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New Jersey Long-Term Care Ombudsman

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Resident Newsletters

Beacon Newsletter

November 2021

VERY IMPORTANT VISITATION UPDATE FROM CMS!

On Friday, November 12th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updated its federal visitation guidance. This new guidance requires LTC facilities to allow indoor visitation “at all times and for all residents…[F]acilities can no longer limit the frequency and length of visits for residents, the number of visitors, or require advance scheduling of visits.” Even when there is a suspected COVID case and the facility is conducting outbreak testing, it cannot stop indoor visitation.

In that circumstance, visitors should be informed of the risks of visitation during a possible outbreak and the visitor and resident should wear face coverings. Through this new guidance, CMS is recognizing the toll that limited/no visitation has had on residents and is restoring this important resident right to routine, unscheduled, resident-driven visitation.

* Visitors who have a positive viral test for COVID-19, symptoms of COVID-19, or currently meet the criteria for quarantine, should not enter the facility. Facilities should screen all who enter for these visitation exclusions.

While it is safer for visitors not to enter the facility during an outbreak investigation, visitors must still be allowed in the facility. Visitors should be made aware of the potential risk of visiting during an outbreak investigation and adhere to the core principles of infection prevention.

November is National Family Caregivers Month and Alzheimer's Awareness Month!

TONY’S JOURNEY / I CHOOSE HOME NJ

Tony, 54, prizes his independence living in a Skillman apartment nowadays, but it was a long journey to get there.

The former warehouse worker had a stroke in 2017 and was moved from the hospital to a nursing home, to receive rehabilitation services. He made more progress at a second nursing facility, but he always knew the nursing home was not a permanent home.

“I didn’t like it there, because there were too many people, and I needed to be in a place by myself. But they got me to where I could move out on my own.”

After a few years in the nursing home, things changed for Tony when he met a representative from the I Choose Home New Jersey program. I Choose Home helped connect him with a furnished, accessible two-bedroom apartment; occupational and physical therapy; home delivered meals; and a trusted aide who comes five days a week.

Tony gets around in his motorized wheelchair. He orders his own groceries or goes shopping himself at the nearby supermarket. "It’s beautiful. I like it,” he says of his apartment. “I like my independence.”

Does he have any advice for others who want to move out of nursing homes? “Just keep working at it. Sooner or later, you’ll get what you want.”

If you are on Medicaid, have been in a nursing home for 60 days, and want more information about moving out, please call 1-855-466-3005. An I Choose Home representative will visit with you to discuss your options.


Last Updated: Thursday, 11/18/21