Excerpts used in this article originally appeared here in The Wall Street Journal
By Anna Wilde Mathews and Tom McGinty

Covid Spurs Families to Shun Nursing Homes, a Shift That Appears Long Lasting

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, New Wave Home Care has been making continuous efforts to increase awareness of the health and safety risks now confronting those that make up a good number of our more vulnerable population, our aging-in-place seniors. One of the ways in which we’re doing this is by keeping our readership up-to-date on the latest information available. With that in mind we’d just like to share a few excerpts from an article that came out this month in The Wall Street Journal on the topic of COVID-19 and the shift away from nursing homes.

The article mentions how, “Americans have long relied on institutions to care for the frailest seniors. The U.S. has the largest number of nursing-home residents in the world. But families and some doctors have been reluctant to send patients to such facilities, fearing infection and isolation in places ravaged by Covid-19, which has caused more than 115,000 deaths linked to U.S. long-term-care institutions.”

The article goes on to say that the “occupancy in U.S. nursing homes is down by 15%, or more than 195,000 residents, since the end of 2019, driven both by deaths and by the fall in admissions”.

Fearing infection and isolation, relatives are turning to home care as new services make that option more possible for many

“The pandemic is reshaping the way Americans care for their elderly, prompting family decisions to avoid nursing homes and keep loved ones in their own homes for rehabilitation and other care.”

As a result, home care agencies, like New Wave Home Care, are now becoming a top-of-mind option for families living with a senior. Now so, more than ever before, there is increased awareness of the vulnerability seniors have to infection, so families are choosing to stay away from options where the health of their loved ones could be compromised. Right now, there is no safer place for our elderly loved ones to take shelter in than at home.

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To learn more about New Wave Home Care now, or to set up a FREE in-home assessment for a senior in Southern California or the greater Los Angeles service area today, please visit us at: www.newwavehomecare.com!