Families working with local nursing home for end of life visitation

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -So many families are heartbroken over the forced distance between themselves and loved ones in nursing homes during COVID-19, but one woman was so desperate to see her mother she took to picketing a Lake County nursing home last month.

We reached out to that nursing home who is says they’re doing their best to follow safety precautions and help this family through such a difficult time.

One person who has been an incredible voice for her 95 year old mother, is a woman we first met in mid-June when she started picketing outside Ohio Living Breckenridge Village in Willoughby.

Doctors told her family that the nursing home resident was declining, so there was a now a sense of urgency.

Since then she’s entered hospice care, and her doctors said she would not be getting better.

Governor DeWine expanded visitation in late June, instructing facilities not to wait until people are actively dying to allow loved ones to visit

“I just want to go sit with her and read to her so she can hear my voice. I just want to spend time with her. I’d like to sit with her every day until she goes to heaven,” the picketer said.

Ohio Living Breckenridge Village says they are working with the woman’s family, and all families to make sure they can be together in these emotionally devastating times.

In a statement they said: “We wholeheartedly believe that residents need to see their families. The current situation is nothing short of heartbreaking for families all over Ohio. Currently, regulations for end-of-life visitation are very specific, clinically, and we are following them closely. Until the order is changed, we are doing everything we can to connect long-term care residents with their families safely through window visits and virtual visits.”

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