Home care - Well-Advised

How to deal with COVID-19 when you are over 65

Back to: HELPING OLDER GENERATION TO SURVIVE

Home care

Practical home care

Home assessment

What happens if a person has only mild symptoms but a positive test ? Can they stay at home safely? Typically if a clinical decision is made not to admit someone then their home circumstances are taken into account. It is important to understand that not admitting someone is not an indication that the person is beyond recovery. Typically it is the opposite - that their symptoms are mild enough that they do not require sophisticated respiratory equipment.

A trained healthcare worker will assess the suitability of the home; whether the person and family can maintain the rigorous precautions that isolation requires; and whether they can deal with all the safety aspects.
The advice and help needed in these circumstance is well documented from previous viral epidemics
It requires careful management by all concerned.

Maintaining precautions

All the usual precautions of quarantine need to be followed at home, such as minimal contact with anyone outside the specific clinical caregiver and so on. You do not want people who are not caregivers themselves to become those who need them.

Planning their stay

Staying at home may be for several weeks and needs careful planning. This is even more complicated if there are other people in the household. Medicine and food are obvious, but cleaning the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom need their own routine to be set up. The mental and physical well-being of all members of the household have to be thought through. How do they stay in touch with the infected person and also stay away from them? How are the inevitable maintenance problems of the home going to be dealt with? Who is in charge and makes the decisions? What happens if the worst happens? Think through the possible scenarios and how best to handle them. Revisit the plan regularly.

Back to all cards

Next: Their well-being