The U.S. skilled nursing and senior housing and care community joins others in expressing its deepest concern about the unprecedented public health challenge facing older Americans and everyone impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Expert care for older Americans, including residents of skilled nursing and senior housing and care facilities, must be maintained by ensuring the safety and well-being of the frontline health care personnel who are working around the clock to provide care.
These dedicated men and women and their families are making extraordinary sacrifices in these difficult times to protect and serve the most vulnerable among us.
Faced with the many challenges to prevent, mitigate and treat COVID-19, frontline health care workers must be able to continue their essential work. This workforce must receive all the support and resources it needs from both the public and private sectors.
We strongly support all actions that:
- Prioritize testing for frontline health care workers and skilled nursing and senior housing and care residents, in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19.
- Increase the availability of personal protective equipment for frontline health care workers.
- Help frontline health care workers ably meet personal obligations, so that they can go to work. There are many creative ways to ensure that their children, for example, remain well cared for, supervised and safe while their parents are at work.
Prioritizing frontline health care workers’ needs is how we will keep seniors safe.
Mark Parkinson
President & CEO
AHCA/NCAL
James Balda
President & CEO
Argentum
David Schless
President
ASHA
Katie Smith Sloan
President & CEO
LeadingAge
Brain Jurutka
President & CEO
NIC