc) that can be great to tap into. If you know other friends or family members, invite them to your Facebook group. If you don’t know anyone else (this document’s creator didn’t) you can try to find folks by searching for the name of the facility on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If the facility has an instagram account or a Facebook page look there to see who else is making posts about the facility. Reach out and invite them to join your group. You can also make posts in the local area’s Facebook groups to invite people to join if they have a relative or friend at the facility. 

  • Once the group starts to grow, reach out to individual members so that you can get to know each other. See what kind of resources you all have, who has which skill sets and what kind of availability everyone has to work on initiatives for the facility. Your page might just be a place to share resources, support and information. That’s great. 

  • Other ways to connect:

    • Set up weekly Zoom Calls for the group.

    • Depending on how large your group is you can create sub-committees to tackle different initiatives and coordinate leadership or co-leadership roles. Ex: Donations Committee, Public Advocacy Committee, Staff Appreciation Committee, etc.

    • Start Whatsapp, Signal or Facebook Messenger chat groups for each floor of the facility so that family members can begin communicating with each other and sharing information in smaller groups as well as the larger collective. 

    • Make strong connections with individuals in the administration and with the head nurses. Hopefully they will see you and your group as a valuable resource to the facility during the crisis!