When dealing with the elderly, a lot of extra attention is required. If an older person gets sick, the process for recovery isn’t quite as easy as it usually is for a younger individual. They require more attention and more care when sick because their bodies have different needs and issues that don’t tend to be present for younger folk.
This makes sense. As we get older, our immune systems don’t work as well as they once did. The body’s natural protections start to break down–that’s one of the reasons why older individuals start to become a lot more aware of their mortality. Things that were once easy and performed mindlessly start taking a lot more effort. Sometimes this is noticed, sometimes it’s not. Having an extra set of eyes on your loved one, and an extra set of hands to help, if needed, can go a long way toward helping an older loved one live a higher quality of life. If your loved one lives with you, this can be pretty easy to do. If not, knowing when an older loved one is no longer able to care for themselves will be a bit harder.
That doesn’t mean that there’s nothing that you can do. For starters, using technology to keep in touch with your older parent or grandparent is easier today than ever before. It’s not a perfect replacement, but it can be a decent substitute during this time. Whatever measures we can take to make this same as comforting as possible are worthwhile.
The issue with this is that a lot of senior care centers were already understaffed and the caregivers that they had were overworked. Now that seniors are in an even more vulnerable position than they were a few months ago, this is a big disadvantage to senior care. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable to a large degree. Seniors require more attention, but they need even more–and it needs to be quite nuanced. Not just anyone can march into a nursing home or assisted living facility these days. But that doesn’t change the fact that the elderly still require more assistance–especially if they are sick.
We’ve seen all sorts of horror stories coming out of Italy and China lately. We can’t even imagine how bad the situation was that led the people to do some of the things that the media has said have been done–especially when it comes to seniors.
It’s scary. There’s no doubt about it. But there’s a silver lining. The coronavirus is starting to show the best side of who we are as a community. That is encouraging.
The bottom line is that we are all in this together. We have an obligation to look out for one another. For a company, that means taking good care of the people that work for us and that we work for. Are things perfect? No, absolutely not. But if we all act with the intention of helping each other as best we can, we will get through these tough days ahead.
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