opinion
Each day, journalists invite us to view heartbreaking scenes playing out in hospitals and long-term care (LTC) providers as the coronavirus spreads across our country and state. We will never get used to seeing families conversing through nursing home windows with relatives who can no longer receive visitors … hospital workers who are hardly able to speak through their physical and emotional exhaustion ... final farewells exchanged via FaceTime … funeral services attended from cars.
Each COVID-19 case, and each elder included in the deaths announced daily by Gov. Kim Reynolds, represents a treasured person. These victims were husbands and wives, veterans, retired teachers, and farmers. They were beloved family patriarchs or matriarchs who nurtured children and grandchildren over many years. Tragically, their age and underlying health conditions also made them more likely to contract COVID-19 and to develop serious, often deadly, complications.
We grieve for every older adult who has succumbed to this deadly virus. So do the dedicated caregivers who work inside our state’s LTC providers.
These nurses, aides, housekeepers, cooks, and other workers don’t appear on camera or in newspapers. But they are hurting. They grieve every time this virus impacts or takes away an older adult whom they have served, and to whom they have grown close, over many years.
These caregivers come to work every day, when staying at home would be so much safer. They put their lives, and their own families, at risk because they love their work and are committed to their residents. They feel called to help fight this virus so residents can continue living meaningful lives long after this pandemic becomes a distant memory.
When a case of COVID-19 occurs, guidance states that consistent staff should work with positive cases to help prevent spread. We know of nurses who have moved on-site to stay close and limit the number of staff who work directly with positive residents. It is stories like this that should give all Iowans pride in the front-line heroes caring for our vulnerable elders.
In light of this dedication, it is disappointing to see reports conferring blame on America’s LTC providers for coronavirus outbreaks. That blame is misplaced and unfair.
Let’s start with the facts. There are many reasons, documented by experts, why COVID-19 spreads so quickly within LTC providers. By design, these care settings are home to a high concentration of older adults with serious underlying health conditions who live in a communal environment and require hands-on assistance with basic activities of daily living like dressing and bathing. Further, the virus can be spread by asymptomatic carriers, so it’s an invisible enemy.
This combination of factors helps the coronavirus spread and makes the virus extremely challenging to control, even for LTC providers that have honed their infection-control and prevention protocols during scores of influenza seasons.
LTC providers face additional challenges outside our control, including a national shortage of broad-scale testing and personal protective equipment — including masks, gowns, and goggles — that we need to keep our caregivers safe. We are also experiencing unprecedented, additional costs to prepare and equip for the battle against COVID-19.
The coronavirus pandemic is a clarion call for change. Now is the time to support LTC providers and to recognize their important role in the health care system.
It’s not too late for Iowa to change. But we cannot delay.
Shannon Strickler is president and CEO of LeadingAge Iowa, an association of not-for-profit providers of aging services.
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April 26, 2020 at 02:29PM
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Why are Iowa’s long-term care providers hurting? Let’s start with the facts. - Des Moines Register
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