※ 'Corona Behind' is a report by Park Soo-jin, a reporter from the Life and Culture Department of SBS Press Headquarters, who is running at the forefront of COVID-19 coverage.

Once a week, reporters Park's articles and thoughts that were not included in the article are released to readers.

[Editor's Note]



My mother works as a caregiver at a local elderly nursing home.

She's in her mid 60s, but she's a 'young man' there.

Sometimes she becomes the arm-wrestling partner of her proud grandfather, or her grandmother's companion, whose dementia symptoms keep her life's clock on her children's childhood.

In the early days of the corona outbreak, the entry and exit of outside personnel was severely restricted, so she became a 'beautician at a nursing home' for a while.

Because she was the only employee with a hairdressing license, she complained that she had more work, but on her days off she was busy practicing her scissors at home.



Of course, not all good things happen.

"A grandmother has fallen out of bed now. I'm busy, so let's call next time." There were so many phone calls that were disconnected leaving him saying, "You have to be nervous because you don't know when an accident will happen, and you have to work overtime twice a week in a poor working environment. There are times when it's daunting.



The past two years with Corona have been even more so.

She was a patient and had to get vaccinated 4 times, and the staff had to submit their destinations and names of people accompanying them to the nursing home even if they wanted to go out with their families on holidays.

As parental visits were blocked, the emotional state of the patients became unstable, which in some cases led to deterioration of health.

We tried so hard,



Tragedy of long-term care hospitals and facilities repeated throughout the two years

Of the 9,034 people who died from Corona in the month of March, 3,326 died in nursing homes and nursing homes.

About 3.7 out of 10 recent deaths are patients in nursing homes or facilities.

In fact, from the outset, the coronavirus has invaded nursing hospitals and facilities, where high-risk groups vulnerable to infection are clustered.

Vaccinations are given priority each time, up to the fourth vaccination, and separate quarantine guidelines such as prohibition of visits have been prepared.



The biggest reason the tragedy is repeated is the structure in which the high-risk groups are grouped together.

The Korean-style structure, which uses several floors in a general building with other facilities as well as other facilities, is also one of the reasons why it is difficult to contain the infection.



After the spread of the Omicron epidemic, there is an analysis that if the existing underlying disease is severe or if the patient with a greatly weakened immunity is confirmed, it will become severe and the time to death is faster than before.



For example, if confirmed at a nursing facility, a high-risk group with a serious condition is sent to a nursing hospital dedicated to infectious diseases, while mild cases remain in a nursing home for cohort isolation. The number of deaths due to lack of appropriate treatment or treatment is increasing.

(Infectious disease nursing hospitals are hospitals designated by the government for the purpose of treating corona patients in need of care.)




Park's mother is such a case.

It was confirmed at a nursing home in Gyeonggi-do and transferred to a nearby convalescent hospital for infectious diseases, but the condition has worsened since then.

Park's mother, who was a patient with dementia, died of 'corona-caused pneumonia' within two weeks.


"I got a call saying that I was in critical condition, so I went to the hospital. They said that I couldn't meet him in person, so I looked at the CCTV in the nurse's room, and he said he was wearing a respirator and couldn't breathe properly. His feet were cyanotic and blue. It didn't hurt that much when he moved from the nursing home to the nursing hospital.



My mother is a dementia patient, so she can't eat or go to the toilet by herself. But the dedicated nursing hospital didn't provide that kind of care. They said that the other patients who were confirmed and moved together took care of their mother's meals. They were discharged first, so you must not have eaten properly after that, right? I was so angry."


At this dedicated nursing hospital, efforts were made to transfer Ms. Park's mother to a nearby university hospital, but they did not.

Park also called several university hospitals directly and requested all of them, but it was not accepted.

He only had to hear the answer, "There are no seats in our emergency ward because there are many corona patients."

In fact, the reality is that, like Park's mother, all confirmed patients who are difficult to move and need care are often rejected because it is difficult to treat them at general hospitals or university hospitals.


"There was not enough manpower and no system to take care of the high-risk patients who flocked at once. The cause of death is written as Corona, but I think he died due to poor management of the hospital. I think there is."


The reason for returning to the repeating tragedy

I met Jung a year ago.

Jung's mother was a critically ill patient with her dementia at the time, unable to use her right leg due to a hip fracture.

Fortunately, she was taken to a general hospital and after receiving her treatment, her corona was cured.

Now, a year later, Ms. Jung's mother has returned to her first nursing home.


"There was no way, so we stayed at our house for a month or two and took care of each other, taking turns taking care of each other. But I couldn't. My mother forgot what she said, so she couldn't even express herself that she was sick. It's hard to see what's uncomfortable right now with the naked eye It is difficult. It is not easy to take her to the hospital if her condition suddenly deteriorates. I knew her condition well and thought it would be better to go to the director who took care of her for a long time, so I brought her back to the hospital."


It's not just Mr. Jung.

The reality of guardians is that even if they are confirmed at a nursing facility or hospital due to the corona virus group infection, they have to stay there in cohort isolation or find another nursing facility.

There are many cases where patients are confirmed at a nursing home and go to a nursing home dedicated to infectious diseases, and then go back to the nursing home.

One reason.

This is because it is difficult for the caregiver to fill the void of care on their own.



According to statistics from the National Statistical Office and the Ministry of Welfare, there are 1,464 nursing hospitals nationwide and 4,171 senior care facilities such as nursing homes.

(If you include senior care communal living homes, day/night and short-term care, there are about 11,063 long-term care institutions including senior care facilities.)




According to statistics released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare last year, as of 2019, the total number of beds in long-term care facilities such as long-term care facilities such as long-term care facilities and hospital beds per 1,000 people aged 65 and over in Korea is 60.4.

14.7 more than the OECD average of 45.7.

In 2009, the number was 34.8, which nearly doubled in 10 years.

The number of beds itself does not indicate the utilization rate, but as time goes on, more and more people are visiting nursing hospitals and nursing facilities, and it can be seen that the speed of our country is faster than that of other major countries.

It also means that more and more people are relying on nursing homes and facilities to take care of their parents or their families.




The government is also taking seriously the problems of repeated cluster infections and increasing serious cases and deaths in nursing hospitals and facilities.

Therefore, the 4th vaccination was given first, and a medical task force was formed centered on nursing facilities without doctors so that doctors and nurses could visit regularly to treat and prescribe 'eaten medication'.



In the field, there is an opinion that, in addition to this medical approach, a fundamental solution that can minimize the gap in care between nursing hospitals and facilities amid repeated epidemics of infectious diseases should be put in parallel.

Even if cohort isolation is achieved, it seems necessary to provide facilities and cost support to continue self-treatment and care, and to provide an environment where workers can safely focus on caring.



(Reporter: Park Soo-jin, PD: Kim Do-kyun, Illustration: Kim Jeong-yeon, Producer: D Content Planning Department)