The Outsized Impact of COVID in Nursing Homes & in Dementia: Guests Kathleen Unroe & Ellen Kaehr

Many of you listened to our prior podcast with Jim Wright and David Grabowski about COVID in long term and post acute care settings. In this follow up podcast, we talk about the situation in long term and post acute care in Indiana with Kathleen Unroe, Associate Professor at Indiana University, a scientist at the Regenstief Institute, and a PI of Optimistic and founder of Probari, and Ellen Kaehr, Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Indiana University and geriatrician and medical director of a nursing home. A few highlights to wet your appetite: - About 2/3 of the Ellen's nursing home is COVID positive. This has led to so many challenges - how did this happen? (asymptomatic staff). How to cohort? Issues with PPE, with transitions to the hospital, with visitors. - We talked about the unique impact of COVID on people with dementia. For example, mobile persons with dementia wander, which has negative aspects, but does keep them functional/mobile. Now they're confined to their rooms and at much higher risk for debility/decline. They're also noticing a loss of orientation due to lack of structured activities. - We talk about the impact on Assisted Living Facilities, something that Kathleen has been thinking about increasingly from a policy perspective. There are twice as many people living in assisted living facilities as nursing homes. And yet assisted living facilities have received scant attention in this epidemic. - Impact on providers. This has been so hard. And clinicians and staff are working so hard to meet this challenge. How can we support each other during this difficult time? And they chose an AWESOME song, Paradise by the late great singer songwriter John Prine, who sadly died of COVID related illness. I couldn't help but overlay a few harmonies on the vocal track. Sing along! -@AlexSmithMD