HALIFAX -- Residents of long-term care facilities in Nova Scotia will be able to visit with their loved ones again, starting next week.

That includes residents at Northwood, the largest long-term care facility east of Montreal. The home, located in Halifax’s north end, dealt with the largest outbreak of COVID-19 in Nova Scotia, with 345 cases among residents and staff.

The first five cases involving Northwood residents were reported on April 7.

Fifty-three Northwood residents have died from COVID-19 since the outbreak.

However, the province announced Wednesday that there were no longer any active cases of COVID-19 at any of Nova Scotia's long-term care homes, including Northwood.

With no more active cases, the facility will begin holding outdoor visits on Monday -- exactly three months after visits were cancelled indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer families and friends visiting beginning June 15”, said Northwood CEO Janet Simm. “We know how eager everyone is to see their loved ones as soon as possible, however, we must do this in a very safely orchestrated plan, following the guidelines set out for us by public health.”

Beginning next week, Northwood staff will be contacting families to schedule outdoor visits. Only two visitors will be allowed per resident.

“Families will receive written information outlining the detailed outdoor visitation processes, along with reminders of proper physical distancing and use of a mask when visiting,” said Simm.

Visits will be held outdoors in Northwood’s courtyard and will be limited to 30 minutes. A distance of two metres must be kept between residents and their visitors, and no touching will be allowed.

“Visitors will be met by a screener who will ask series of questions about their current well-being. Visitors’ temperatures will be taken, they will be asked to use hand sanitizer and clean their phones,” explained Simm.

All visitors will be required to wear a mask, given to them by staff, and will not be allowed to use the washroom facilities. No outside items or gifts will be allowed to be given to the residents.

Northwood will have eight family visits on Monday, and hopes to increase that number going forward. Visits will be scheduled seven days a week to accommodate initial visits for 400 residents.

Concerns raised about arranging visits

However, with so many residents living at Northwood, family members are concerned about how the visits are being arranged.

“My concern is they have such a large number of residents, depending on how many visits they allow per day, you’re only going to be able to visit once every month if you’re lucky,” says Carol McKee.

McKee’s mother is a resident at Northwood. She tested positive for COVID-19 but has since recovered. McKee says her mother’s additional health issues make in-person visits especially important for her family.

“My mother suffers from glaucoma, and she had some vision when this all started, but because she hasn’t been able to be followed up from specialists, her glaucoma has progressed and she’s losing her vision,” explains McKee. “FaceTime calls don’t really work for her because she can’t see us, so it’s very important for us to be able to visit her.”

Northwood says staff will identify the residents on every floor by need and meeting criteria. Client relations teams will work their way through the lists in order, rotating through all 18 floors to ensure a fair system.

“What happens if the date and time they give me is not doable for myself?” asks McKee. “If I’m already working and booked into a pre-scheduled meeting, does that mean I lose that visit slot and have to wait for the entire next round?”

Northwood also warns visitors that, because they haven’t seen their loved ones in several months, they may notice changes such as weight loss, increased frailty, cognitive decline and sadness from isolation. Social workers will be designated to check in with visitors on the phone for support.

Preparing for a second wave

Northwood’s executive director of long-term care says lessons learned and practices implemented during the outbreak will help protect against a second wave.

“We know so much more now,” says Ryan. “We’ve been able to create more private rooms, we’ve been able to decrease the size of the units and we’re focusing on all the lessons learned in terms of infection control. Screening will continue, we have universal masking now, and that will make a difference too, because if there are people coming in, that will help protect residents against spread. So there are practices in place that will help protect against a second wave.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, Northwood had 270 private rooms and 108 shared rooms, but Ryan says there is also a plan to reduce the number of shared rooms going forward.

“Right now we’re down to about 30 shared rooms,” says Ryan. “We will keep a couple, probably about 12 semi-private rooms because we do have some couples that want to be together and roommates who do not want to be separated. We’re hopeful that by the fall we will have all private rooms, and decreased size of units, so residents should be almost all in their own private rooms. We’re up to about 330 people in private rooms right now.”

McKee also is concerned about the process in which residents will be selected for single rooms.

“My mother was only admitted in October, so she’s sort of on the lower side of seniority. Does that mean she has to go back in a shared room? Does that put her at an increased risk?” asks McKee.

Northwood says, if any new cases of COVID-19 are identified, they will follow directions from Public Health on visitation going forward.