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Who’s calling shots on visitation?

Editor, OBSERVER:

I am a seasonal resident of Fredonia and am here from March through August each year to visit my father, who resides at Chautauqua Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Dunkirk. We are assigned weekly visitation time slots and are allowed to visit once per week for a half hour.

I’ve been here for eight weeks and have seen my father three times. It seems each time I’m scheduled to visit, the facility calls, informing us that a staff member has contracted COVID and visitations are canceled.

I finally called the center and asked why a staff member having COVID affects my visitations, since my father and I are both vaccinated against COVID. I was told that it isn’t their policy, but is directed by the Department of Health.

The Department of Health is pushing for everyone to get vaccinated, so why aren’t they taking vaccinations into account for people who want to visit their loved ones in nursing homes? I’m sure others would like an answer to this question as well, but don’t know where to turn for the answer.

I’m sure that anyone who has a loved one in Chautauqua Nursing and Rehabilitation Center can relate to the frustration of looking forward to a visit, only to be denied because some staff member who refuses to get vaccinated, contracts COVID, punishing the rest of us who are doing our part to get this pandemic behind us.

RICHARD A. CARPENTER,

Fredonia

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