Eldemire-Shearer: Give gramps, grannies breathing room

As increased focus is placed on containing the spread of COVID-19, caution has come from a senior health expert not to lose sight of other severe health conditions that affect older persons.

“We have to be very careful about the focus on COVID-19 when it comes to older people because with the high rate of co-morbidities, we are still seeing the heart attacks and other illnesses we normally see in the older persons,” Professor Denise Eldemire-Shearer, director of the Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre at The University of the West Indies, told participants during a teleconference yesterday.

The teleconference was staged by the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the university under the theme ‘COVID-19 – Approaching Code Red’.

With the disease killing a larger percentage of the older population in countries around the globe, Eldemire-Shearer said that everyone had a duty to protect seniors from COVID-19.

Following the guidelines on sanitising and washing of hands is crucial to help prevent the elderly from contracting the virus, but the senior health expert said that these exercises are not always easy, especially in communities with no water. She also pointed to physical-distancing challenges in areas with high population density.

Family members, including grandchildren, are urged to communicate with their elderly grandparents from at least six feet.

“It’s not ageism, it’s not discrimination,” she said. “I keep hearing that this is a penalty, ... but honestly, it’s probably one of the first times that so many people want to protect our older people, and we really need to take it as a blessing.”