Care homes and coronavirus: Could the cure be worse than the disease?
“My mother is a real chatterbox, and though four years of dementia means some of the words are now lost, she never misses a visual cue – it’s impossible to hide a bad mood from her,” Laura says. “One of her favourite things is to pore over magazines with me, looking at dresses and style. She has always been a great believer in John Muir’s mantra: ‘Everybody needs beauty as well as bread’.”
On 15 March, however, as a result of the pandemic, the home closed its doors to visitors to prevent the spread of infection. And, while few relatives would have argued with this decision at the time, the distress the length of the separation has caused is palpable, and the deterioration in many residents’ conditions unmistakable.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad