Lydia contacted our office with a complaint about a virtual Father’s Day visit. Her husband, Derek, was living in long-term care and due to COVID-19, in person visits were not allowed. Lydia requested a virtual family visit for Father’s Day but her request was denied because the facility didn’t have enough staff to accommodate the visit. Lydia then requested to have the virtual Father’s Day visit the following day, but she did not receive a response.

We investigated whether Interior Health provided a reasonable response to Lydia’s request. In response to our questions, Interior Health advised us that they would facilitate a three-way virtual visit with Lydia, Derek and her son, who lived in a different town.

Due to the declining health of residents in long-term care and the ongoing stress associated with in-person visit restrictions as a direct result of the pandemic, we asked Interior Health to accommodate virtual visit requests for all families of residents living in the facility. Interior Health confirmed it would do so whenever possible.