The care homes which stayed safe from Covid
VTHROUGHOUT THE WORLD, Covid-19’s most devastating impact has been on the elderly, with care homes especially bearing the brunt.
Though Italy, with an ageing population, suffered badly, Jewish care homes bucked the trend. They reported no casualties, not even in Milan, the eye of the storm where the local Jewish community suffered a number of deaths.
The key, explained Antonella Musatti, the Milan Jewish community council member in charge of the local care home, the Residenza Arzaga, was prevention: “We tested all the residents for Covid-19. Although they were all negative, we immediately put in place a series of measures, reducing gatherings, practising social distancing and the use of masks and gloves. Entertainment and social events were suspended.”
In February, relatives’ visits were reduced to one person at a time and then, in early March, stopped altogether. At first, relatives complained but as deaths mounted elsewhere and the Arzaga remained virus-free, the total shut-down started to make sense.
The same approach was adopted in the Turin, Florence and Rome Jewish care homes. In Rome, a room was reserved to quarantine, if necessary, any positive patients. Turin was already sealed to the outside world from mid-February and therefore when a request came to house Covid-19-positive patients from elsewhere, the answer could only be “no”.
This long, enforced isolation was, by everybody’s admission, an extremely tough time psychologically but because management and staff took care to explain to families and residents exactly what was going on, and why, there was no panic, just acceptance.
In fact, says Ms Musatti, the Milan care home staff were extremely touched by the emotional support and encouragement offered by some of the residents who still bore the scars of the Second World War but managed to find the strength to support those who were looking after them.
During the long periods of isolation from family and friends, video-calls provided an indispensable bridge to the outside world. Staff helped the residents to connect.
But, more generally, Whatsapp and Zoom can be difficult for many older people.
An offshoot of the lockdown has been “Insieme, a casa” (together, at home), a national platform supported by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI) and devised by Machshavà Tovà, an Israeli non-profit organisation, which provides free daily lessons on how to use the internet.
Sessions include everything from how to do online shopping, learning about the various social networks, the most popular apps, the various search engines, to the intricacies of Whatsapp and Zoom.