Questions To Ask When Covid-19 Spikes Near a Loved One’s Assisted Living

With different areas of Texas seeing a spike in cases depending on the city and area you live in; you might be wondering if your loved one is taken care of. Many facilities have taken precautions but can vary from location to another. We wanted to compile a few questions that we think are important to ask of your care facility and of yourself as a caregiver.

Is my parent currently vaccinated and are they able to receive the vaccine if they haven’t already been given it?

Covid-19 has been especially tough on the elderly and if your loved one is able to receive the vaccine, they should per Covid-19 guidelines from the CDC (SOURCE). It should be noted that your parent may or may not have some of the following side effects from the vaccine:

• Pain, redness, or swelling where you get your shot
• Tiredness
• Headache
• Muscle pain
• Chills
• Fever
• Nausea

As a caregiver, do your best to help monitor the health of your loved one if cases are spiking near them.

2) What is the assisted living home’s protocol if a person within the facility is confirmed to have Covid-19?

Depending on the local guidelines provided from the state and city level, these can vary. It will be important to note that what happens if an employee, visitor, resident, or outside vendor is found to be positive with Covid-19.

3) What are the rules around visiting my loved one if cases are spiking in my area?

Once again, different facilities might have different approaches to controlling how much their residents could potentially be exposed to Covid-19. However, you need to ask both questions:

1. What are the daily protocols around visitors and how are you monitoring how many are in/out of the assisted living facility?
2. If the assisted living facility goes on lockdown, what are the visitation protocols at that point?

Trying to prepare yourself for both situations will help you deal with it if/when that situation may rise.

4) Is there anything that I’m currently doing for my loved one that I need to tell the assisted living facility about?

Sometimes this can be something you don’t realize is detrimental to the care of your loved one until you no longer have access to them.

Make a list of all things you might be currently helping with that requires you to be there in-person and pass that onto the care facility. It will be extremely important to avoid obstacles ahead of time.