unhappy

[pumpkin31]

HI just facetimed OH this afternoon carer was with him in his room.When she handed OH the laptop i noticed she had no mask on very unsettling as he has just recovered from a very bad chest infection. I asked her why she was not wearing a mask and she said she forgot.With this corona virus i was under the impression that all care staff wore masks and aprons and gloves when they are so close to residents in their rooms. Not happy about that at all as this is the second time the same carer has been in my OH room without the mask gloves and apron.The chest infection must have been brought into the home as there has been no visiting for 6 weeks.Dont know whether to broach the subject or not as i would not like to get the carer in to trouble but i feel very strongly about this especially when he was very poorly a couple of weeks ago and he has other underlying conditions too. what do i do about this dilemma it is very worrying any advice would be appreciated.

 

[AliceA]

Not really advice, but chest infections are caused so often by someone ingesting food. The swallow mechanism can get slack and out of sync with dementia.
Look up Dysphagia.
Protective equipment is another matter and Care Homes are struggling to get supplies.

 

[brambles]

Hi @pumpkin31 . it seems all carehomes have different policies on the wearing of PPE.
At the moment my mums carehome don't rouinely wear masks at all.
There are no cases of COVID-19 n the home at present.
Not really sure what I think about this, but, if the policy at your OH's home is to wear masks, then, the carer should be wearing one!

 

[lemonbalm]

Hello @pumpkin31 . Well, I can't do facetime or Skype with my mum, so communicate just with cards/flowers/treats by post. I do call the carers every couple of days for updates and send love to mum through them (also send the carers boxes of choc's!). I have no idea whether they are wearing protective gear or not but they are really up against it at the moment and I am just grateful that they are looking after mum under difficult circumstances. If I found they weren't always wearing the proper gear, to be honest, I'd probably let it go.

 

[Joyt]

I think masks are very unsettling for PWD. If there’s no evidence of the virus in the home, it’s like a small sealed ecosystem. I’d much rather my OH was not distressed by any changes.