For better or worse, the novel coronavirus has reshaped society. From coffee runs to routine doctors’ visits — the pandemic forced everyone to rethink how they interact with others and the outside world. For part of the population, that meant following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. For others with serious health conditions such as breast cancer, navigating this new normal presented a different array of unique challenges.
See how Presidio Home Care has adapted to meet those challenges and ensure your loved one’s safety during the pandemic.
How COVID-19 Changed Cancer Treatment
At the start of the pandemic, health experts along with local and state governments recommended delaying elective care such as screenings, surgeries and non-emergent treatments. The reason was simple — limited services can minimize exposure for patients and health care providers.
The delays would then enable facilities nationwide to conserve resources such as hospital beds, personal protective equipment (PPE), blood supply, and staff time for seriously ill patients with COVID-19. For breast cancer patients, such recommendations dictated their course of treatment. To be specific, doctors would have to look at each individual’s diagnosis and decide whether a patient was at a higher risk of infection because of treatments like chemotherapy or targeted therapy, age and other underlying health issues.
Another change? Streamlining treatment plans to cut down the amount of time a person spends at any given facility. In some cases, fewer in-person visits are required to complete chemotherapy or radiation therapy and shorter hospital stays. Other measures include oncologist appointments via telemedicine, and COVID-19 testing before surgery and chemotherapy.
How Presidio Home Care Makes a Difference
As a full-service agency, Presidio Home Care can assist your loved one with everyday tasks, allowing them to remain independent and safe at home.
We offer a host of services ranging from mobility and ambulation assistance and incontinence care, to grocery shopping and prescription pickups. In response to the pandemic, we’ve implemented mandatory safety measures that include social distancing guidelines for our Home Care Aides, in-home cleaning and disinfecting, universal masking and strategies to reverse isolation to protect our clients from exposure.
To stay proactive, we’ve also:
Increased every Home Care Aide’s sick pay allowance and offered a monthly reimbursement stipend to all team members for face masks and hand sanitizers
Provided a mandatory (COVID-19 specific) training program to all of our Home Care Aides
Provided N95 Particulate Respirators to all of our team members
Presidio's goal is to provide premium, personalized services at reasonable rates. Our mission is to serve our community and to enrich the lives of those we work with. We will continue to be here for you, rain or shine.
Call us at 800-567-1147 to learn about how we can help.
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