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Health organizations have begun sending doctors and nurses to apartment buildings and private homes to vaccinate homebound seniors, but the efforts are slow and spotty.
Tens of thousands of middle-aged sons and daughters 鈥 too young to qualify for a vaccine 鈥 care for older relatives with serious ailments and want to get the shots to protect their loved ones and themselves.
Public health officials have singled out seniors as key candidates for the covid-19 vaccines but too many of these seniors are not able to get shots because they don鈥檛 use computers, don鈥檛 have internet services or transportation, or don鈥檛 have someone to help them with the process.
Older patients with cancer, dementia or other serious illnesses should check with their doctors, but medical experts recommend the vaccine for most people.
As covid cases and deaths soar, it鈥檚 difficult to get up-to-date, reliable information about inoculations, and many older adults don鈥檛 know where to turn for help. Navigating Aging columnist Judith Graham answers questions from several readers.
More than half of long-term care residents have cognitive impairment or dementia, raising questions about whether they will understand the details about the fastest and most extensive vaccination effort in U.S. history.
At least two vaccines could get federal emergency use authorizations this month. Nursing home and assisted living residents will be among the first to receive inoculations. Here鈥檚 a guide on how that rollout may proceed.
More than 246,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by the coronavirus, leaving hundreds of thousands of others grieving. Judith Graham, author of KHN鈥檚 Navigating Aging column, hosted a discussion on these unprecedented losses and dealing with bereavement. She was joined by Holly Prigerson, co-director of the Center for Research on End-of-Life Care at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, and Diane Snyder-Cowan, leader of the bereavement professionals steering committee of the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals.
As the coronavirus surges around the country, workers in nursing homes and assisted living centers are watching cases rise in long-term care facilities with a sense of dread. Many of these workers struggle with grief over the suffering they鈥檝e witnessed.
With employees emotionally drained and residents suffering from loss, many nursing homes and assisted living centers are working with chaplains, social workers and mental health professionals to help people deal with the effects of the coronavirus.
Older adults are deliberating what to do as days and nights turn chilly and coronavirus cases rise across the country. Some are forming 鈥渂ubbles鈥 with small groups of friends who agree on pandemic precautions and will see one another in person. Others are planning to go it alone.
Seniors tend to have more serious symptoms than younger coronavirus patients, including the aftereffects of hospital-based delirium. Doctors recommend physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and cognitive rehabilitation.
These seniors use coping strategies to keep them socially active yet safe from the coronavirus.
More than 70,000 residents and staff members at nursing homes and assisted living facilities have died of COVID-19, and others are under strict rules designed to keep the disease from spreading. That has evoked concern that living in a communal facility could be dangerous.
Although the family patriarch did not face a life-threatening emergency, the episode was a reminder that you have to prepare for a real crisis.
New research suggests the pandemic鈥檚 deaths are taking an enormous toll on surviving family members and worrisome ripple effects may linger for years.
Older adults with the ability to use technology have more access to virtual social interactions and telehealth services, and more opportunities to secure essential supplies online. Those who don鈥檛 know how to use it or can鈥檛 afford it are at greater risk of social isolation, forgoing medical care and being without food or other necessary items.
Half the states are rolling back strict policies that have kept family members out of nursing homes because of fears of spreading the coronavirus.
Some are grieving the loss of precious time in late life. Others are adjusting their ideas of what is possible and making the best of it.
People who put off care as COVID-19 surged are easing back into the medical system. Here鈥檚 how to know if it鈥檚 safe.
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