New Jersey State Ombudsman, Laurie Brewer, is Interviewed on Social Isolation in Nursing Homes During COVID-19

June 15, 2020

In New Jersey as the pandemic started to escalate, the state Department of Health suspended visits at all 678 long-term care facilities on March 14, with exceptions only for people who were near death. Three months later, as the state slowly starts to reopen, officials now face the toughest of decisions. Do they keep the ban on visitors in place to protect the safety of medically fragile people or do they lift it to relieve the emotional cost of isolation?

And that emotional toll is coming with devastating consequences. Without a visit or hug from the people who love them, the residents’ mental health is also affecting them physically, families and caregivers say. Some residents and their families are reporting bed sores and weight loss, said Laurie Brewer, who as New Jersey’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman takes calls from nursing homes and their families every day. More than that, they are becoming increasingly desperate. "Residents who have told us on the phone ‘I just can’t take this anymore and I don’t want to live any longer,’ " Brewer said. “That is why I feel strongly we really need to start to look at the severe emotional distress and trauma the residents of long-term care facilities have experienced. And I would add the staff, as well.”

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