Protecting the elderly

Still thinking about nursing homes and Covid-19.

Photo by Vlad Sargu

Covid-19 has exposed the confusion in our culture between being old and fit – with many more years left in you and being elderly and frail and near death. Before Covid-19, the ordinary flu would wipe out a surprisingly large number of elderly people each winter. No-one thought about it … Read more

Exclusive: Lockdowns until 2021 possible.

We could go out of Covid-19 isolation, shutdown and quarantining, then back in again for repeated periods right up until November, 2021, staff have been warned at some Sydney hospitals. The NSW lockdown will now officially last for 90 days. This has been confirmed as we hear from sources inside … Read more

Don’t feel hopeless – even if you are old.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles can teach us things now.

Here’s some good news. Getting sick with COVID-19 isn’t necessarily a death sentence – even if you’re old.  Norman Swan in his coronavirus update on March 23 finished his report by saying that 85 per cent of old people who get COVID-19 will survive. That’s something for the elderly to … Read more

How do we ensure good palliative care in these strange times?

Palliative care in the age of Covid-19

I like strange as a word. It is non-judgmental, it says this is different, unfamiliar, something new to be navigated. However, we need to put a few things on the table: actively putting strategies in place to retain the rights and manage the needs of the dying, the suffering and … Read more