If you want to blame NH’s, blame society for rampant ageism that allowed NH’s to be so resource poor for decades and prefer older disabled adults to be out of sight out of mind.
If you’re a doctor, blame medicine for spending money on medications and procedures that only hurt older adults. Blame US medical schools that produce less than 100 gertiatricians out of 25,000 graduates each year. Blame the lack of primary care.
Blame hospitals for getting mad at NH’s who send pts and blame NH’s when we don’t. Blame the disparity of resources between hospitals and NH’s when the virus could care less.
Blame our govt for not providing testing which makes NH’s fly blind. “Assume your whole building is infected” has been said to so many medical directors pleading for tests.
Blame @CMSGov for doing nothing but surveying and fining NH’s during this pandemic (see Kirkland).
Who is rushing to volunteer in NH’s like the hospitals in NYC? Who is coordinating meals from restaurants for NH workers? If it isn’t you, well then....
For those of us who have pleaded for change for decades, who have been so content to work without recognition, to choose to be where no one wants to be, being blamed adds to the absolute agony of this pandemic.
Every time I see a new patient in the NH I ask them how they feel about it. It’s never positive. They feel discouraged. They would rather be home. Families feel like they failed in some way. They wish they had more resources. No one has a life goal of living in a NH.
But then I look at them and say, if you had a choice you wouldn’t be here but guess what, I chose to be here to be with you and so did everyone who works here. You are not alone. We love doing our best for you and you don’t have to go through this alone.
I was the only medical student in my class who did a nursing home elective. I was the only resident in my program who did a nursing home elective. Geriatrics is the second lowest paying specialty (still well paid all things considered). But despite everything I wouldn’t change it
I stand in a gap between the medical sub specialists to one side and the proceduralists to the other. I’m outside the academic ivory towers. But I never wonder if I am making a difference.
