How Covid-19 might change home health care
via Yahoo News
Physicians, health care experts and the media spent considerable time focused on hospital capacity since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Nursing homes received less attention, until thousands of deaths revealed a shocking risk for older adults and those who care for them.
Another sector receiving little attention are home care services – direct care workers, including personal care assistants and home health aides, nurses and therapists – those who render treatment in the patient’s home. Over 5 million people in the U.S. currently receive paid home care. And now, not only must home care continue for older adults, and for those with disabilities, but many people with COVID-19 will need it too.
We are geriatricians who have worked in acute and post-acute care settings. We have all witnessed the stress COVID-19 is placing on our health care system. And we appreciate the incredible need for home care workers. But how can workers, and those they care for, stay safe? COVID-19 could complicate and compromise care for millions of people whose care already was imperiled.
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