The Life Partners in Long Term Care Act being introduced by the government will keep couples together as they age.
Previously, if couples required different levels of care they often could not be placed in a home together. The new act will place couples together at the highest level of care needed.
Allowing people to stay together benefits social, mental and even physical well-being said Marisa Eisner, Administrator at Hillside Pines in Bridgewater. She feels that everyone in the industry works very hard within the guidelines to ensure people can stay together.
Hillside Pines is a 50-bed home providing care at the nursing level, and while confidentiality prevents Eisner from saying how many couples there are currently in residence she did say that they have had them in the past.
“It’s nice to keep families together and it does more than the medical component I think, and we are very much about holistic care here so it is a very positive step forward,” she said about the new act.
Keeping families together has always been a priority at the home even with the current policies and Eisner is hopeful that the new act will remove some of the barriers to keeping couples together, making the process quicker and easier.
“We really support families being together so if one person lives here and the other doesn’t we make them part of our Hillside Pines family. They are a very important part of the resident’s care and we are all here for the same reason and that is to provide the best care we can.”
