Four Weeks

It's been nearly four weeks since I heard about the Coronavirus impacting a nursing home in Washington. For the last three weeks, my life has been surreal. Because I'm a geriatrician, I've been focused on the impact of this nasty virus on vulnerable older adults. This has resulted in me speaking, texting and emailing my colleagues across the country. Because of those interactions, I've been privy to information about what's happening often before the news media. That's not the hard part. Two weeks ago, my colleagues were "holding down the fort" and trying to do their best in keeping their patients safe from the virus. Geriatricians care deeply about older adults. Over the past week, I've been privy to the despair and frustration that these incredible physicians have felt as this lethal virus has broken out. They're trying to contain it and keep their other patients safe, but it's a huge challenge. This being my specialty, I've been trying to help support them. From the moment I wake up in the morning to the time I go to sleep at night, I've been immersed in COVID19. I've been speaking to reporters and have been quoted in NBC News, the L.A. Times, and Skilled Nursing News. I did a Skype interview with CBS News today, though not sure if it aired. I've been speaking with the state government and some elected officials I know what's happening in the ICU's and the hard decisions that doctors and patients and their families are having to make. I'm seeing #Ageism combine with this virus to result in some very discouraging results. Yesterday, the Governor of New York instructed nursing homes to accept patients with COVID19, a decision not based on science or medicine. In fact, the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine, of which I am President, has said that doing this puts the lives of all nursing home residents at risk. I've come to wonder how much our elected officials care about the people that I have spent my career caring for and protecting. They are not protected now, they are vulnerable. Older adults are being isolated in assisted living facilities, nursing homes and in their own homes. I can only pray that God will step in and change the course of this virus, but that's not how it works. We are supposed to be learning something from this pandemic. I hope that we end up learning that we care about each other, that we are all one people and one country. By and large, that's what I've seen. I consider the machinations in Washington to be an aberration, I think that most Americans are better than that. I've had my moments of discouragement and have certainly had plenty of ups and downs in the past week. I'm blessed to have a wonderful family to support me and friends and colleagues around the country to draw strength from. They are my heroes. #WeArePALTC#Geriatrics