The University of Kansas Health System reports a steady number of COVID-19 patients today. Seven people with the active virus are being treated, same as Friday. Of those patients, two are in the ICU, down one from Friday. One patient is on a ventilator, same as Friday. HaysMed has one active and two recovering patients, same as Friday.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, and Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System introduced Dr. Jessica Kalender-Rich, member of the White House Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes and geriatric medicine physician. She explained more about what's happening in long-term care facilities. They also talked about what we all can learn from a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine about the rate of decline and vaccine effectiveness in nursing home patients.
“It’s almost like there’s been a palpable change in what has gone on in the nursing facilities,” said Dr. Kalender-Rich. She said that hospitals are no longer seeing the high rates of COVID-19 patients admitted from nursing homes.
The pandemic has also taken a significant mental toll on nursing home patients. The lack of visitors and the restrictions on eating and socializing with friends within the nursing facilities have made it difficult for so many elderly patients. And eating alone for nursing home residents meant that many people weren’t eating right and not eating their normal amounts.
“I think we all know the trauma of being isolated and it hit those people in nursing facilities, I would say for the most part, harder than others,” said Dr. Kalender-Rich. “We’re back to people smiling again and it’s a totally different world right now.”
A community question about a report of a recent uptick in COVID-19 in long-term care facilities was addressed to Dr. Kalender-Rich and she believes that most of those infections are from staff members and not residents.
“Unfortunately, the vaccination rates for staff and nursing facilities remains really low,” she said. “Right now, every facility is managing vaccination differently – some have vaccinations available for the staff and others are having staff go to other sites around the community.”
She said it is important to find out why staff members are reluctant to get the vaccine to get more of them vaccinated. A related community question about FDA approval was asked of Dr. Kalender-Rich – what will it take to get FDA approval of the vaccines?
“I know they’ve tried to do this as fast as possible, but it routinely takes three to six months after applying for authorization for it to get approved,” said Dr. Stites. “The reality is that these vaccines for COVID-19 are incredibly, incredibly safe, relative to the risk of contracting and having a disease, dying from the disease, developing long-term side effects or long-haul syndrome.”
Once the vaccines are officially FDA approved, then we may see additional nursing home staff members getting vaccinated.
Another question was asked about someone having COVID-19 six months ago, and whether they should have an antibody test before getting the vaccine to see if there’s already enough anti-body protection. The doctors recommend just getting the vaccine because there is no clinical reason to check for anti-bodies.
A question was asked about whether parents should hold off and wait for additional data for children with the vaccine or have them just get the vaccine now. The consensus is that the vaccine is very effective against the virus and should be given to the 12 and over population now. It is important to remember that any reports of side effects could be attributed to something else and not necessarily the vaccine. “There are rates of disease in the population in almost all Americans that occur without vaccination and that’s been true for a very long period of time,” said Dr. Stites.
The conversation closed with a big thank you to all nursing home organizations on the front lines of this. “I think we should give you a round of applause for the great work that’s been done protecting those most vulnerable in our population,” said Dr. Kalender-Rich. “Thank you for that great work.”
Tuesday, May 25 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. Dr. Roopa Sethi, Addiction Clinic Medical Director, and Dr. Teresa Long, Psychiatrist, will join to talk about pain, opioid dependency verses addiction and changes in guidelines that could be creating barriers to healthcare.
“It’s almost like there’s been a palpable change in what has gone on in the nursing facilities,” said Dr. Kalender-Rich. She said that hospitals are no longer seeing the high rates of COVID-19 patients admitted from nursing homes.
The pandemic has also taken a significant mental toll on nursing home patients. The lack of visitors and the restrictions on eating and socializing with friends within the nursing facilities have made it difficult for so many elderly patients. And eating alone for nursing home residents meant that many people weren’t eating right and not eating their normal amounts.
“I think we all know the trauma of being isolated and it hit those people in nursing facilities, I would say for the most part, harder than others,” said Dr. Kalender-Rich. “We’re back to people smiling again and it’s a totally different world right now.”
A community question about a report of a recent uptick in COVID-19 in long-term care facilities was addressed to Dr. Kalender-Rich and she believes that most of those infections are from staff members and not residents.
“Unfortunately, the vaccination rates for staff and nursing facilities remains really low,” she said. “Right now, every facility is managing vaccination differently – some have vaccinations available for the staff and others are having staff go to other sites around the community.”
She said it is important to find out why staff members are reluctant to get the vaccine to get more of them vaccinated. A related community question about FDA approval was asked of Dr. Kalender-Rich – what will it take to get FDA approval of the vaccines?
“I know they’ve tried to do this as fast as possible, but it routinely takes three to six months after applying for authorization for it to get approved,” said Dr. Stites. “The reality is that these vaccines for COVID-19 are incredibly, incredibly safe, relative to the risk of contracting and having a disease, dying from the disease, developing long-term side effects or long-haul syndrome.”
Once the vaccines are officially FDA approved, then we may see additional nursing home staff members getting vaccinated.
Another question was asked about someone having COVID-19 six months ago, and whether they should have an antibody test before getting the vaccine to see if there’s already enough anti-body protection. The doctors recommend just getting the vaccine because there is no clinical reason to check for anti-bodies.
A question was asked about whether parents should hold off and wait for additional data for children with the vaccine or have them just get the vaccine now. The consensus is that the vaccine is very effective against the virus and should be given to the 12 and over population now. It is important to remember that any reports of side effects could be attributed to something else and not necessarily the vaccine. “There are rates of disease in the population in almost all Americans that occur without vaccination and that’s been true for a very long period of time,” said Dr. Stites.
The conversation closed with a big thank you to all nursing home organizations on the front lines of this. “I think we should give you a round of applause for the great work that’s been done protecting those most vulnerable in our population,” said Dr. Kalender-Rich. “Thank you for that great work.”
Tuesday, May 25 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. Dr. Roopa Sethi, Addiction Clinic Medical Director, and Dr. Teresa Long, Psychiatrist, will join to talk about pain, opioid dependency verses addiction and changes in guidelines that could be creating barriers to healthcare.