‘We Are Going to Keep You Safe, Even if It Kills Your Spirit’
In other care facilities and in hospitals, too, “wanderers” with dementia are believed to have spread the virus and caused outbreaks — but what are administrators to do? They can’t just lock people up. “Stay in your room,” the nursing aides tell Mr. Williams. But he...
The Food of Care Homes
The cooking of care homes, as well as the cooking of our other institutions, is often forgotten about when we talk about chef work. “There’s a sombre atmosphere in the home for sure,” she tells me over the phone, “but the cooking is still fun – as much as it can be...
“What’s Actually Going on in Our Nursing Homes”: An Interview with Shantonia Jackson
The category that the Census calls “health care and social assistance” is the largest sector of employment in the country, accounting for about one in seven jobs nationwide. It encompasses hospitals, clinics, labs, long-term care facilities, home care, and social work...
Why Does the Richest Country in the World Rely on Volunteers for Emergency Healthcare?
The call was for a 64-year-old woman with a cough and inability to walk. But she did not appear to be having a medical emergency. I was confused about why 911 had been called. “Do you want to go to the hospital, Helen?” “I’m sorry to have called 911,” Brody answered....
5 Considerations for Traveling While Caregiving During COVID-19
These considerations for traveling while caregiving will prevent the spread of COVID-19 and reduce any accidental exposure.
The human story of how ventilators came to breathe for us
Robert Truog, who directs the Harvard Medical School Center for Bioethics, co-wrote the Massachusetts guidelines on rationing ventilators in April 2020. He and his colleagues considered giving the families of patients removed from ventilators the option to...
Faces in a nursing home
Since mid-March, when they locked their doors to all visitors, long-term care facilities in Texas have created the cruelest of contradictions. In order to defend the physical health of their residents, the residences are damaging their emotional health. Confronted...
My Child Has a Disability. What Will Her Education Be Like This Year?
When our younger child received an autism diagnosis at 3, my husband and I had no premonition of what fighting for her education would require of her, or of us. She’s now 9 — an enthusiastic and sweet-tempered kid who loves her teachers, classmates and school...
How To Care For Older People In The Pandemic
During this pandemic, I’ve been worried about my grandma — Nanay, to me. That’s Tagalog for mother. Her name is Felisa Mercene. She’s a Filipino American immigrant. She’s 92. Since March, she’s been living in isolation from most of our...
Why Black Aging Matters, Too
Old. Chronically ill. Black. People who fit this description are more likely to die from COVID-19 than any other group in the country. They are perishing quietly, out of sight, in homes and apartment buildings, senior housing complexes, nursing homes and hospitals,...
Sent Home to Die
Sarah Johnson spent her entire life taking care of people — the six children she raised, mostly alone, and the hospital patients she served in her 25 years as a nurse. But at 86, she was the one who needed care. She was thin and frail and had COVID-19. Her son Rodney...
Japan has the world’s oldest population. Yet it dodged a coronavirus crisis at elder-care facilities
Japan has the world’s oldest population, with an average age of 47 and a life expectancy of more than 81 years. More than 28 percent of its residents are over the age of 65, ahead of Italy in second place with 23 percent, and compared with 16 percent of Americans. It...
Sandwich Generation Faces Caregiving Challenges
Things were hard enough for Jennifer Galluzzo before the pandemic hit. Four years ago, the full-time working mother of three became a full-fledged member of the “sandwich generation” when her father-in-law joined their household in Brewster, N.Y. But things got harder...
6 Atypical COVID Symptoms to Watch for in Older Adults
If you believe you or your loved ones have experienced these symptoms after being in a high-risk environment or around a recently-diagnosed individual, get tested right away and self-quarantine until you receive your results.
When You Are Paid 13 Hours for a 24-Hour Shift
America’s neglect of older people extends to the people who care for them at home. The home health aides and certified nursing assistants who work in long-term care facilities and private homes are usually paid no more than the minimum wage and given few, if any,...
Class of 2020: What high school seniors have learned from a year unlike any other
My parents got sick the week after I got sick. That week, it was just me and my little brother. He’s 16. It was a little rough, I have to admit. We’re not used to being alone without our parents. The last time I talked to my dad, it was 3 in the afternoon the day we...
COVID-19 Response: 5 Online Resources for Caregivers
Having both online and in-person practice will better prepare you for real-life caregiving and make you a well-rounded caretaker.
How a Game With My Daughter Helped Us Cope With Quarantine and the Past
Louise (also an alternate name) is an 8-year-old with a gentle temperament and a great sense of humor; she has taken quarantine gracefully. Louise is nonverbal, though, so we don’t know exactly what she makes of this strange time. Medical crisis has defined Louise’s...
Dealing With Caregiver Guilt During The Coronavirus Crisis
As a person caregivers regularly turn to for support, Carol Zernial would seemingly have answers to most of the difficult questions that come with assisting older loved ones. But she finds herself struggling with a dilemma involving her own father. The 90-year-old,...
Caring for my Husband and Daughter
I am 71 years old and have been taking care of my 36 year old daughter who was born with Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome since her birth. She can’t walk or talk and is only fed via g-tube feedings. And for the last year my husband, who helped care for our daughter,...
US Caregivers May Be Eligible For Paid Leave Under COVID-19 Relief Law
Parents who must stay home from work to care for their adult children with disabilities due to coronavirus-related closures may qualify for paid leave, federal official say. The law was largely mum on the needs of families of adults with disabilities whose typical...
To Fight Coronavirus, U.K. Asked for Some Volunteers. It Got an Army.
When the government appealed recently for 250,000 people to help the National Health Service, more than 750,000 signed up. It was forced to temporarily stop taking applicants so it could process the flood. In addition to the national program, hundreds of...
Taking Care of Each Other Is Essential Work
During the pandemic, the essential nature of care work has been made more clear. The value of the work that was being done in the shadows, by the nannies and cleaners who can no longer come into our buildings, is now suddenly obvious as we try to live without it. The...
BC Boosts Pay for Long-Term Care Workers amidst COVID-19
The B.C. government is taking over as the employer of all long-term care workers in the province in response to the COVID-19 threat in seniors’ homes. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said this week that every worker would be hired full-time and paid...
Your neighbors are not the disease
Individuals might spread coronavirus by not socially isolating properly — but the conditions under which they might spread coronavirus by not isolating themselves have been created by the poor decisions of states unwilling to take decisive action when the crisis first...
Keeping Older People Safe During the Coronavirus Crisis
In the United States today, there are approximately four million older adults who are not in nursing facilities but who need help with personal care (bathing, dressing or eating) and another 3.5 million older adults who need assistance in areas such as finances and...
As Coronavirus Rages On, How to (Safely) Help Elderly People
How can an older person—or a person with an underlying condition that makes them more susceptible to the virus—stay away from people, and also get necessities like groceries and medication? Creating physical distance between people is supposed to keep people safe, but...Top Posts
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