By Mallorie Rast
The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) recently published new inclusions to its compassionate care definitions, giving more opportunities for families to support their loved ones who are in care facilities and hospitals.
“When the global pandemic hit Saskatchewan in March, our first priority was to physically protect our patients and residents from contracting COVID-19,” SHA CEO Scott Livingstone said in the June 3rd press release. “We needed to tightly control who was coming into our facilities given the potential consequences for our long-term care residents and our patients. That hasn’t changed. But we have also learned that we need find [sic] the right balance between physical safety and mental health and well-being. We have heard that clearly from our residents, patients and families. So, together, we are trying to find the right path forward in the weeks and months ahead.”
The new inclusions to the compassionate reasons, cited from the June 3rd press release include the following:
- Residents in long-term care facilities can now be assessed to see if their quality of life needs cannot be met outside of family support; supportive family members can now be present one at a time with the resident.
- All critical and intensive care patients can now have one family member present with them during their admission
- Palliative care patients can now have two family members/support people present with them during their admission
- Inpatient, outpatient, emergency/urgent care patients who have specific challenges resulting in compromised comprehension, decision making or mobility due to disability or onset of a medical condition can have one family member present during admission
- Outdoor visits are no longer limited to only one person
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