It’s pivotal that long-term care operators stick together as they try to move forward in the battle against COVID-19, LeadingAge Board Chairwoman Carol Elliott urged this week.
“We have to continue and spread our wings even further than we have, [and] touch those wings together as organizations and as part of LeadingAge, and together we will continue to soar,” said Elliott, who’s also president and CEO of The Jewish Home Family in Rockleigh, NJ.
“We will continue to fight for the needs of older adults. We will continue to do the work that we are here to do,” she added.
Elliott’s comments came Tuesday during the virtual opening keynote session during the organization’s annual Meeting & Expo where she highlighted the struggles providers have faced throughout the year and how those struggles have united them.
Elliott noted that at the beginning of the pandemic, providers had to rely on each other to deal with their fears about the virus and its deadly impact on long-term care, and their frustrations with a lack of information from the federal government.
Other struggles included how to treat residents with COVID-19, a lack of personal protective equipment, inadequate testing, staffing shortages, and even how to manage unresolved grief after seeing residents, co-workers and family members face the disease.
“We had staff members who lost loved ones, who lost parents, who lost siblings, who lost spouses. I know that some of us lost staff, as well. I don’t know how we have ever processed the grief that many of us felt,” Elliott said. “We will be processing the grief that we have felt for a very long time.”
Despite the challenges, Elliott said there have been bright spots for the long-term care industry, with one being “our dedication to getting through this together.” She added that LeadingAge also has shined thanks to their advocacy efforts nationwide and work to provide necessary resources to struggling providers.
“We have to move forward together, and move forward indeed we will,” she said.
Elliott said that now providers must come together to rebuild and rebrand so people everywhere know the important work they do inside long-term care facilities and quality care they provide for seniors.
“All of these things have brought us together. All of these things have united us in ways we’ve never been united before. I believe that the critical thing now is for us to stay united. We have to build our networks,” Elliott said.
“We have to stay together closer than we’ve ever done before in part because we’re under attack. We are under attack as an industry and we need to retrench and rebuild our reputations,” she added.
