Communication is one of the most important components of senior care. This is true between caregivers and the person receiving care, the organizations that the caregiver works for, family members, and anyone else involved. As we’ve see though, the coronavirus has made in-person communication difficult. We’ve all grown used to using video chat services, but these are not nearly as good as old fashioned face-to-face communication.
Communication is important for mental health, too. People are social beings and we all need to be around and with others. It doesn’t matter if you’re an extrovert or an introvert, some level of human interaction is needed on a daily basis to stay happy and healthy.
Seniors have been hit hard in this respect.
One of the problems that care centers are facing is that family members have often been sporadic or nonexistent in their communication with loved ones in nursing homes. This has been an issue long before COVID-19 was a concern. In the past, volunteers, staff members, families of other residents, and others could provide companionship. However, with the number of people that are allowed into nursing homes being reduced in a lot of places, this isn’t happening. Seniors, who were already at a high risk of being isolated before, are even more alone than ever before. Like so many other areas, COVID has made existing problems even worse than they once were.
By instituting measures to ensure that more social contact takes place in a safe way, nursing homes can help to keep their residents healthy, both physically and mentally. Just because someone is older does not mean that their needs for contact and emotional satisfaction disappear. We have an obligation to reach out and connect them with these things. Safe ways need to be used, though.
This doesn’t mean that senior care services are the only ones that have a role to play in the slowing of the spread of the coronavirus. Everyone has a part to play. That means we need to keep up with social distancing guidelines within our communities, wear a mask when social distancing is not possible, and continue to wash and sanitize our hands more often than before. We also need to pay attention to the news and keep up with the latest discoveries regarding the virus because there is still a lot of stuff that we don’t know about it and how it spreads. But because nursing homes and care centers have been hit so hard, these are the institutions that are under the microscope right now when it comes to fighting the disease. How care centers respond will be very important at setting a tone for the rest of the country.
Senior care is important, and right now, it’s more important than ever. If you have an elderly loved one that is in need of help, it’s normal to be nervous and confused about what the best thing to do is. With the pandemic still going on, that fear and confusion is even greater than it normally would be.
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