Older and disabled adults are at high risk for developing COVID-19, so how can home care providers work with their patients during this uncertain time? Home care providers can still care for their patients if they follow the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) recommendations and sanitary measures. If you take these when you work with your patients, you can reduce their risk of contracting COVID-19.
Sanitary Recommendations for Home Care Providers
You can start protecting your patients by adapting the CDC’s recommendations for retirement facilities to fit your home care business. For example, you should clean and disinfect commonly used spaces daily to reduce the risk of infection. You should pay particular attention to fixtures and objects that you and your patients touch most often, such as sinks, faucets, door handles, chairs, tables, toilet handles, and remote controls. Additionally, you should use EPA-approved disinfectants to clean all those surfaces effectively. Finally, you should have your employees wear masks and gloves when they work directly with patients. All these sanitary measures help reduce the virus’s spread if you implement them properly.
Limit Physical Access to Patients
The CDC recommends that workers and contractors who visit multiple homes to conduct business should limit the number of high-risk individuals they interact with each day. They also recommend keeping social distancing measures in place by staying 6 feet away from your patients. Home care, however, often requires workers to be in close proximity to their patients to perform daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, and grooming. To meet your patients’ daily needs, you should perform these tasks while wearing a mask and gloves, and then stay 6 feet away when your patients don’t need direct physical help.
Keep Your Patients Informed
Make sure you share COVID-19-related facts and care recommendations with your patients and their family members. You can send them the protective measures the CDC has recommended for older adults, adults with disabilities, and adults with dementia. Also make sure they understand that they should limit non-essential visitors to one per day to limit their exposure and reduce their risk of infection. Overall, talk with your clients and see if they have any questions about the pandemic. Then you can do your best to answer them. If you don’t know the answer to a question, research it to ensure you’re giving your patients accurate information.
Additional Caregiver Tips and Recommendations
The first set of CDC recommendations above were for professional caretakers and retirement facilities, but they also offer tips for home caregivers in non-medical settings. Specifically, these are tips for taking care of sick people at home, but you can adapt them for your home care business. These tips include limiting contact and washing your hands often, as well as disinfecting high-touch surfaces often. You can also use them if your patients express symptoms of COVID-19, such as trouble breathing, persistent chest pain, or bluish lips or facial features. Of course, if they start exhibiting these symptoms, you should immediately seek emergency medical care for them.
The CDC recommends keeping social distancing measures in place by staying 6 feet away from your patients. Home care, however, often requires workers to be in close proximity to their patients to perform daily tasks such as bathing, dressing, and grooming. To meet your patients’ daily needs, you should perform these tasks while wearing a mask and gloves, and then stay 6 feet away when your patients don’t need direct physical help.
Take Care of Your Patients With Help From AVCC
We’re living in an uncertain time, and AVCC can help you deliver top-quality care to Veterans in your area under the current circumstances. We offer resources and training courses to help you care for Veterans effectively. We can also refer Veterans in your area to your business to help it grow. If you want to grow your business now and help people in this time of need, reach out to AVCC today. We are your ally as you reach out to your current patients and your new ones during this pandemic.
