This outstanding article describes how our already poorly funded and administered long term care system will very soon come under more pressure than at any other time in our history and is a harbinger of what’s to come over the next several years with the aging of the population.
The Claude Pepper Center has been calling for rapid and extensive actions to dramatically improve and expand our publicly funded long term care system for the last decade. Unfortunately little has been done at the federal level or in most states for many years to make long term care truly responsive to the long term crisis that will only worsen in the next 2 decades.
At the center of this crisis is the fact that we pay care workers so poorly and give them so little respect. We can only hope that the pandemic crisis, which will place a greater burden on care workers than ever before, will make the public and policy makers far more willing in the near future to provide them the kind of respect, pay, and benefits that they deserve. In a health care system that costs $3.8 trillion a year and is twice as costly as any other system in the world, we have to find the resources necessary to provide these critically important workers with the pay and respect they deserve.
America’s Eldercare System Is a Tinderbox
newrepublic.com
A pandemic and rising demand expose the vulnerabilities of a system that runs on poverty wages.Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or other dementia is hard enough during normal times. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect communities around the U.S., though, it’s not surprising that family caregivers are anxious, unnerved and confused.
If you’re caring for a family member with dementia during this global health crisis, there are ways to minimize stress, care for your family and care for yourself, too.
Tips on Dementia Caregiving During Coronavirus
www.nextavenue.org
There are ways to minimize stress, care for your family and care for yourself, too.
Seniors are the most vulnerable to coronavirus. You can help protect them. Older generations face a potentially life-threatening risk if infected with the novel coronavirus, which has caused deaths of 60-plus-year-olds stretching across the cities of China to the metropolises of Italy and now the United States.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised that people older than 80 with major illnesses have the greatest risk and should take extra precautions. The Washington Post spoke with infectious disease and geriatric-care specialists about the steps that can be taken to keep older people healthy in the face of coronavirus.
Seniors are the most vulnerable to coronavirus. You can help protect them.
www.washingtonpost.com
Here's some guidance from health-care experts and epidemiologists.Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare has joined forces with other healthcare providers to initiate a community drive-thru sample collection site for patients who have a physician order to be tested for COVID-19. This site is only open for patients who have an order sent from a physician for testing.
Currently, due to national shortages of test kits, we must use our medical resources judiciously. Only those who are symptomatic and meet the criteria set forth by the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) should be tested.
You will need to contact your healthcare provider for eligibility. Healthcare providers will determine patient needs for COVID-19 testing. An order will be sent to the drive-thru sample collection site: Northwood Centre 1940 North Monroe St. Tallahassee, FL 32303. The sample collection site will be open Monday – Friday from 11 am – 6 pm.
