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Q&A: Aging Health in COVID Times

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH 6 Comments

This week, we hosted a live QA call for Better Health While Aging readers, to address questions about aging health in COVID times.

To help me answer questions, I invited technology expert Richard Caro, of TechEnhancedLife.com, and Dr. Nicole Didyk, founder of TheWrinkle.ca and contributing geriatrician expert on BHWA.

The call replay is below, or get the audio-only version through the podcast here.

Questions and issues we addressed during this call included:

  • The trade-off between safety and other benefits that older adults value
  • How to think through making an activity or situation “safer” rather than ask “is it safe?”
  • How to maintain physical and mental wellbeing while confined to the home, or to a locked-down facility
  • When it’s likely to be “safe” to resume routine health appointments, including eye and dental visits
  • How the pandemic situation might affect recovery from hospital delirium
  • What we know so far about the course of COVID in older adults who develop symptoms
  • What palliative care at home for COVID might look like
  • The challenges that nursing homes are currently facing

(For those who have asked about transcripts: I wish I could but right now we are too short on funding; transcripts cost $1.25/minute to produce plus more time to format and finalize.)


Please stay as safe as you can, and take care!

Related resources:

More from our guest experts:

  • From Dr. Didyk:
    • Her YouTube video about whether to take an older relative out of a facility during a pandemic
    • The Wrinkle’s YouTube Channel
    • Worksheet and Decision Guide about moving out of a senior residential facility during COVID
  • From Richard Caro:
    • Technologies for Sheltering-in-Place, from TechEnhancedLife.com
    • About the Longevity Explorers

Other related links and resources:

  • Uptodate.com: Evidence-based Information on COVID-19 (free!)
  • GeriPal: COVID in Long-Term Care
  • What is a pulse oximeter
  • CDC: Use of Cloth Face Coverings to Help Slow the Spread of COVID-19
  • Center to Advance Palliative Care COVID Response Resources – see info in the symptom management section.
  • PrepareForYourCare.org
    • Get their easy advance directives for almost all states here.
    • Get their COVID resources, including their PREPARE for COVID-19 Tip Sheet here.
  • TheConversationProject.org
    • Conversation Guide to be prepared in the time of COVID-19 & other resources
  • POLST.org
    • Learn how POLST helps frail and seriously ill adults get better care, and find out what is available for your state.

Services and Products:

  • Institute on Aging Friendship Line
    • This free service provides trained volunteers to talk to older adults who are lonely or depressed; they are also qualified as a crisis line for anyone contemplating harming themselves
  • TrueLink Financial Debit Card
    • This card was designed to help vulnerable older adults and others reduce the risk of financial exploitation.
  • Care.coach (formerly Gerijoy) virtual companion service for older adults
    • This service provides companionship, medication reminders, and more. We have had a Helping Older Parents member give us very positive feedback about it recently.
    • If you would like to be part of our Better Health While Aging group trying this service at a discount, please let us know via email. You will get 20% off the set-up fee (usually $279) and ongoing monthly charge (usually $279/month). (BHWA is forgoing any commission in order to enable a larger discount for our community.)

Have you come across any resources or services that are especially helpful to older adults and families during this time? Please share below in the comments, thank you!

 

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Filed Under: Aging health, Geriatrics For Caregivers Blog, Helping Older Parents Articles

« Coronavirus Info: What to Expect Regarding Hospitalization (3.27.20)
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Comments

  1. Jim Doherty says

    April 18, 2020 at 10:53 AM

    You are a national treasure!

    Reply
    • Nicole Didyk, MD says

      April 18, 2020 at 2:59 PM

      Hello Jim and thank you so much for your kind words on behalf or Dr. Kernisan. We’re fortunate to have an expert like her, who can share valuable and credible information online, and do it so well!

      Reply
  2. Pam says

    April 18, 2020 at 11:56 AM

    Be careful. Do not push the elderly into death. My mother used Positive AirPressure device and refused intubation with past pneumonia and survived. But today, with a disease that causes need for ventilation my mother is saying she would now accept intubation in order to survive the coronavirus.

    Reply
    • Nicole Didyk, MD says

      April 18, 2020 at 3:23 PM

      I’m happy to hear that your mom pulled through her illness. I think you’re referring to a treatment that we often refer to as BiPAP, and it is often tried in hospital, in an effort to avoid intubation (that’s having a breathing tube inserted into the lung passages and usually then hooked up to a ventilator). Based on the stories we’re hearing form the front lines, we’re still not sure what the role of BiPAP is in treating those who are severely ill with COVID-19.

      I’m also glad to hear that you’re talking to your mom about her wishes if she were to become very sick, that’s the purpose of having an advance care planning discussion. No one should be pushed or pressured into making a decision about what type of care they want.

      Remember, based on the data we have, it appears that even in older age groups, most people who get COVID survive, but it’s still preferable to keep up with our social distancing and and try to avoid a rapid wide-ranging spread of the disease.

      Reply
  3. Rev. Stephen Precht says

    April 18, 2020 at 1:10 PM

    Dr. Leslie, Thanks to you and your fellow presenters for this. Some very
    good and useful information. Some of my similar questions have been
    answered.

    Reply
    • Nicole Didyk, MD says

      April 18, 2020 at 3:00 PM

      I’m so glad you found the session useful! Please don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments section again if you have other questions that we didn’t have time to address.

      Reply

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