What do you do if there is a corona outbreak in a nursing home ward for psychogeriatric elderly, ie demented people? Do you isolate the infected residents from the non-infected, even if that means locking them up for wandering and walking around?
Or do you not do that with the risk that non-infected residents run the risk of also contracting corona? With the possible consequence that they become seriously ill and can die. Healthcare provider Mijzo was confronted with this dilemma.
The company has 26 locations in the area between Breda, Tilburg, Gorinchem and Den Bosch. It employs 3,500 people and another nearly 2,500 volunteers. At the company’s 26 large and small locations, a total of 172 of the more than 3,000 residents were today infected with SARS-CoV-2.
Demented elderly
In some locations, the number of infections is high, over 20. In the brand-new De Riethorst nursing home in Geertruidenberg, the building has only been in use for three months, an outbreak started almost two weeks ago.
“In the last weekend of November we had the first two infections in the psychogeriatric department. That quickly increased to twelve, twenty and forty”, says chairman of the board Mireille de Wee, also director of the trade association ActiZ.
“Now all but 2 residents in the psychogeriatric ward have tested positive.” Two residents have since died. Geriatric medicine specialist Astrid Cloquet says the number of deaths may be increasing. “But we do see that the infected elderly tolerate the disease better than during the first wave.” This may have to do with the fact that there was hardly any testing at the time.
What to do?
Testing for the corona virus is drastic and unpleasant for the (severely) demented residents. “Our employees come fully wrapped in personal protective equipment. And then they have to insert a cotton swab deep into someone’s throat and nose.”
The residents do not understand what is happening to them. The corona rules mean nothing to them. They stick together, don’t keep their distance and, in many cases, they wander or walk around. Eighteen employees, including the location manager, were also infected.
–
