Pandemic, Restrictions Have Increased Mental Health Risks for Nursing Home Caregivers
TTUHSC's Sarangi Conducts Lubbock Nursing Home Study
No matter one’s age, race, gender, socioeconomic status or political party, COVID-19 has impacted everyone at some level. That impact has been especially palpable for the approximately 1.3 million elderly Americans who reside in the country’s 15,600 nursing homes.
Inside these facilities, the forced isolation caused by COVID-19 disrupted daily routines and left many of the residents with higher-then-normal levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Because many of these elderly individuals lack the resources or knowledge to use communications tools such as FaceTime or Zoom, their family and friends had no way to visit them except through a facility window.
What these family members couldn’t see as they peered through their loved one’s glass frame was the mental toll the pandemic was taking on the facility’s health care staff.
