Moderator: Walter Wittich
Discussant: Kathy Pichora-Fuller

The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to health care challenges in long-term care. For residents living in long-term care, relationships with fellow residents, as well as with those who provide formal and informal care, are central to optimal quality of life. Building such relationships depends on communication which is jeopardized for persons living with combined vision and hearing impairments. Sensory impairments are extremely common in long-term care. However, little attention has been paid to their contributions in communication breakdowns, in relationship building, and in increased care burden for formal and informal care providers. The presentations will provide an overview of selected issues relevant to combined vision and hearing loss in the context of long-term care. We begin by setting the stage at the population level, including analyses of data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (Mick), and the interRAI Long-Term Care Facilities Assessment (Guthrie). We explore the effect of the pandemic on hearing care in LTC (Reed), and current knowledge on communication enhancement strategies in LTC (Orange). Focusing on solutions, we will examine the importance of the senses for relationship building (McGilton), consider vision and dual sensory care in the context of COVID-19 (Jaiswal), and the need to educate and train long-term care staff on sensory impairments (Wilchesky). The session will conclude with our discussant (Pichora-Fuller) who will integrate the presentation topics and guide discussion toward future applied and research needs. She also will place the content within a global context of person-centered interprofessional integrated care for older people and host our live question and answer period.