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Equal Visitation
Overview
LGBTQ+ older people have a greater likelihood to age alone without the family they were born into. For many in the LGBTQ+ community, resident's may have a "family of choice" in replacement of or in addition to their family of origin (e.g mother, father, sibling). One's family of choice may be made up of friends, former partners, other LGBTQ+ community members. Including inclusive language and definitions in your community's visitation policy shows your welcomeness and intention to protect LGBTQ+ residents and LGBTQ+ visitors.
The federal government requires that all long-term care communities receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding ensure that residents are granted certain rights and protections, including the right to spend time with visitors. This includes:
- The right of residents to see visitors at any time - 24 hours per day - as long as the visit does not interfere with the provision of care and privacy rights of other residents.
- The right to have visitors of the resident’s choice - including same-sex spouses, same-sex domestic partners, other family, or friends.
- The right to see anyone who gives the resident help with health, social, legal, or other services at any time.
- The right to spend private time with visitors.
These rights, combined with a community’s resident non-discrimination policy including sexual orientation, gender identity or expression and HIV status, provides strong protections for LGBTQ+ older adults living in skilled nursing communities.
However, these guidelines only protect skilled nursing community residents and those living in communities receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding. The LEI advocates for the same protections for all LGBTQ+ older adults living in long-term care, including assisted living and independent living. When long-term care communities explicitly guarantee equal visitation to LGBTQ+ residents, they offer vital assurance to residents and clear guidance to employees about expectations.
LEI Survey Questions
To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Upload a copy of the equal visitation policy
-Have a visitation policy that ensures equal visitation either through "resident choice" language and/or non-discrimination visitation language inclusive of sexual orientation or gender identity
Example:
Equal visitation policy at Gouverneur Skilled Nursing Facility (NY, NY), NYC Health + Hospitals
As with the resident non-discrimination policy, creating and broadly communicating an equal visitation policy is a crucial step in ensuring safe, inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ residents. It sends an important message to residents and employees alike: LGBTQ+ people must receive equal visitation access and cannot be denied the visitor of their choices.
To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Provide at least two examples of how the policy is communicated to residents and the public. Typically one is a website example and the other will be a document like a brochure. It can be a poster or photo of poster.
There are a variety of ways in which communities can share their equal visitation policies, including:
- Posted or displayed in public and/or common gathering areas of the community
- Posted on the community’s website
- In materials routinely give to residents during move-in or registration
- In printed materials/brochures that are provided to residents and their families at other times
- Provided in print materials available in community spaces
Example:
NYC Health + Hospitals' Gouverneur provides each resident with a copy of the community's policies.
Sharing your equal visitation policy with staff and volunteers is an important step toward ensuring that the people providing services in your community are aware of the expectations regarding visitation rights. Further, it provides a foundation for providing education and training to staff and volunteers.
To receive credit in the LEI, a community must:
-Provide at least one example of how policy is communicated to staff and volunteers – must be an internal example and different than how policy is communicated to residents and the public.
There are a variety of ways in which communities can share their equal visitation policies, including:
- Provided in materials for all new employees and volunteers during orientation
- Reviewed in-person or online during employee and volunteer training
- Posted on the community intranet site
- Posted on signs/placards in employee work area(s)