agewell 2020 new 8.21_11-16_final

Q: What actions do you take if
your patients test positive?
A: We ask them to go on
Vitamin C, Zinc, Vitamin D,
antibiotics, and possibly other
treatments depending on the
situation. The next thing we
would do is tell them to isolate
themselves so they don’t pass
it to anyone else until they’re
better.
Q: With more sectors of the
economy reopening, including
restaurants, how do you feel
about people going out to eat?
A: Because this virus is so
harmful in older adults I would
advise my patients to continue
to take the same precautions
they are now including keeping
six feet distance, wearing the
mask, avoiding crowded places,
and maintain good hygiene.
I am going to recommend
caution until there’s a
treatment or a vaccine.
You can think of the virus as a
living thing. This virus wants to
live like all of us do. It happens
to need humans to live. If
the human has immunity,
medications, or a vaccine the
virus dies. Right now, we don’t
have a vaccine and we don’t
have a medication. So right
now the only way to kill it is to
build immunity by catching it
and beating it.
But if you haven’t had it,
the virus is kind of like a lion
roaming the streets. If you
go out, it’s looking for you.
The reason we’re being less
restrictive as a society is not
because the virus is gone,
but because the hospitals
have more capacity to take
on new patients. We’ve built
procedures in the hospitals so
they have become efficient
at housing more patients. We
are better trained, have more
resources and equipment.
Eventually I think everyone
is going to get the virus. I
am hoping my patients can
avoid contracting it until we
have a treatment or a vaccine
at which point they can
better fight it off. Until then
there’s not much we can do.
If you contract it, it’s a battle
between the virus and your
body.
Q: Do you have any guesses
as to when we might have a
vaccine or a treatment?
A: It usually takes about a year
for a vaccine. We’re hoping
early next year we should
have something. But people
need to remember over the
next few months that even if
it’s not on the media, the virus
is still here. Unfortunately,
the media controls what we
think about. The vulnerable
population should still take
precautions until there is a
vaccine or treatment. I would
like to see the media educate
seniors that just because the
economy is open does not
mean anything is safer. It just
means hospitals have capacity.
Older adults should continue
to take precautions until there
is a vaccine or treatment.
Q: Can you think of any
positives to take out of the
last few months?
A: I think the positive of all this
for a lot of people is they’ve
gotten closer to themselves,
they’ve gotten closer to
neighbors, they’ve learned
more about technology, and
on our end they’ve learned
the power and usefulness of
telemedicine.
Also a lot less people have
been getting sick. And maybe
that’s partly because they’re
taking more preventative and
proactive care of themselves
and ironically not coming
to doctor’s office and other
places where there are a lot of
sick, contagious people. People
are home. People have been
learning to take better care of
themselves and they’re better
at managing their own bodies
because they don’t want to end
up in the hospital.
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