Can this pandemic be the crisis that finally forces us to fix long-term care?
By Aaron Wherry
"I think the tragedy of COVID-19 is that it's exposed a number of the weaknesses that have been long-standing," said Dr. Samir Sinha. Figuring out how so many residents of long-term care facilities lost their lives to the pandemic will involve examining many possible factors. But last fall, Dr. Sinha co-authored a report that identified a number of issues with the way care is delivered in this country — issues that now seem like ripe targets for reform.
"We've had [more than] a thousand older people die," Dr. Sinha said. "And if that's not a call to action, to fundamentally reform the entire way our country provides long-term care, then I don't know what is."