A Tragic Mistake: How Albany Abandoned Our Seniors in Nursing Homes

Assemblyman DiPietro (R,C-East Aurora) Introducing the Essential Caregivers Act to Protect Long-Term Care Residents

In the name of “safety,” former Gov. Cuomo and his leftist Albany counterparts made a decision during the COVID-19 pandemic that left senior citizens—our most vulnerable residents—in a devastating state of isolation. Under the guise of protecting long-term care residents from the virus, the state locked down nursing homes, cutting off these residents from the very people they needed most: their families, their loved ones and their essential caregivers.

Gov. Cuomo’s disastrous policies turned nursing homes into prisons. And the price was paid by our seniors, many of whom spent the last months of their lives in total isolation, dying alone without the comfort of a loved one by their side. This should never have happened.

That’s why I’ve introduced the Essential Caregivers Act (A.10497), a bill that will ensure no long-term care resident in New York is ever left abandoned again. This legislation gives residents the right to designate an essential caregiver—a family member or close friend who can visit and care for them even during public health emergencies. The government should never again stand in the way of families being together.

The solution was worse than the problem; the state’s decision to cut off nursing home residents from their loved ones was the worst kind of big-government overreach. Bureaucrats thought they knew better than families about what was best for their loved ones. And they were dead wrong.

Our seniors deserve better than to be treated like forgotten numbers in a system that prioritizes politics over people. They are not a burden to be managed. They are our parents, our grandparents—the people who built this state and raised the next generation. They deserve to live out their golden years with dignity and compassion, not behind closed doors in solitary confinement.

The Essential Caregivers Act is about protecting basic human decency. It’s about ensuring that, no matter what crisis we face, we don’t strip away the support systems that keep people alive and thriving. New York failed our seniors during the pandemic, and we must never let that happen again.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us many lessons, but one stands above the rest: the state should never have the power to separate families and rob individuals of their right to be with their loved ones. My bill will guarantee that New Yorkers in long-term care facilities are never left to suffer alone again, because isolation shouldn’t be the price of safety. It’s time we put the needs of our seniors above the heavy hand of government regulation.

Assemblyman David DiPietro represents the 147th Assembly District, which includes parts of Erie and Wyoming counties.