Long term care facilities come in all shapes and form; small Group Homes, larger Group Homes and custom built small and large Assisted Living facilities to Nursing Homes.
Generally speaking, there are two types of long-term care facilities: (1) nursing homes; and (2) assisted living facilities. Unfortunately, the news media does not make a distinction between these two types of care facilities, and the two thus tend to get lumped together in media coverage of the spread of the pandemic and its toll on the elderly in terms of the number of infections and deaths.
The high rates of infections and deaths that are reported in the news apply mainly to nursing homes, not to assisted living facilities. A study published in late May in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the spread of COVID-19 and the infection and death rates were much lower in assisted living facilities compared to nursing homes. One of the main reasons is that insenior home care services, each resident has his or her own living space, whereas in nursing homes, several residents may share a single room, thus making isolation extremely difficult and making the spread of any viral infection much easier. Also, nursing homes tend to have large communal spaces, such as dining rooms, where residents gather for meals and other activities several times a day, where social distancing is almost impossible.
It is important to note that AlfredHouse is not a nursing home. It has several small and not so small boutique assisted living facilities, which provide highly personalized and individualized care to their residents. At AlfredHouse facilities, each caregiver is assigned only four residents to care for. This is in sharp contrast to nursing homes. An investigation by PBS Newshour in 2018 of a leading for-profit nursing home in upstate New York revealed that on low-staffing days and weekends, each caregiver who reported to work had to attend to 18 residents. Such situations result in compromised quality of care, heightened level of stress for staff and residents, greater neglect of residents, and inadequate cleaning and maintenance—all of which are easy targets for infections within a nursing home.
During the pandemic, it was reported that caregivers were forced to come in to work, even if they had symptoms associated with COVID-19. Stressed schedules and poor working conditions result in a high rate of turnover of caregiving staff, or staff taking additional jobs at the same time at multiple facilities. This has been identified as one of the major causes of COVID-19 infection spread from one nursing home to another. At AlfredHouse, the caregivers have a manageable work load (1:4 staff to resident ratio) with low stress levels to ensure that they have the job satisfaction, hence they do not need to seek additional employment.
During the pandemic there was a great shortage of personal protective equipment across the industry. AlfredHouse has ensured an abundant supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) and has conducted regular COVID-19 testing for staff and residents.
AlfredHouse is a relatively safe place for you if you are an elderly person requiring assisted living, or for your loved one if he or she requires such care.
WE NEVER STOP CARING!
