With hospitals filling up with coronavirus patients, experts said the pandemic has highlighted the increased need and importance of care in the home.
For people recovering from COVID-19, home care can be both essential and elaborate, involving a health care professional who provides additional oxygen, monitors vital signs, administers medication and helps with daily tasks such as eating, bathing and getting in and out of bed.
Home care professionals and nurses said the coronavirus pandemic shows how crucial the industry is. It provides life-saving services to people who are vulnerable while keeping them safe in their own homes.
“It’s been quite a dramatic challenge for all of us and certainly the public health challenge of our lifetime,” said Dr. Steven Landers, president and CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, which serves New Jersey and Ohio.
“Nurses, therapists, home health aides, they have really shown up to help fragile, medically vulnerable people stay home and also help people come home from hospitals and nursing homes, which have been under incredible stress,” he said.
