Key Takeaways

• Ask loved ones about their appetites, sleep patterns and moods to find red flags
• Find creative ways to connect while still being physically apart
• Arrange a few unprompted acts of kindness

The geriatric population, those who are 65 years and older, has been widely noted as among the most at risk of developing severe illness from COVID-19. Physical distancing has been the critical measure in the prevention and spread of infection within this age group.

However, while the physical health of the geriatric population has certainly been a topic of discussion during the COVID-19 pandemic, how has this period of isolation impacted the mental well-being of these individuals?

“Loneliness amongst the older population will be a much more insidious cause of casualty than we previously realized,” says Matthew L Russell, MD, a geriatrician and palliative care specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

(more…)

This attestation form is applicable to acute care hospitals and must be completed prior to performing Phase 2 services and procedures as defined in Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) Reopen Approach for Acute Care Hospitals guidance Phase 2: Cautious Guidance. 

For more information:

Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Reopening website

We screen to protect you, your families, and our staff

• We screen all employees daily for symptoms. Anyone with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 or other infectious illness is not permitted to work until they are evaluated.
• We screen visitors and encourage the use of our pre-screen tool to our facilities for symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
• We test and screen patients for COVID-19.
  • Admitted patients to our hospitals are tested for COVID-19 before admission. Patients are tested again over of the course of their admission.
  • Admitted patients are screened daily for symptoms.
  • Patients visiting our facilities are screened for symptoms.
  • When providing care in the home, we screen patients for symptoms before the visit.

We clean our hands and spaces and make it easy for you to do the same

• We have hand sanitizer stations throughout our facilities so patients, visitors, and staff can clean their hands easily and frequently.
• We follow CDC recommendations for cleaning of our facilities.

We protect everyone in our environment

• We require everyone — employees, patients, and visitors — at our facilities to wear a facility-issued facemask.
• We wear masks when providing care in the home.
• All Mass General Brigham employees are required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and influenza.

Ugne Aleknaite and Gretchen Buchmann from the Swim Across America Nantucket Infusion Center at NCH provide an update on how their department has continued to provide care and services to some of our most vulnerable patients during the coronavirus pandemic.