Home nurses, bed-ridden patients find going tough

 Home nurses, bed-ridden patients find going tough

Greeshma.GopalGiri@timesgroup.com

Kochi:07.12.2020

Satheesan K, a resident of Alappuzha district, works as a male home nurse and attends to bedridden patients. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, he finds it difficult to find job.

“Both home nurses and families of patients are a worried lot. Friends and family members visit bedridden elderly citizens. We cannot ask them whether they are Covid negative or not. When visitors test positive, both the patients and care givers are in trouble. If a home nurse or patient turns positive or becomes a primary contact, then the family will find it difficult to find a replacement for the home nurse,” Satheesan said.

Home nurses express their unwillingness to work for a long period of time. They say that families employing them are reluctant to send them home for a break due to the fear of turning Covid-19 positive.

Mary Albert, a home nurse from Palluruthy says, “This is a strenuous work, especially when dealing with paralyzed patients. Family members do not want us to take a break and go home. They think that our interactions with public and our family members would lead to us getting infected. Though I need work and money, I choose to stay away from working as home nurse for the time being.”

Meanwhile, people say that getting experienced home nurses and care providers has become difficult since the outbreak of the pandemic. When a home nurse leaves, getting a replacement is a tedious process.

S Seena, a teacher, who has sought services of a home nurse for her mother-in-law, said, “In the last three months, I had to employ five people. Nobody was willing to stay even for a month. I checked with agencies in Ernakulam, Kottayam, Alappuzha and Idukki to get a female home nurse. I have been noticing this pattern since the outbreak of Covid-19.”

Even private agencies who provide such services are finding it difficult to rope in trained people.

“Its mostly people who are in desperate need of money opt to take up the work. There are many instances where they leave the work and come back within few weeks. There are also cases of families reporting about Covid-infected home nurses,” said a manger of elderly care service providing centre in Kochi.

Getting experienced home nurses and care providers has become difficult since the outbreak of the pandemic