SCVNews.com | Opinion/Commentary: A Scary Nursing Home | Doctor’s Diary with Dr. Gene Dorio

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A Scary Nursing Home | Doctor’s Diary with Dr. Gene Dorio

Dr. Gene Dorio | Monday, Apr 6, 2020

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I visit nursing homes once a month. With the COVID-19 crisis, they can easily be a nidus for community infection.

My visiting attire now has been a mask, gloves and wife’s shower cap (which she forces me to wear). I do not don a protective gown (don’t have one), nor have I yet been advised on any policy or protocol they require.

None of the nursing homes I visit have had a diagnosis of COVID-19, although recently it was front-page news 20 miles to the east.

After seeing all my patients, I talked to the administrator at one of the homes who said the facility had no extra masks, gowns or shoe coverings. Plus, there were no available COVID-19 testing kits, should a patient develop symptoms. While there, I heard no one cough.

Just the opposite at another. It seemed everyone was coughing. None of the staff utilized any PPEs including gloves, and they also had no COVID-19 testing available.

Literally, I ran out and decontaminated at home, then reported them. My fear was that it could become an epicenter contaminating the community.

I have extra shower caps I will be donating to them.

Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D., is a geriatric house-call physician who serves as president of the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults and Assemblyman to the California Senior Legislature. He has practiced in the Santa Clarita Valley for 32 years.

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