Care home carer with asthma and vulnerability to Coronavirus

[emtb]

New member here, a great forum for advice and info you folks have here, Thank you.

My partner has been a health care worker qualified to specialise with dementia residents for nearly thirty years. Five years ago she was forced to reduce her hours due to the steady onset of asthma, and it now takes about an hour and a half for her to clear her airways before starting one of her two 12 hour shifts per week

I thought I may ask if anyone in a similar situation could offer an opinion whether she should continue to work as the home are still allowing visitors, family and friends, access.

Also, now retired, I suffer fairly severe COPD/emphysema, and due to cancer treatment a low immunity to chest infection. (I use Trimbow and Ventolin, Pam uses a powder inhaler and Ventolin also)

We are in the lower income bracket, and my partner not working would create hardship as her now private company do not offer “sick pay, but she still loves this now arduous job for her to care for residents, refusing promotions offered over the years in order to continue as a carer on the “front line”

We live in the South of England not a million miles from Reading, where some folks have tested positive for Coronavirus and some schools closed for deep cleaning in the surrounding areas... We are not sure where to ask for advice about our current situation regarding the increasing spread of Coronavirus and our obvious vulnerability.

[peege]

Welcome to the forum emtb!

Your wife will have the best knowledge and practice of preventing cross-contamination. She'll have access to disposable aprons and gloves too.

I've been thinking of carers and people on no contract hours, very tough indeed when you don't get paid for time taken off sick. Statuary sick pay is £94 per week I think, presumably for full time - so not a lot to live on.

If I still worked in that environment I'd be showering on return home and putting the days clothing straight in the wash. Good luck to you both. P

[emtb in reply to peege]

Thank you for the welcome peeve. Yes, Pam is clued up and strict on personal hygiene, but we worry mainly about visitors whose travel history etc no one is aware of, and as if Coronavirus were to “enter” the care home, it would decimate the very vulnerable residents as well as Pam and I ...

Pam worked for a local authority home with very good sickness and other benefits for 25 years, but due to suffering bereavement of her then Husband and the subsequent effects mentally, she now works for a smaller 35 bed home with no sickness or other benefits, and like the majority of private homes, minimum wage, even though like many of her colleagues, has all of the certification, NVQs etc required of their job.

She has in recent years, had to reduce her hours to two twelve hour shifts per week due to her failing health, worn back, hips, knees and her worsening asthma.

I admire your empathy for the situation of essential workers peege, particularly health workers in both NHS and the private sector. I really hoped that my and Pam’s generations of “baby boomers” would be the last people to suffer poor working conditions, lack of health and safety and in some sectors of employment, relatively low salaries. But we do seem to be progressing backwards these days with as you say, minimum wage and zero hours contracts, and at the local authority care home where Pam worked, staff on the old contracts are being pressured to sign new employment contracts bringing in these “new” methods of employment “enjoyed” by our forefathers of yesteryear.

Good luck to you and yours also peege.

Alan

[2greys]

You have no idea to just how similar we are. I can understand your situation 100%, being in the exact same cicumstances, with the same worrying concerns. I cannot supply you with an answer though, I really wish I could. I am also faced with a lot of hospital appointments as lung cancer may have reappeared in my other lung.

You are most certainly not alone with this situation and empathise completely. It really could be me making your post. All I can say is try to keep the worry and stress levels down to a minimum, as that can deplete what little immunity you have left, easy to say, hard to do.

Keep in touch with the forum though as someone may get some constructive advice from a medical professional soon. I wish you both the best of luck.

[emtb in reply to 2greys]

Thank you for your answer 2greys. So very sorry to hear of your lung cancer.

No I am luckier than you my friend as my cancer is prostrate, though had spread to lymph nodes etc. but not into my bones thank God. My PSA blood tests good so far, but radiotherapy has left me with various problems in the pelvic area and hips etc. And drugs for pain, emphysema, atheritis , ptsd ect not helping.

On the positive side, the love of a good woman far outweighs my negatives ...

Not complaining of course, as pain and discomfort well worth it if eventually free of the curse that is cancer.

Thank you for your kind words and advice to stick around and unstress.

I too wish you well, especially during your forthcoming hospital visits ... hoping for positive outcomes for your problems 2greys

Alan

[2greys in reply to emtb]

My partner works as a senior carer in a nursing home with 12 hour shifts, 48 sometimes 60 hours per week and with the same minimum wage. The residents all have a mixture of health issues, with hospital appointments and occasional admissions.

Last October I was admitted with "community acquired pneumonia". I no longer wash Sharon's work clothes, she now gets them washed in the laundry at the home. Until this week I have been working full-time, at the moment work has completely dried up, but at 69 years I am not too concerned and could do with a rest. Sharon is not eligable for retirement yet, being 10 years younger, I am not happy with her breathing either and that is currently being investigated (at last) and now using Relvar Ellipta inhaler.

Very, very similar circumstances, rather surreal in fact, complete with that we live in the South as well, Southampton, an International gateway with being a port. Covid-19 could arrive here any time, C'est la vie.

Ahh the love of a good woman, mine has put up with me for 34 years. I would be totally lost without her now. TTFN.

[emtb in reply to 2greys]

I am a little older than you 2greys and now live up the road from you at Newbury, luckily out of town so easy for us to avoid crowds, apart from our local theatre which we often enjoy .. also by coincidence I was married to my first Wife for ... 34 years ... and Pam is 15 years younger than me ... yes, quite a few coincidences

Best wishes to both of you 2greys ... Alan

[Badbessie]

I wish I could help you. I retired from the health service a few years ago but keep in contact with old friends. Like your wife there are a number of nurses with asthma etc and as of yet they have been given no advice. My daughter as severe asthma and works in a pharmacy attached to a medical centre and there is no advice for the at risk group of workers.

[emtb in reply to Badbessie]

Thank you for your reply BB. My first Wife of 34 years was a nurse for a few years in North Wales. She unfortunately succumbed to cancer in 2002.

After losing my second Wife also to cancer in 2012 after eight years, I followed my heart South about 18 months ago...

I would be very interested if you decided to share any new advice your Daughter receives... I wish her well as although people are being advised not to visit GPS surgery, no such advice not to visit pharmacies, as of course folks need their meds,

She is very much in the firing line. Her employer should really keep your daughter off the counter at least, as she suffers so with asthma, and more at risk of not combating Coronavirus.

I wish you well as well during these troubled times BB.

Alan.

[Badbessie in reply to emtb]

Thank-you for your concerns. If I do come across any official guidelines I will of course post them. The general complaint from my friends within the NHS is that even they are getting conflicting advice and plans. Yes there are good plans to limit an out break but many grey areas.

Regards Allan.