Pandemic isolation has killed thousands of Alzheimer’s patients while families watch from afar

[JacksinPA]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/heal...um=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

One man fights from doorway of nursing home to save his wife.

If only Dan Goerke could hold his wife’s hand.

Maybe she would talk again. Maybe she would look at him and smile as she used to. Maybe she would eat and stop wasting away.

Since the pandemic began, Goerke’s wife, Denise — 63 years old and afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease — had declined dramatically. Left alone in her nursing home, she had lost 16 pounds, could not form the simplest words, no longer responded to the voices of her children.

In recent weeks, she had stopped recognizing even the man she loved.

Goerke, 61, could tell the isolation was killing his wife, and there was nothing he could do but watch. “Every day it gets a little worse,” he said. “We’ve lost months, maybe years of her already.”

Beyond the staggering U.S. deaths caused directly by the novel coronavirus, more than 134,200 people have died from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia since March. That is 13,200 more U.S. deaths caused by dementia than expected, compared with previous years, according to an analysis of federal data by The Washington Post.

Excess deaths due to Alzheimer’s and dementia

A Washington Post analysis of weekly deaths data from the CDC found about 13,200 excess deaths due to Alzheimer’s and dementia since March.

Overlooked amid America’s war against the coronavirus is this reality: People with dementia are dying not just from the virus but from the very strategy of isolation that’s supposed to protect them. In recent months, doctors have reported increased falls, pulmonary infections, depression and sudden frailty in patients who had been stable for years.
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Pandemic? More like plague.

 

[OlNate]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/heal...um=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

One man fights from doorway of nursing home to save his wife.

If only Dan Goerke could hold his wife’s hand.

Maybe she would talk again. Maybe she would look at him and smile as she used to. Maybe she would eat and stop wasting away.

Since the pandemic began, Goerke’s wife, Denise — 63 years old and afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease — had declined dramatically. Left alone in her nursing home, she had lost 16 pounds, could not form the simplest words, no longer responded to the voices of her children.

In recent weeks, she had stopped recognizing even the man she loved.

Goerke, 61, could tell the isolation was killing his wife, and there was nothing he could do but watch. “Every day it gets a little worse,” he said. “We’ve lost months, maybe years of her already.”

Beyond the staggering U.S. deaths caused directly by the novel coronavirus, more than 134,200 people have died from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia since March. That is 13,200 more U.S. deaths caused by dementia than expected, compared with previous years, according to an analysis of federal data by The Washington Post.

Excess deaths due to Alzheimer’s and dementia

A Washington Post analysis of weekly deaths data from the CDC found about 13,200 excess deaths due to Alzheimer’s and dementia since March.

Overlooked amid America’s war against the coronavirus is this reality: People with dementia are dying not just from the virus but from the very strategy of isolation that’s supposed to protect them. In recent months, doctors have reported increased falls, pulmonary infections, depression and sudden frailty in patients who had been stable for years.
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Pandemic? More like plague.

It never stops being heart breaking.

 

[Rogue Valley]

It never stops being heart breaking.

"It is what it is"

 

[OlNate]

"It is what it is"

And what it is is heartbreaking. Sorry, brother, this thread inspires zero flippancy in me. But I hear you.

 

[Lursa]

And what it is is heartbreaking. Sorry, brother, this thread inspires zero flippancy in me. But I hear you.

He or she was quoting The Donald.

This is the barely coherent and grammatically inept speech of a man who desperately wants to be able to claim that he "cured coronavirus."

That's it, in a nutshell. When we do get a handle on this crisis, he wants to be able to pull out footage and declare "I called it! I said use this! I said try this! I told them to do this, it was my idea!" He's just doing it with lots of stupid stuff because he doesnt want to miss an opportunity. He's afraid 'the big one' will be mentioned and he wont get credit for it.

It's all about declaring himself the savior of the cv crisis and we'll hear all about it, esp in his campaign. (Which is basically each of his press briefings these days) --- Lursa

 

[OlNate]

He or she was quoting The Donald.

I know. And normally you know I'd be all over it. Sometimes, though, it's ok to just be sad, and leave the knives in their sheaths.