Thank you, Colorado Senator Julie Gonzales, for your bipartisan vote on Senate Bill 53, advancing this important legislation out of committee to the Colorado Senate Appropriations committee. 

It is now time for the Colorado House to pass the companion bill seeking to end hospital “no visitor” policies which forced our loved ones to die alone during the pandemic.
Like Senate Bill 53 discussed here, the companion House Bill 1199 directs]

each health-care facility to permit patients and residents in the health-care facility to receive visitors to the fullest extent permitted under the least restrictive of any applicable state laws or local ordinances…allow visitation to the greatest extent and as safely as possible…and allow compassionate care visits if specific circumstances apply.

House Bill 1199’s assigned Colorado House committee will hear testimony this week and should move forward this common sense and moral legislation.  

Founded in 2021 in response to the draconian “no visitor” policies hospitals and healthcare facilities implemented during the pandemic, the Never Alone Project promotes legislative policy change, state by state. The Project recognizes

that the American healthcare system was woefully under-prepared for this pandemic, especially with the reduction of the national stockpiles of PPE and hundreds of thousands of Americans were caused immeasurable harm by facing doctor appointments, medical procedures, giving birth, ER visits, short and long term hospital stays all by themselves … ALONE.

Calling the forced isolation a “human rights abuse,” the Project asserts

[t]here’s a balance between protecting doctors, nurses, staff, and other patients from a pandemic and giving the individual the human contact, support, and human touch we so desperately need … most hospitals and medical facilities pretty much ignored the needs of the individuals to protect the collective.

The Project’s vision reflects how far our society fell during the pandemic: “We want to see a world where patients have the right to at least one screened visitor per day with no time limits.”

Similar to Senate Bill 53, Colorado House Bill 1199 would prevent our hospitals and healthcare facilities from separating us again. Colorado House members should vote to pass House Bill 1199 out of committee and prevent the unnecessary human tragedy of dying alone.