The pandemic has resulted in widespread stress and sadness, extending now through spring, summer and into fall. Thankfully, there are also positive stories, often focused on innovative solutions to the challenges COVID-19 poses for patients, families and clinicians. One example is a program developed by a health system in Charlotte, North Carolina, to help counteract […]
Wearing face masks, avoiding crowds and staying 6 feet away from people are new habits everyone should develop and sustain until the COVID-19 epidemic is under control. As has been reported in the media, compliance with these recommendations varies across the country, but even in neighborhoods where most people follow the guidance, committing to a […]
Penny Shaw is a writer and advocate working on behalf of individuals with disabilities and nursing home residents. A university faculty member and administrator with a Ph.D. in French literature, Shaw developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare neuromuscular condition, in 2001. In 2002 she moved to a nursing home in Braintree that specializes in neurorehabilitation, where […]
Editor’s Note: Judith Graham’s article (first published July 13, 2020, by Kaiser Health News) captures many important issues related to nursing home visitation policies adapted for COVID-19. I can report from personal experience that the socially distanced visits Graham describes, now available at many long-term care facilities, are an imperfect solution to a “heart-wrenching problem.” […]
In addition to death, disability and disruption of virtually every aspect of normal daily life, the pandemic is causing millions of people to miss or postpone medical care for non-COVID conditions. The full effect of missed and delayed care may never be accurately measured, but there is a growing sense that COVID-19 is causing extensive collateral […]
As the coronavirus pandemic approached Massachusetts earlier this year, a multidisciplinary team at Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare) worked to anticipate and address ways in which health inequities would play a role in the expected surge of patients with COVID-19. A key priority for the team, known as Equity and Community Health COVID Response, […]
When I asked Dad the reason for his call, he cheerfully responded, “Well, we’re trying to figure out how to get out of here.” The “we” is my 92-year-old dad and his fellow residents in a locked memory care unit where they’ve been very well cared for and almost entirely free of COVID-19 but without […]
Evidence-based fact sheets are available for free in more than 30 languages from the COVID-19 Health Literacy Project. The project is the brainchild of Pooja Chandrashekare, a first-year medical student at Harvard Medical School, and now reflects the work of more than 150 medical students who have helped translate evidence-based information into accessible and practical […]
Patient engagement has taken a hit from the novel coronavirus outbreak. Since early March when “lockdown” upended normal life across the country, many patients have disengaged from healthcare—missed care they needed either because appointments had been cancelled or because they felt the risk of catching COVID-19 outweighed the risk of delayed care. Even highly activated […]
With visitors temporarily barred from hospitals, physicians across the country are using video apps to meet with family members to offer clinical updates or discuss end-of-life preferences for critically ill patients. South Shore Hospital, part of South Shore Health, in South Weymouth sought a new way to enable this important communication via FaceTime or Zoom […]