HOUSTON – Kachelle Kelly has the same uneasiness a lot of us do. She said she worried about protecting her aging parents, 76-year-old Roy and 74-year-old Glenna, from COVID-19.
“They’ve never been apart from each other for more than three days in 50 years,” said Kelly.
The family was not letting anyone in the house during this pandemic. But, her dad’s dialysis nurse was one exception. One day that nurse came into her parent’s home with a cough and seven days later her mom got the fever first.
“And they both got it at the same time because the very next day my dad tested positive,” Kelly said.
If the Kelly family is more careful than most. If they couldn’t stay safe, what in the world are we supposed to do?
“The minute that they step foot in your home is that they’re going to the bathroom and washing their hands,” said Chanel Williams with Friendly Faces Senior Care, which was not responsible for the father’s nurse.
However, Williams said she is on the lookout to make sure her staff is keeping people safe.
“It’s really respecting each other’s boundaries, respecting the fact that COVID is real and it’s invisible and having the same courtesy towards one another and it, not just kind of be one-sided,” said Williams.
Here are some guidelines for protecting aging parents from COVID-19:
COVID-19 safety rules for anyone entering your house
What can you do to make sure your home is safe when you need to have others entering? Have a conversation with your family members.
- Everybody should be wearing a mask.
- Require caregivers to wash their hands immediately and then frequently.
- Social distancing should be observed as much as possible.
- Before anyone enters the home, pre-screen the company and the individual.
Here are a few questions you should have your loved ones ask anyone who enters the home:
- How many patients do you handle per day?
- How do you disinfect equipment?
- When were you last tested?
- Who do you live with?