Dad has COVID, assisted living may ask him to leave if he doesn't understand quarantine. What can I do?

So how is he supposedly to get his meals? Get dishes and flatware washed Or get linens washed and changed? Get his mail?
How are you aware of all this? If this is all verbal, tell whomever at the AL you need all this info and details in writing, like email or snail mail.

Look at his AL contract, especially as to what this place is supposed to be providing….. that he is paying for & has gotten in the past (pattern of & continuity in an agreement). It is on the AL to provide for whatever as per the contract and on them to provide for whatever changes needed at their expense. Like if there was a fire in the kitchen, its on the AL to find a way to do the agreed to as per the contract food service. If the van for weekly shopping trip went out of service, the AL has to find a substitute. If a resident has an incident, like gets pneumonia or Covid, they have to have a plan as to how to deal with it within the facility.

imo they are shifting this onto you cause they do not have the staffing and do not want to spend the time or $ to do what is needed. They need to have an overall plan for dealing with Covid + cases and provide it to him and all other residents. They know that they have got you all worked up & in panic mode & will take the o key off their back. Don’t let them do this! They have a responsibility and a contract to adhere to.

So if you did not go & get him, what would they do?
They cannot discharged him to a homeless shelter as he’s Covid + plus he’s current on his payment, so cannot use that excuse. The worst they could do would be to call EMS to have EMS take him to the ER. Then when the ER or hospital discharge planner calls the old AL, the AL tells them they cannot take dad back.

Should this happen, you make this work to your dads advantage, like the discharge planner will have to find dad a bed in another facility and it will likely be a NH that has a program for dealing with Parkinson’s. He’ll get better care in a NH. And by refusing to take him back they broke the contract, so you get an attorney to write them a letter for compensation.

Out of curiosity, is this AL part of a chain that starts with a “B”?

Kablooie, I am curious if your Dad have been given Paxlovid as that is a treatment for Covid.

The delusions could be from an Urinary Tract Infection [UTI], he needs to be tested.

Have you spoken to the Assisted Living facility? Or are you getting your information from your Dad?

Hope everything works out for the best.

I agree with igloo572 that the assisted living could call EMS and have your dad sent to the ER. My mother-in-law lives in independent living that also has an assisted living area. Any time something happens she is sent to the ER. Also my mother lives in a nursing home and had COVID when it first began. The nursing home she is in has a separate area where they quarantine anyone there who tests positive for COVID so there are nursing homes out there that should be able to take your dad if need be on their COVID unit until he is better and then maybe he could return to the AL if they are able to take him back. This would probably happen by him going to the ER first and then being sent to one of those nursing homes. Also it is possible that a home care agency would be willing to send an aide to stay with your dad at the AL. They would have to take the proper precautions as they would in a hospital and nursing home. Maybe try calling a couple of them and see what they say or maybe the AL has an agency that they can recommend.

This can't possibly be the first time someone in his AL has had COVID--what did they do when it was 'raging' across the country?

Love of heaven, why haven't they got a protocol for this by now? When you say it's a hands off AL, wow, you meant it.

Maybe once you figure this out, you may want to move dad to a more 'hands on' AL. He is not going to get better with Parkinson's and maybe this is somewhat of a wake up call. He probably needs a higher level of care.

At this exact moment, I do not know what I'd do. I don't know if a hospital would accept him with covid as long as he is not sick enough to meet the criteria.

Kablooie, thanks for your update.

Conside that you will have the benefit of the discharge planners (we were blessed with good ones) who will advise you on what the next placement needs to look like.

Start looking at Rehab places, you may need to make a choice on short notice.

Locking an old man in his assisted living apartment for 10 days is ridiculous. That's not even the damn protocol anymore per the CDC. Not to mention your questions about his new medications that may be giving him delusions. Do we lock people up for 10 days when they have the flu? I am assuming he was vaccinated so why is he being treated like he has the plague?

