The Crisis Facing Nursing Homes, Assisted Living and Home Care for America’s ElderlyHundreds of hundred of workers are leaving the Caregiving industry.

Most people in Elderly Care Facilities wondered why they were suddenly in their new rooms? Why do they need to wear masks? It was December 2020, the second wave of the pandemic, and all but a few staff in the Elderly Care Facilities were infected with novel coronavirus. His supervisor asked if he could work 16-hour shifts.

Since January 2020, 400,000 nursing home and assisted living workers have resigned, citing pandemic exhaustion and low pay and lack of advancement opportunities typical of the field

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, home health and personal care aides are actually the fastest-growing industry, projected to grow 33 percent over the next decade, far faster than all occupations. But there are still simply not enough workers to meet demand.

This is a particularly important issue because the crisis we’re in now is minuscule compared to the one to come: The share of people over 85 (the group most in need of care) is projected to double to 14 million by 2040, in part because Americans are living longer. By 2050, there will be 84 million seniors living in the United States. Virginia alone is projected to have a shortage of 23,000 nurses over the next decade.

When the virus arrives, “Who will take care of America’s elderly?”

Suddenly, it was no longer an abstract policy question, but a direct, practical one. Elderly Care Facilities were separated into “warm areas” for Covid exposed residents and “hot areas” for Covid positive residents. The painter’s plastic blocks the communal kitchen, but disease spreads from the hallways; The warmth became hot, and workers in both areas became infected.

“Someone has to take responsibility and risk their life.” The paramedics said

Working 16 hours straight is not uncommon for long-term care assistants, citing an average shift time of 16.6 hours for caregivers. And there must be basic guarantees for such labor, such as a living wage, health insurance, and a path to citizenship. After all, why not work for Amazon, which at least has health benefits?

Earlier this year, the Biden administration proposed a series of administrative reforms that could help.

The new measure calls for increased oversight of nursing home ownership, financial transparency and minimum staffing standards – standards that nearly every state found to be low. “Seventy-five percent of all nursing homes are understaffed,” Harington said, a “shocking” reality that studies have shown for 20 years, but the pandemic has made that obvious. She noted that reduced RN staffing has led to an increase in Covid infections and deaths in nursing homes. Harington is glad that some action is being taken at the federal level, but more needs to be done, and she said she has found that some of the most promising initiatives are coming from states, which have more room to regulate how nursing homes spend money.

With the availability of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-approved N95 masks no longer limited, the CDCs guidance suggests individuals can opt to use a NIOSH-approved N95 mask instead of cloth face coverings. In its consumer guidance on face masks, CDC notes that the N95 and other NIOSH-approved respirators are the more protective options. While the agency does not recommend one type of mask over the other, its new guidance highlights that N95s and similar high-filtration respirators provide the best protection against COVID-19.

The CDC study builds upon the guidance the CDC issued earlier this year about face masks, which detailed different types of masks differing levels of protection they provide – with the N95s topping that list.

In this episode, two AMA members take the time to outline what patients should know about wearing N95 or KN95 masks, the types of specialty filtration masks doctors and others in the medical field refer to as respirators. Because we did not perform the mask tests ourselves, we asked health experts for their opinions on who should use N95 respirators, as well as when they should be worn, and how to source and purchase them. If you think that surgical N95 respirators are missing from the list, please contact CDC to find out about respirator approval status. The CDC has a list of signs a KN95 respirator may be fraudulent, including manufacturers claims that a KN95 face mask has been approved or certified by CDC or NIOSH.

The difference between the N95 and the KN95 masks is the location of certification for each.

according to Oklahomas State Health Department. N95s are medical-grade masks made for healthcare workers, so there are not, of course, any N95s designed for children, nor made, because only adults will work in healthcare settings. Before the pandemic, the N95s were primarily used at healthcare facilities and industrial settings, where some workers said that it was not comfortable wearing them for an entire day. As a result, in addition to N95 masks, healthcare workers had other masks available for safe treatment of patients, while not exposing themselves or others to COVID-19.

Free N95 masks are available in pharmacies, supermarket drugstore chains, and community health centers across the country.

Some public health experts have pressed CDC on multiple occasions to recommend higher-quality products rather than commonly used cloth face coverings. The agency is considering updating its guidelines to advise Americans to choose the masks that healthcare workers have traditionally worn – like N95 or KN95 masks – if they are able to consistently wear them, said a person close to the discussions, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Based on an increasing number of domestic supplies of the respiratory protective equipment approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in line with CDCs updated recommendations, and consistent with a newly released emergency temporary standard (ETS) issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) emergency temporary standard (ETS) for protecting healthcare workers, FDA believes that healthcare facilities should no longer employ emergency-capability strategies. Memorandum aligning CMS policies with CDCs recent changes, as well as the Food and Drug Administrations guidance regarding facemasks and respirators, with COVID-19 and supply needs.

So, in Elderly Care Facilities, we should pay more attention to wearing masks, especially N95 masks. For many caregivers, the smartest thing to do is to wear a mask size N95, because N95 is a mask that can filter out at least 95% of oil-free substances, which is a good mask to wear when caring for the elderly. What masks, the CDC-passed N95 respirators, were best for Elderly Care Facilities? The following are NIOSH certified N95 masks：

• Nask Nanofiber material N95 

Nask N95 SM-N9501 is very thin and light, while maintaining ultra-high filtration capacity

Nanofiber Materials NASK N95 Filter SM-N9501

• San Huei UNIAIR SH3500 NIOSH N95 Masks

Uniair San Huei SH3500 N95 Vertical Fold-Flat Respirator is one of the San Huei N95 masks. Uniair mask SH3500 is our high-quality N95 face mask.Filtering N95 Masks YICHITA NIOSH YQD95 – N95 Face Masks (n95-face-mask.com)

Bulk San Huei UNIAIR SH3500 NIOSH N95 Masks

• Filtering N95 Masks YICHITA NIOSH YQD95

It is worth mentioning that YQD95 is made of higher quality cotton material, although the wearer will not let long breathing obstruction if worn for a long time, and the soft material makes contact with the skin for a long time will not be uncomfortable.

Filtering N95 Masks YICHITA NIOSH YQD95