MOORHEAD (KFGO) – After three years of regulations and restrictions, nursing homes around the country are finally settling into what will be considered ‘normal’ going forward, and the head of Moorhead-based Eventide Senior Living said it’s like a new day at their facilities.
On May 11, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid lifted an emergency health order that governed how nursing homes have functioned since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The last remaining regulation for nursing homes was staff masking, something Eventide President and CEO Jon Riewer said everyone wanted to see end.
“We really heard it from our residents. I can’t tell you how many times, even on my visits to all of our different campuses, I’d have residents begging me to take the mask off,” Riewer said. “You can imagine missing the smiles, and all those things. It’s a game changer now, to have that gone. Not to mention the added barrier that it is for just our staff, and – for a time – it wasn’t just masks. It was eye protection on top of it.”
Riewer said during the heart of the pandemic, masking was very necessary and he’s glad those precautions were in place, but having the masks go away has been uplifting to everyone.
“We’re a people business, and that’s what really matters – the relationships we have with each other, with our residents,” Riewer said. “So, just being able to have some of those verbal cues with a smile, and some of those things goes such a long way in our world.”
The end of masking for everyone comes just in time for summer when Riewer said they have a busy season of resident activities, including resident family picnics at all of their sites.
“It just couldn’t be better for us, and I’m sure that opinion is shared by all the folks who work in long-term care and senior housing – that this is a welcome change,” Riewer said.
Masking will still be used if cases of COVID return at Eventide. Riewer said there was one case requiring masks within the last week, but they are currently COVID-free.
Riewer said Eventide learned a lot about infection control through the pandemic. While they were already transitioning to single-occupancy rooms, and only have a handful of double rooms on a couple of sites, COVID sped that process.
Like many other industries, COVID had a big impact on long-term care workforce. Riewer said that is beginning to stabilize, but they have had to analyze how they operate. He said they are investing in and looking at different things to help their staff do their jobs more efficiently.
“We’re looking at any and all things because we know that the availability of people is going to be challenged,” Riewer said. “Not only just now, following the pandemic, but going forward. Certainly, that is one of the things that I don’t want to call it ‘won’t recover,’ but we’re going to have to continue to be creative about going forward.”
Last week, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill allocating $300 million to struggling nursing homes. Riewer said every skilled facility in the state is struggling, and they are grateful that the legislature was able to send facilities a lifeline.
Riewer said he wishes it would have been worked out earlier in the session rather than the 11th hour, and that it was more than temporary or a one-time benefit, but it will help them in the short-term. He also hopes it isn’t too little, too late for some facilities.
There were other items included in the bill that Riewer said are promising. One was a study around the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. Riewer said that could be one of the answers to how they deliver long-term care in the future.
Riewer said it also includes investments in programs to recruit workers, particularly high school students possibly getting credits for CNA classes.
“That’s really where it’s at now,” Riewer said. “We’re not going to solve our problems overnight. We have to be thinking about how we’re going to get more people into this field and make it a situation where they want to come into long-term care services. That, I think, is a great investment.”
Riewer said during the pandemic, caregivers were on everyone’s mind, and they had support from families and their communities during a very difficult time. He said he hopes that doesn’t go away now that the pandemic is over and things are on the upswing.
