Alice Home Care was recently featured in the San Francisco Chronicle article, “Bay Area caregivers face physical, financial peril assisting elderly clients“:
While doctors and nurses have been on the front lines fighting for patients infected with the coronavirus, other caregivers have played an instrumental role in helping the elderly and infirm stay out of an already overburdened medical system.
That comes with personal risks for some home health aides. Others have had to stop working to protect their clients.
Some in-home caregivers like Wei Xie are licensed to assist people in their homes, but not to administer medication or perform other medical duties. Wei has continued to see clients who can’t do activities that many take for granted, like eating and bathing.
“Without us, they have nobody to help them,” Wei, who works for Alice Home Care in Alameda, said through a translator. “In this line of work, we go to work because our clients need us.”
Wei said one client is severely weakened by late-stage cancer and needs help with showering and other essential activities. In the past that patient slipped and fell during a shower, Wei said, a dangerous incident normally but more so now that hospitals are brimming with COVID-19 patients and have little room to spare.
A need to be physically there for clients also creates vectors for infection. Wei said she wears a mask, washes her hands frequently and cleans her clothes when she gets off work to avoid passing the infection to her clients or her husband.
Continue reading the article from the San Francisco Chronicle here.
Alice Home Care is here to help provide compassionate care for your loved ones who struggle to remain independent in their homes. Give us a call at 510-924-8529 and let us provide you with helping hands and caring hearts.
