Home Health & Hospice Week

The topic of hospices being able to access patients in facilities continues to draw attention.

In Florida, the daughter of a hospice patient in a Sarasota nursing home talked to Spectrum Bay News 9 about the difficulty she had getting the facility to let in a hospice nurse to assess her mother when she appeared unwell via a picture. The Pines at Sarasota administrator first refused to let in the daughter, Kelly Belisle, but then allowed a hospice nurse in two hours later for an assessment. The nursing home administrator called the police after “a confrontation,” according to Belisle.

The hospice nurse told Belisle her mother, Rose Marie Green, was actively dying, so Belisle brought Green home. Green died three days later. “If I hadn’t demanded and made a scene, I fear she would’ve died alone,” Belisle told the Tampa Bay-area news channel.

“Hospice workers are allowed into LTC facilities as the exception under Gov. DeSantis’ emergency order,” Bay News 9 pointed out. “Some long-term care facilities not following the rule.”

While the nursing home wouldn’t address the specific case, it issued a statement to the news channel saying “We continue to follow the mandates from our Governor and the Surgeon General under the emergency rule. The safety of our employees and our residents is our top priority.”