EL homes for the elderly taking every precaution

Elderly citizens in old age homes are safe and in good hands, according to facility managers in East London.

Research has found that older people are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus, and so facility staff have been pulling out all the stops to protect them.

Pensioners in East London have been glued to televisions, radios, newspapers and social networks to learn the latest about the Covid-19 outbreak, which reached the city on Saturday.

Physical and contact activities have been banned.

Manager of Kennersley Park frail care Loureppe Schafer told DispatchLIVE a decision had been taken that residents would not leave the facility until further notice.

“We are assisting them with food (from shopping centres) and other errands. Along with the staff, we encourage them to wash their hands regularly and to sanitise them often. We keep educating them and try to keep the panic down. We have put protocols in place; we have changed the towelling to paper towels so they can them throw away after using them,” said Schafer.

Visitors are being screened to check their health status.

“We can't shut our doors (for visitors). We haven't banned visits completely; we are just minimising them.

“At this point we are limiting visitors and checking those who have been out of the country for a four-week period. We screen visitors and ask them various questions — their (recent) travel history and if they have been in contact with anyone who has been out of the country.”

Families were being consulted on the way forward.

“We have started chatting to all the families and friends of our residents, to say that if it comes to a point where we do ban visitors, for the safety of our residents and our staff, we might put measures in place. That would be our next step. If we come to a point of no visitors, it will be for the benefit of our residents,” Schafer said.

She said the elderly were not panicking and “they just understand the greater picture”.

Kathy Smith, a matron at the East London Senior Citizens' Association, said visitors had been told to visit only when it was necessary to do so.

“We know which families are regulars,” said Smith.

“They (residents) are reading, talking to one another, phoning and lot of them have Facebook and know what is happening. We all have to be cautious and and not be silly and put everybody at risk.”