Pavan’s mother, Aarti’s birthday was approaching and she wanted to be able to visit with her to celebrate at the long-term care home she was living in. While the home had initially approved the social visit, days before it was supposed to take place, the facility contacted Pavan and told her another family member, Jessie, who was the regularly approved visitor, was the only person who would be able to visit. Desperate to see her mom, Pavan travelled to the facility and stood behind a chain link fence approximately 35 feet from where Aarti and Jessie were sitting outside and waved to her. Pavan’s frustration mounted when a week later, Jessie received a request from the facility asking him to sign a contract that stated he would not bring a second visitor within the visual sightline of Aarti and if he did, his visits would be cancelled and replaced with virtual ones only.

Frustrated, Pavan asked for our help.

In reviewing Pavan’s complaint, the terms of the contract regarding visual sightlines raised fairness concerns. We appreciated a gathering on the other side of the fence could be disruptive and challenging for residents, and depending on the size, may be in contravention of a public health order; however, we concluded that situations like Pavan’s could be dealt with on a case by case basis. In looking more closely at the visitor contract, we also noted it included a provision that stated: “I understand that my loved one may become upset by the possibility of seeing me and not being able to touch or hug me. If I see they are becoming upset, I will say goodbye and end the visit”.

Given the profile and complexity of heath, mental health and cognitive decline for long-term care residents which might have been negatively impacted by the pandemic-related visiting restrictions, it seemed that a resident may become upset during a visit for several reasons. The blanket response outlined in the visiting contract did not consider the reasons why the resident may be upset, nor did it consider involving the visitor to assist in calming the situation. Depending on the circumstances, a variety of factors could be considered to determine how best to respond to a resident becoming upset during a visit.

In order to settle the matter of unfairness, we asked Fraser Health to remove the provision dealing with visual sightlines and to reconsider the condition that deals with how a loved one responds when a resident becomes upset during a social visit. In response, Fraser Health replaced the visitor contract with visitor guidelines that addressed the concerns we raised.