Unbelievably Covid has struck our small care home again..?‍♀️

Oh that's awful, especially when you work so hard to keep everyone safe.
People have become complacent over the last 6 months and now we're paying the price.

I’m so sorry

That’s horrible

Sorry to hear that Shinamae. I hope any symptoms will be mild for all concerned. Will the care home have to close to visitors?

I thought that, because if the pandemic, carers would be properly appreciated now but people have short memories.

So sorry that it has struck again and hope the residents recover more quickly being immunised. It's awful for carers and the rules are so confusing now. DD2 is a nurse in Scotland. They are still wearing masks and she has had the Autumn boosters. She had covid recently and had to have 2 negative tests before returning to work. She is still wearing a mask and people are still expected to wear them in health care settings. I understand that is not expected in care settings now and relatives don't have to test. Not sure about staff. DD2 abscence was still treated as a covid one but I don't know about other jobs. There is no requirement to test generally and if you feel unwell you stay off till you feel better without testing and it is treated as a normal sickness. Children are not required to be tested. I'm not hearing about many having covid locally but there is norovirus circulating in schools and nurseries. Had my Autumn flu and covid boosters today and so far no side effects. Don't know about anyone else but since the pandemic it feels like nothing is the same. Dentists not returned to pre-pandemic working, GPs not returned to pre-pandemic working, NHS not coping and huge waiting lists, schools still trying to cope with the fractured education over last 2 years, as predicted Brexit has not only badly affected the economy but especially the levels of carers who have left the UK to return home and now the economy and the UK government are in the biggest mess I have seen in my 66 years! Shinamae I feel the same as you. Most folk have no idea what people working in care homes have to do and the awful rate of pay for all the hard work and caring. And the pain and anguish felt during the first waves of the pandemic with the high rate of deaths. I do hope that your residents are better protected now. Before I retired, as a district nurse I had to visit residents in care homes for nursing care and saw the compassion, caring and encouragement from the staff working there towards the residents. You are real angels for what you have to do and are the backbone of care homes looking after many of our most vulnerable people!

My Dad (91) lives in an extra-care apartment with support from carers several times a day.
This week he's been feeling out of sorts. Doctor visited, no temperature, BP ok, nothing prescribed.
However on Friday he tested positive for Covid.
As requested by the carers I've taken paracetamol and Benylin over for him. I didn't go in to see him as the carers are wearing full PPE when they go in and I don't want to compromise their procedures.
He's been a bit brighter today apparently so hopefully he's on the mend ?

Shinamae I hope your home's residents and colleagues all get better soon x
It's definitely still around ☹️

Grannynannywanny

Sorry to hear that Shinamae. I hope any symptoms will be mild for all concerned. Will the care home have to close to visitors?

Yes there will be absolutely no visitors while this is going on..

It’s definitely increasing again . I had managed to avoided it til last weekend and have been in bed feeling fairly grotty til yesterday, still testing positive.
My dd is back in masks at her hospital and I hope this isn’t the start of another yet bad winter for those who care.
I am sorry Shinmae it is upsetting.

You and your colleagues are angels and do an amazing job. I am so sad to read this and can tell how upset you are. Good wishes to you and your care home residents, I wish you all well.

I have done a lateral flow test for the last three days and all are negative, however we had to do the PCR test yesterday and should get the results of that maybe today or tomorrow, the thing with the PCR it picks up low levels of the Covid where as apparently the lateral flow test do not so makes me wonder why we even bother with them really! ?‍♀️

Shelflife

You and your colleagues are angels and do an amazing job. I am so sad to read this and can tell how upset you are. Good wishes to you and your care home residents, I wish you all well.

Thank you very much. The thing is when I go in this afternoon I will be the only English carer, all the rest are Indian and they are very good,they’re very compassionate they’re very kind and they’re very reliable but the thing is their English is not good,no matter how hard they try, Some can barely string a sentence together but what do you do?we need feet on the floor and not many English want to do this job for £9.50 an hour… The residents with high dementia will not notice so much but other residents do need clear communication…. I do feel very sorry for some of these Indian women, they have come thousands of miles,left their families and work long arduous hours, most of them have been sponsored and will be tied into the Home for five years and as the English leave I fear that there will just be foreign staff and that is no good for the residents but like I said previously what’s to be done?