Call for measures and support from visiting care sites New Coronavirus April 17 6:53
With the spread of new-type coronavirus infections and the increasing number of day care and other out-of-service nursing homes that are taking voluntary leave, the role of home-visit nursing care is increasing as an alternative service. However, there are voices from home care providers calling for countermeasures and support, saying that they are required to continue providing services without sufficient information.
In the 7 prefectures where the emergency was declared earlier, voluntary leave is spreading mainly for day services and other out-of-office facilities to prevent the spread of infection.
While the importance of home-visit nursing care increased to continue the care of the elderly who could not use the service, the representatives and helpers of the home-visit nursing care offices in Tokyo and Saitama submitted a request form to the government last week.
Among them, visiting care providers said, "Although the home helper's visit was the last time, they were required to continue providing services without sufficient information, and the administrative backup was too poor." We are creating a manual for a helper who visits the user's home alone, and are requesting infection prevention measures such as giving priority to masks and protective clothing.
In addition to creating a system such as nursing care rewards and special allowances for visiting care for infected people and concentrated contacts, we also urgently need to devise measures to increase the number of helpers suffering from aging and shortage of human resources.
Misato Kojima, the representative of NPO Lifestyle Net, who submitted the request, said, "Some people may be in danger of losing their lives without helpers. Not only medical care but also nursing care is in danger of collapsing. I would like you to be aware of the current situation and move forward with measures. "
"Helpers are in a state of mental exhaustion"
One of the home-visit nursing care establishments that submitted a request form to the government, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo's “Hand Mountain Service in Tokyo,” is still unable to stock new hygiene products such as masks and rubbing alcohol. I managed to get rid of my stockpile.
Originally, it is desirable for helpers to change their masks every time they visit a user's house, but if this is the case, the inventory will run out in about another month, so use should be restricted. Since it is unavoidable, there is a note on the mask bag placed on the desk in the office saying, "Please wear one mask per day. Please refrain from collecting in bulk." It was affixed.
Every morning, the helpers check the body temperature at the office, wash their hands and gargle before and after going to the user's home, and in one hour for things that multiple people touch, such as the office door knob and telephone handset. We try to prevent infection by disinfecting once.
However, there are cases where the user's mask cannot be prepared, and there is a limit in the current situation where the rubber gloves worn by the helper are insufficient.
The representative woman of this business office said, “In order to protect both users and helpers, infection prevention is still insufficient as it is, but there is no protective clothing or hygiene products. Helpers are mentally exhausted, It's just barely in place. "