Nursing homes and other residential facilities have been hard hit by the novel coronavirus, with residents and staff easily representing 40 percent of lives lost in the US. What do you do when there’s a natural disaster of this sort? The New York Times reports that some counties are sending in strike teams–medical workers and other emergency responders–to help nursing homes and other residential care centers and provide aid to residents.
Strike teams are usually made up of eight to 10 people from local health departments, private businesses, nonprofits and emergency response agencies. They bring their expertise and assistance to the nursing home disaster at the request of a facility. For example, county nurses and doctors may be called upon to step in for nursing home staff who become sick. They might test staff and residents for COVID-19 and provide care to residents. By so doing, they can help keep these residents from needing to be hospitalized.
In Henderson County, NC, a rescue squad of volunteer paramedics set up tents where staff could take off their personal protective equipment. They taught staff important safety protocols. Residents’ families and staff received emotional support from chaplains and mental health therapists. And, someone with PR expertise was charged with helping family members understand the plight of residents in the facility.
The goal is to slow the spread of the virus through better coordination of care. A strike team response is often used when there is a hurricane or other natural disaster. The inability of many nursing homes to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus within their facilities is just that, a natural disaster. It’s far simpler to help people on site with a team that knows how to manage the emergency than to remove people from the site.
States, including Texas, Massachusetts and New Jersey, have taken on some emergency response work at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. A bi-partisan bill in Congress would appropriate money for these states to continue this work. Though, it’s not clear whether it will be enacted into law.
Now, more local agencies are taking emergency response measures to help the thousands of understaffed and under-resourced nursing homes and assisted living facilities in small communities across the country.
While there is no data yet available on the benefits of the strike team approach, experts say it makes sense and, anecdotally, people say it is working.
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