COVID and the Elderly
For the past few weeks, the world has been reeling from the outbreak of a highly-contagious, untreatable virus, COVID-19. The poorest and weakest in our society have been hit the hardest. Chief amongst them are our elderly, who face steep, unaddressed challenges, including inadequate health care, health care institutions that fail them and lack of guardrails to protect them.
The numbers tell an alarming story:
Despite these horrific statistics, the impact of the pandemic on seniors has hardly been mentioned. After all, seniors have few days left. They are weaker. More sickly. Perhaps expendable? Why spend precious resources on them?
This attitude is pervasive in our health care system - even under normal circumstances - causing physicians, therapists and senior facilities to limit procedures and medications prescribed. Instead of being outraged and protecting our seniors, states have begun rolling back quarantine rules, relaxing social distancing and mask requirements while acknowledging the reopening will cause more sickness and deaths.
Simultaneously, community outrage has been directed toward the gradual opening of businesses and the maintenance of any social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines. Overlooked in the outrage protests is the staggering number of senior COVID-19 deaths.
By this standard, the United States already had been failing. With the added weight of the coronavirus crisis, the country is failing miserably. Persons 65 and older have a higher risk of infection; therefore, we can expect a disproportionate share of persons infected and dying from COVID-19 in the future to be senior citizens.
It is time for families and friends of seniors to raise their voices and demand better. Until we demand more, the poor quality of elderly care will continue, society’s focus on this valuable group will remain marginal and our values as a society will continue to erode. We can and should do better.
What can you do?
Glad you asked.
We all have elderly neighbors, family or friends. Call them; make sure they’re safe and have what they need. Volunteer to pick up their groceries or prescriptions for them.
Pay it forward. Buy lunch for senior community staff, especially employees at assisted living, memory care or skilled nursing facilities. They are front line workers who deserve support and recognition for the critical role they are playing during the pandemic.
Pay it forward. Offer to provide services or products to seniors at facilities, e.g., donate health care or other products that residents could use.
Write your legislators about the treatment of our seniors. Historically, the United States has led the way on humanitarian efforts. We should set a universal example of how to treat seniors, especially amidst the pandemic.
Live. Grow. And then Repeat.
