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If these were normal times, Lovisa may have greeted you while you were boarding your SAS flight somewhere.
Instead, for the past month, the 20-year-old Swedish woman has volunteered to care for elderly people with dementia and Alzheimer’s in a Stockholm residential home.
After registering through a system for SAS personnel, they now have first-hand experience of a bitter reality: of the 3,529 Covid-19 deaths in Sweden so far, 88 percent were over 70. About the half of the total was in nursing homes.
“People in homes are often sick in many ways, so I understand that they don’t stand a great chance if they get the virus,” Lovisa said, “but instead of five people, we sometimes had 15 people from outside the walking clinic. ” floor. And at first, the only protective gear we had was gloves and aprons. “
Sweden has attracted worldwide attention for its alternative blocking approach. This depended on citizens to limit their social contacts without forcing the closure of shops, restaurants, schools or gyms.
While the provisional numbers are of limited value, Sweden’s death rate is much higher than that of its Nordic neighbors: 32 per 100,000 people, compared to nine in neighboring Denmark.
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell suggests that his country’s approach will pay off when a second wave hits later this year, as many more Swedes may be immune to the virus.
Volunteer program
But other state officials fear the road to Covid-19 hell in nursing homes is paved with poor preparation and a well-intentioned volunteer program.
It was released last month with a high-profile participant: Princess Sofia, wife of Prince Carl-Philip. On her first day as a volunteer at Stockholm’s Sophiahemmet Hospital, she was photographed on Instagram in a caregiver uniform, but without a mask.
Swedish state prosecutors have launched an investigation into the high death rate in nursing homes, which is at odds with the plan to erect a “protective shield” around older people.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has announced plans to spend around 2.2 billion kroner (€ 207 million) to increase the levels of home care staff, and almost the same amount again to help local authorities with the additional costs in that they have incurred to face the pandemic.
Health Minister Lena Hallengren said: “We as a society have a responsibility that this sector is not better equipped.”
Symptomatic staff
Lovisa and thousands of others were recruited to fill the staff gaps that widened even further when symptomatic staff were ordered to stay home.
She believes that her skills and training for people, particularly in the CPR resuscitation technique, were of some benefit to her. Despite demands for shifts of up to 12 hours in length, she knows that her contribution is making a difference for people who would otherwise have no one to dress, wash and feed them.
However, when he started working a month ago, Swedish public health guidelines did not require the use of protective equipment in homes unless a resident had symptoms of Covid-19.
“We have visors and masks this week, but it’s kind of ridiculous,” he said. “At first they told us we wouldn’t need them and now we do.”
Lovisa does not understand why, for three of the last four weeks, she was allowed to care for other people’s grandparents without protective equipment, but, for health reasons, she is not allowed to visit her own grandfather, who lives in a similar home.
Amid the rising mortality rate in nursing homes, being separated from their aging parents worries many Swedes.
“When I visited my father before, I had to make sure that the staff cleaned his room properly, didn’t cut corners,” said Sara Lander from Uppsala. “I’m concerned with how things are there now.”
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