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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Nursing Homes Killing Their Residents?

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We’ll get right to the point….New York State’s nursing homes and senior living residences are killing their elderly clients. Their residents are dying of the Hunan Virus way out of proportion to the rest of the City. This is criminal. Our elderly elected to enter these facilities, confident their daily living including medical needs and issues would be taken care of by caring, well trained and concerned professionals. Their families, many not on the scene, trusted the staff of these institutions to see to it that their loved ones would be safe and secure. They were lied to. They should have understood that these “homes” were not hospitals, they are businesses run to make profits. Their residents are merchandise. They come and they go. Let’s look at figures. Deaths attributed to this virus in nursing homes and adult care facilities in the Bronx now total 566; in Brooklyn, 438; in Queens, 781; in Manhattan, 242: in Staten Island,129., Nassau County, 417 and Suffolk County, 406. Sadly, too much. Way out of proportion to the deaths in these same areas.

Again, we state these places are not hospitals, they are care giving facilities but they should have been more aware of the vulnerabilities of those in their care. The elderly usually have accumulated various illnesses that come along with aging. Heart conditions, diabetes, lung issues and just the wear and tear of the years takes its toll on our bodies and weakens our immune systems. Why then do we hear that these facilities were lacking the basics of health care institutions. Why did they not have an adequate supply of the ordinary protective equipment such as surgical gloves, gowns and masks together with sanitizing hand lotion in stock? What protective sanitary measures were in force even before this pandemic?

Shouldn’t they have begun isolating their residents as soon as the warning bells were rung about the contagiousness of this virus? Why weren’t ill residents taken to hospitals rather than kept in quarantine on the premises? Why didn’t they immediately begin taking their residents’ temperatures to determine if any illness was present? Shouldn’t this be a daily practice even without any immediate threat? All of their residents because of their advanced ages must be viewed as patients at all times and checked to see if their health is in jeopardy. They are not running hotels or vacation resorts. These are senior living facilities with old people.

And what of the training and background of their employees? What background checks are made of them? What basic education must they have? How much are they paid? What is the turnover rate? What of the supervisory staff? How many registered nurses are on staff? Doctors? Do doctors (if any) within these establishments as a matter of routine, check on the residents’ needs and see to it that those needing referrals to specialists and hospital get them? When this pandemic is over, and it surely will be, our officials must focus on these institutions to require them to raise their standards to levels much higher than they are now. They must become quasi-medical facilities catering to the needs of their elderly residents. More local and state supervision over these facilities will have to be required based on the unusually high numbers of deaths related to this ongoing virus pandemic within them. Nursing homes and senior living facilities are well paid by their residents to care for them. And that must be their first obligation.

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