Across the world, about 80 percent of all COVID related deaths have occurred in senior care facilities. This is true in places like the U.S. and Canada, along with places across the globe, like Australia.
While Australia has also seen similar percentages, the difference between Australia and some of the other developed nations is that Australia has severely limited the number of deaths within their country. Australia, a country of about 26 million people has had about 900 deaths. Canada, a country of 38 million, has had 23,000 deaths. Still, the number of seniors that have passed away from this illness has been alarming. But what has Australia done differently to help protect its inhabitants?
In 2018, Australia undertook an admirable project, long before COVID-19 or a global pandemic were on anyone’s radar. They began a national commission regarding senior care. The end result was an almost 3,000 page document that concluded that seniors deserved better care than what they currently had access to within the country. They were addressing these needs before they were thrust into the limelight.
Luckily, the report spent some time on what could be done to rectify the issue. 148 recommendations were made throughout the report to help fix the underlying issues.
These problems are not unique to Australia. We’ve experienced issues for years in the United States when it comes to effective senior care. I’ve been mentioning some of the issues on this blog over the years, too. Being aware of the issues is only the first step, though. The next step is to take action. Unlike Australia, the federal government hasn’t done a ton to resolve these issues. However, the good news is that we are all far more aware of them than we were prior to the onset of the pandemic. Action is only inevitable at this point.
But while we are waiting for laws to be put in place to help make senior care better for everyone, there are things that you can do right now to take advantage of our knowledge. You can ensure that care is given in the least restrictive manner possible. We have similar laws in place for education in the U.S., but not for senior care. As a result, people tend to gravitate toward the nursing home model. The issue with this is that nursing homes tend to have a lot of people residing within them, which is one of the big reasons why the coronavirus spread so rapidly within them.
Some people need to be in a nursing home, but the majority of people that are there don’t necessarily need to be. One of the easy things that can be done to help improve the quality of care that a loved one receives right now is to evaluate all of the options for care available to you and go with the one that meets your needs most readily, without restricting freedom.
You have options available to you. If you’d like to learn more, please get in touch for a free consultation.
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