Cortland Resident Organized Small Protest to See Family Member at Guthrie Cortland Nursing (Video)

A Cortland resident was joined by a few friends on Saturday outside of Guthrie Cortland Nursing to protest the company's visitation policies. We met the Kim Goodliff, who was the protest's organizer.

We contacted Guthrie, and they replied with this statement:

Currently, visitation at the skilled nursing facility limits the number of visitors, the location of the visits, and the times of visits in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19 to residents.  Visitation restrictions have been in place for over one year. Exceptions for compassionate care have been made in end-of-life situations.

“We understand that the restrictive visitation policies are hard on the residents and their loved ones,” said Mary Wright, Vice President of Nursing Services and Chief Nursing Officer. “COVID has created so much hardship, sadness and heartbreak and one of the groups most affected have been the elderly.”

Ms. Wright added that decisions regarding restrictions on visitors are made with the best interest of the elderly resident in mind.  She stated that as the prevalence of COVID diminishes in our communities, decisions regarding visitation will be re-evaluated and modified as can be done safely.