Linnwood Estates Nurse Rolling With The Punches
Brandi Bockman is trying to keep it light.
It hasn’t been easy.
The program coordinator at the Linnwood Estates Assisted Living is talking about staying vigilant in her and her staff’s frontline effort to keep the assisted living facility from being a devastating statistic in the face of a deadly pandemic and she isn’t willing to concede an inch to COVID-19, panic or PPE shortages.
“We’re a pretty good group,” she said. “We roll with the punches.”
Linnwood Estates houses 22 senior tenants. Bockman, a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) who has served as the program coordinator since 2016, manages a staff of nine in the care of the residents.
She does admit, it’s been a hard couple of months since the virus took over.
“It’s been a bit of struggle to learn all the new guidelines and put all of the new guidelines into practice and notify all the pertinent people of all the new guidelines,” Bockman said. “It’s more of a challenge than every day prior to COVID.”
In mid-March, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued an order that requires nursing home and assisted living staff to undergo health care screenings and have their temperatures taken at the start and end of each shift. At Linwood, residents, or tenants as Bockman calls them, and staff are screened daily. Access to and movement within the facility is also heavily regulated. Residents at the facility have not had any outside social visitors since mid-March.
Bockman believes the restrictions on visitors and social interaction within the facility have been the hardest adjustments for the residents. Most residents rely on the social interaction, both with other residents and visitors, as part of their daily routines. Keeping them engaged and active as much possible while maintaining social distance has been key.
“Some of them don’t understand why they can’t do the things they normally do,” she said. “It was nothing to go from one room to the next to visit with your friends. So, trying to explain to them why that’s a risk has been a challenge for everyone.
“Just as it is in the public, we have it here; some people have a firmer belief that this is a potential hazard and others just think ‘I’m 90-something years old, what difference does it make?’”
Nationally and in Iowa, COVID-19 has had a disproportionate effect on people who reside or work in long-term care facilities. There are more than 400 long-term care facilities in Iowa. In the latest numbers released by the Iowa Department of Public health, nearly half of all of Iowa’s COVID-19 deaths involved residents at long-term care facilities.
So far, Linnwood Estates, and the handful of long-term care facilities in Mills County have avoided the virus.
Bockman was quick to praise the hard, sometimes stressful work of her staff and the assistance of Mills County Public Health and the Iowa Health Care Association in those efforts.
But she had trouble putting into words her feelings on the devastation the same vulnerable population she serves and workers like herself at those long-term care facilities have suffered in the wake of COVID-19.
“It’s scary,” she said. “Our local area has been fortunate in that is has not affected our facilities at this point in time. But the fact that I know facilities are being hard hit just kind of puts that extra level of fear. Our residents are older anyway and compromised anyway so just that added risk that someone from the outside or a loved one could bring in something that potentially ends them before their time is scary.”
Bockman’s staff is small and tightknit. But they weather the storm. When one staff member is struggling or the stress gets to be too much, others step up. Communication is a job requirement.
“We talk a lot,” she said. “We throw ideas out and vent together. We just kind of work through it every day.”
It isn’t the personal relief from stress Bockman looks forward to, however. She’s eager for her tenants to be able to resume their lives, too.
“I still have a lot of years ahead of me, I hope,” she said. “So, while I’m personally eager for it to be over, I am probably dealing with it a little better than they are. But the opportunity for them to get back to being able to visit with their families and friends and resume their normal activities, things they enjoy for the remainder of their years, yeah, we’re all pretty anxious to get back to that.”
Last week, Iowa began a regulated, slow re-opening of the state for many businesses. Long-term care facilities were not among those having restrictions lifted and Bockman is certain that won’t happen any time soon.
“So, it’s going to be even more challenging when the general public is out there and we’re not. We have to remind our tenants we are still under restrictions,” she said. “Our staff has to be reminded as they can go out in the public and more places.
“There is that added risk to potentially bring something back into the building. It’s a day-by-day thing and I don’t see a quick end for us. The longer it goes on, the more stressful it becomes.”
Bockman said the uncertainty of the pandemic as it affects her job and residents is its own stressor. She’s not sure what to tell families who reach out to her about when they can see their parents or grandparents.
“Some have been very grateful for everything we do,” she said of the letters, calls and emails she’s received. “But there’s always some, as is the case anywhere and just like the general public, who don’t hold the belief that this is necessary or that the steps we are taking are too restrictive or shouldn’t include them and they should be exempt for some reason. But for the most part, they’ve been very good about following the guidelines we’ve asked them to and still keep in contact with their loved ones.”
And then there’s those occasional correspondence, or a delivery of unexpected treats, or a note of thanks for efforts her and staff are making.
“It does feel good,” she conceded. “I don’t think any one of us got into this for the recognition. But it’s nice to know they don’t hate us and they recognize we’re trying to do the best by their family member.”