He very well may have a UTI. My dad had awful, horrible hallucinations from them. And they must treat and test him for that. He actually can be sent to a hospital if his UTI is that bad. He probably should be - they may not keep him long but then he can go to SNF.

Kablooie, I just read all your old posts. Couple of things stuck out… this is a recent move like 3 mos ago & from East coast to PNW and your dad imo has way WAY significant health & personality challenges (& this before Covid)

Move across the country is in & of itself major adjustment. As someone pointed out, time change combined with weather / environment change is huge for anyone. There been major downsizing from big house to a sm apt, so even more confusing. For your dad, the move is even more pronounced as he has all this PLUS his entire being as Mr Kablooie who was a very important person in state government means nothing in Seattle. He was still in his old home where he knew where everything was & ostensibly could do things around the house (lol), and had a RN caregiver who knew who he was back in the day and he lived in the neighborhood he had been in forever with your mom who was well liked. He was known & respected & catered to and for a narcissist this is beyond important. For your dad, all that is gone. His Library of Congress remark, omfg, I know someone almost that level of narcissist, you have my empathy.

So he has Parkinson's, dementia, no vision in 1 eye and low in the other so cannot really read, pretty well deaf and has issues wearing hearing aids (this is concerning as he has to be able to do or recognize what to do on a fire drill), advanced prostate cancer. And now Covid! He cannot on his own do meds so has a $500 a mo added medication management fee added to his $ 7,000 a month AL. $7500 a mo AL.

Putting aside having Covid, I’d be concerned that he’s really not right for AL. His care needs really needs more 24/7 oversight and that’s a NH not AL. There could be some resident remorse on the part of the AL and they would really like it if he was to go into a higher level of care and the admins probably have been mulling this over. Then Covid hit and Covid is an excuse to have this happen & why they are pressing you to come and take him. Ask your siblings if they have felt a vibe that Dad is just not fitting in, that staff has mentioned things he is not doing. If they were to send him off to the ER, it could be a way to get him placed into a NH. I’m sure you really are not up for having to research, visit, look all over again. Could be a win-win. But you & your siblings have to stand together that none of y’all will come & get him. Your immunodeficiency, it’s a nonstarter as an option plus it should be an unsafe discharge as no oversight as you work. Make that your mantra 🕉 & make sure the siblings do the same.

Also dad still has his old house, right? Are all siblings 100% ok on this or are they ok as long as it never effects their time or wallet?? Will it’s rental cover all its costs and provide for an emergency fund? Is the sibling that’s dealing with the house live locally & able to realistically do whatever needed on anything house & from your dads $? Keeping a house once they go into a facility can be done but may be challenging.
I’d be concerned if there are in-laws who hate the idea (or hate your dad) as they can make sure their spouse doesn’t do a thing of pay a penny yet if all the siblings are equal beneficiaries for how the revocable trust is set up, they get their share no matter what. You know your family best & if stuff like this is likely. Good luck.

Back in June when we had COVID the guidelines were 5 days quarantine and 5 days masked. We had 2 shots and one booster. Your Dad could be having delusions because he is confined to a room by himself. My daughter, who has worked NHs, thinks this quarantining is against the residents rights. This is their home and as such they should not be made to stay in their rooms constantly. Maybe not eat in the dining room or be allowed in the common area but be allowed to walk the halls, go outside. My friend was in the hospital and contracted COVID. So they kept her the ten days then sent her back to the NH who then quarantined her another 10. She was back in the hospital because she had a mental breakdown during the second quarantine.

How can they expect him to stay in his apt for TEN DAYS???? Ridiculous. If he's sick, not just asymptomatic, and all his med changes/issues, perhaps a hospital would be a good place for him at the moment. He might be able to stay there for a bit and then be transferred to a facility that can handle his situation until he is well enough to go back to his AL. Though is he doesn't rally, it might be time to hire an aid or move elsewhere since he may be needing more help on a regular basis.

Good luck.