County legislators want caregivers to see loved ones in nursing homes, even during pandemic

ALBION – Orleans County legislators passed a resolution on Tuesday in support of the “Essential Caregivers Act” which would allow people considered essential caregivers to provide care and support for residents in nursing homes and long-term facilities during a pandemic.

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney has introduced the “Essential Caregivers Act” in the House of Representatives. Nursing homes and long-term care facilities didn’t allow visitation for long stretches of the Covid pandemic, and because of that separation “far too many lost their will to survive, and many others have suffered untold and irreversible emotional, psychological and physical pain as a result of this separation,” according to the legislators’ resolution.

In Orleans County, the state reports there were 51 confirmed deaths from Covid at nursing homes, and another 16 who died from Covid away from the nursing home in a hospital or another facility. The state Department of Health said there are two additional presumed deaths from Covid among nursing home residents, according to state Department of Health data.

Tenney’s legislation defines an essential caregiver as an individual who provides direct care consisting of activities of daily living, emotional support, or companionship to a resident, and is chosen by the resident or the resident’s legal representative.

The “Essential Caregivers Act” allows that in a future public health emergency, designated essential caregivers will have their access to their loved ones protected in a manner consistent with all applicable health and safety protocols.