Wellness

[Sooner]

There is too much out there for me to try to summarize it here.  BUT if you are interested in information about the virus, it's worth looking up this topic and reading a few of the latest articles.

It is astonishing to me what percentage of the death is from people in nursing homes, ones who are prone to dying from pneumonia and other conditions and diseases.

It gives me a lot to think about.  I know that pneumonia is VERY common in the elderly in care facilities and that it is very often the cause of death.

[ahoymate]

Yes, Sooner. I might add nursing homes are short staffed, and chronic underfunding. It all combines to make being in one susceptible to COVID19.

[Sooner]

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@ahoymate wrote:

Yes, Sooner. I might add nursing homes are short staffed, and chronic underfunding. It all combines to make being in one susceptible to COVID19.

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@ahoymate But being elderly, ill, and frail and in a nursing home no matter how good the care means you are in very poor health.  So yes, the things you mention but also the fact is that most people are on the brink in any case when in a care facility and elderly.   Anything you get can be fatal--and the likelyhood of respiratory failure is very high in so many to begin with. 

[NYwoman]

First it was the "death panels", then it is the preference in the "treatment" of the elderly sick to offer euthanasia rather than treatment or possible cure, now it is the shear neglect and set up for known disaster by those in charge of governing "care" facilities.  Seems the very young and the very old are expendable.   

The sheer voicelessness of these two vulnerable groups will allow those responsible to get away with it.   I hear a certain person making "laws" to protect his mother and naming it after her yet making laws to condemn other peoples' aged relatives to a horrible death alone.   

I won't get political, but think who next will be chosen for unworthiness to exist.

[millieshops]

@SoonerMore than 20 years ago while I was managing care for one of my mom's sisters, we had nearly reached the point where having one aide with her 24/7 was no longer enough.  I had been so fortunate in the 3+ years I'd been able to maintain her in her own home that I had dedicated, excellent care-workers but as her dementia progressed along with her physical abilities, both they and I were uneasy too many different times.  

Just having to leave her alone in the house while they went outside and into the basement to do laundry became dangerous.  And then -  an appendicitis attack and she was in hospital.  Thank heavens I'd already been researching facilities and I was able to choose one while she could still be accepted as a private-pay resident near me where I could visit as often as possible instead of far away as she'd been for rehab years back.

She was in a decent home, I made lots of quick daily visits for months, learned the staff, and propitiously ran into several young workers who recognized me from my teaching job 15 miles away.  And there were no epidemics, no massive violations of state laws, etc.  Still,  I used to tell my friends "Nursing homes are the world's last joke on women."   

I can't begin to imagine the horror of a nursing home during this pandemic -  they're already populated with the weakest of us at our most vulnerable.  I've never known anyone planning to be in such a home nor did I know anyone among the many family of residents who truly wanted their loved one there.  It's a desperation move at the best of times -  what now when around half of all the "19" deaths occur in them.

[ahoymate]

Not always "on the brink" in a nursing care facility. 

[Sooner]

@millieshops You do understand.  I've had people in nursing homes since the mid 1990's, the last one more than 5 years now; two others were more than 4 years.

When I read about the percentage of virus cases in nursing homes, it has made me rethink a lot of things about this epidemic.  I don't know what to think, but it has changed my thoughts about it. . . 

[NYwoman]

This also brings up the topic of placing "disabled" younger people in elderly care facilities and senior housing.   I can see a younger person with CP or other crppling condition there.   But, ROUTINELY, they place the mentally ill and drug addicts in a population of vulnerable people.   It is the victimization of the elderly as clearly seen by that man who targeted a fellow patient for their age and race to viciously beating him up.   This happens all too often.  It also deprives the elderly of available affordable apartments and care beds.

[Mom2Dogs]

@Sooner ...Yes, that has been widely reported, it's so sad, but when you send covid patients to a nursing home the virus will spread.

[ALRATIBA]

@Sooner 

In several states, the governors ordered that nursing homes take in COVID positive people, and were not in accord with CDC guidelines.  In one instance, they transferred patients from hospital to nursing homes, with body bags included in the patients belongings.

Lots of chatter about those several states on FB and Twitter.  Copies of official docs.