A major piece of legislation involving hospital patients and long-term care residents is now on its way to the governor’s desk.

Senate Bill 988, known as the “No Patient Left Alone Act,” passed in the Florida House last night with overwhelming support on both sides of the aisle. 

The bill is meant to ensure people will still be allowed into facilities to see their loved ones, even in the event of an emergency, through the designation of an essential caregiver.  Among the number of patient scenarios included are end-of-life situations, labor and delivery, for pediatric patients and long-term care residents.

While the governor would still have the right to hit the pause button, supporters say overall, the bill is a big step in the right direction.

Long-term care family advocate Mary Daniel has been an outspoken force behind the legislation from the start, and worked to make sure nursing homes and assisted living facilities were included.

Daniel compiled stories of isolation into a book and hand-delivered copies to lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis at the start of latest legislative session. Daniel has been critical of facilities that haven’t been following the reopening guidelines and said putting the essential caregiver role into law will get everyone on the same page.

“It gets us back in — it simply gets us back in to them and it defines what our role is,” she said. “We are essential because we provide essential support for all of these residents.”

Spectrum Bay News 9 Reporter Cait McVey has been covering visitation issues since the very beginning of the pandemic. This week, she accompanied a woman first interviewed back in 2020 on a visit to her mother’s memory care facility.

Anna Emerson said her mother’s Pinellas County facility has remained consistent with visitation policies since the long-term care reopening. However, she said she will never get back the time she lost with her 93-year-old mother during the lockdown.

“It’s really difficult, devastating, it’s heartbreaking — because that’s the whole reason I’m here,” said Emerson, who moved from the state of Washington to be closer to her mother. “It’s to be with her, to spend time with her, to establish that relationship. And we had really established something, which is difficult to do with someone with Alzheimer’s. And then it just kind of disappeared for a while.”

Emerson said she is now working to rebuild that relationship and said she takes some comfort in knowing the newly passed legislation could significantly lower the chances of her getting shut out again in the future.

The bill is now headed to DeSantis’s desk. He has been very vocal with his support of the bill and is expected to sign it into law. 

Once he does, it will go into effect on July 1.