Coronavirus Myths vs Facts with Karrie Austin

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following is a podcast from a qualified senior care provider part on the answers for elders radio show. So welcome everyone to answers for elders radio and we are here to talk about Covid Nineteen, Aka coronavirus. It is been a an ordeal, to say the least, for a community. A lot of people are afraid and there’s a lot of information going on that is a bunch of hysteria that it is necessary, not necessarily the truth. And so we are blessed to have a wonderful guest here, Carrie Austin from dispatch, help to kind of talk a little bit at us down from the wall and on this segment we’re going to talk about basically the myths people are saying versus the real facts out there. So I want to first to carry welcome you and thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me. I’m glad you’re here because I know people hearing things out there and they’re afraid, you know, for a lot of situations, and so I first want to dial into just general you know, I’m afraid to go into Seattle because you know I’m going to cancel my trip to Seattle because coronavirus is there. I mean, is that a myth or a fact? It’s a myth that we’re the only ones that have it right, sure, in the United States it’s it is a fact that we it is present here right now, right it is what is started as the epicenter because we have the first confirmed death, correct, of Coronavirut or virus in Washington state. However, every day there’s there’s more and more examples and stories of cases where people are popping up, you know, six or New York this last week. So it’s like, you know, Oregon, California, it’s it’s everywhere. But you know, we have the distinction here in Washington and having that first coronavirus death, that covid death, and so it really has kind of been a impactful, if you will, in what people are perceiving as far as Seattle and if it’s safe to travel here. Okay, good point. So here’s another here’s another thing we’re hearing on on social media. I don’t dare go to walgreens anymore because a bunch of sick people are there. Well, they’re sick people everywhere. Really it’s about personal safety. It’s right you know, it’s washing your hands, it’s minimizing your exposure. Try to minimize your exposure in close contact with people that are sick. Hum if you’re not feeling well, try to stay home. Walgreens, I think where we’re saying that, as you know, you can go get your prescriptions filled when you’re not feeling well. Stay at home, have someone go for you on your behalf and go get those prescriptions or necessities, you know, the basic needs there. But other than that, really this is it’s not the particular place, it’s the people that are drawn to it right well, and that’s the whole point. And I think one of the things that is really, you know, interesting about this whole thing is, you know, businesses, they’re cleaned every night. Now they may not be disinfected as much, but you can’t whether you walk into a grocery store or a pharmacy or anywhere, it’s going to be out there. It there’s no doesn’t make make any one location more susceptible of getting a virus. And the other thing I think being mindful of is if you feel like you’ve got symptoms, wear a mask. Those are the times when you should be wearing a mask. Not to keep if you’re going to be on an airplane just because you don’t have symptoms, don’t wear a mask. That’s the whole point and I think that’s the key, is just being mindful of that. So here’s another one I’ve got. I’ve got a lot of them here. I live in Kirkland. Oh my gosh, what am I going to do? I’m probably infected because we’re down the road from Life Care Center. Unfortunately, that is a huge myth. Life Care Center is a phenomenal facility. Yes, there it is a facility that at dispatch health we have responded to and and in order to help a residence day successfully home and treat them their home versus having to go out. It can happen to anyone anywhere. And and just to talk a little bit about Life Care Center, and I think that’s something in the industry, there’s such a thing as state surveys. These are where state officers they show up and all of a sudden everybody has to respond and they go through a state survey and they they receive no notice, dvance notice when the state shows up, and this state is very, very, very persnickety about state surveys. I will tell you something. I’ve heard the most craziest little things about how they ing communities. And so to understand how strict the regiment is for a state survey. I cannot over emphasize that. I mean it carry will you agree about that? Way? Our state is about making sure that our facilities that we have our older adults and they are very, very well survey and I think are. Yeah, The Washington State to Barn Round Department of Health does a phenomenal job here of making sure that they when they do their services, their incredibly thorough right. And so life care center of Kirkland, where we had that, we had that initial outbreak, they have done a phenomenal job. They have very high surveys. Yes, again, this could have been any community. That’s anywhere in the state of washing and that’s going to go right on the tail of I’ve had phone calls this week from a lot of families that have seniors in in like assisted living, in you know, in skilled nursing and memory care, and they’re like they want to take their senior loved one out because of that, and I’m going like, there’s no need to do that. Here’s the thing that that is good about this is like every senior community is probably more on top of things than any place else that you could take your senior loved one too, and especially in your own home, where the disease is probably much more present because you’re in and out of the House and and when I encourage you to do is understand and put your faith in the stuff that are there. You know, I’ve had in the last week I’ve had conversations with our wonderful Kelly Smith from care partners. They they already do massive amounts of disinfecting. I mean this is what they’re there for, obviously, but even more so now their stuff is up to speed there, they’re able to recognize early symptoms before you know, they’re just a little bit more in tune to what’s happening. So, you know, I cannot emphasize enough to please don’t think that what happened at Life Care Center had anything to do with the level or standard of care that this facility has, because they’re one of the best in the state. I would put them in the top ten percent, wouldn’t you? There they are very, very good at what they do, for certain, and they’re just with there. Truly is a heightened sense of awareness. I will specially the senior community, where people tend to have some underlying health issues and or more and are more susceptible to viruses and or illness. So I understand the concern, but this is one of those myths were taking them out simply isn’t going to protect them. No at all. Now, just again, and I know we’ve touched back on this several times, but just basic, basic things such as hand washing, you know, if you don’t feel well, don’t leave the home, if you’re you know, try to keep it much of a distance or avoid, you know, physical contact with somebody that is sick. These are all very simple steps to help keep you and your loved ones safe. Yes, and that’s the key, is making sure that that happened. So another myth we have. We have all kinds of myths here. I don’t dare go out to any public places right now. I’ve heard that like several times from people. That’s not true, is it? No, again, just be very mindful, HMM, of your surroundings. Again, take you know, take precautions yourself. If you’re not feeling well, don’t leave and if you don’t need to be someplace where there might be a large amount of sick people. Don’t go to a hospital if you don’t need to, don’t go to the urgent care if you don’t need to. Truly just you using common sense and using, you know, basic hand washing and such. That’s really with the biggest takeaway from all of this is in this heightened sense of awareness, when we have all of these messages coming from all of these different directions, whether it’s social media, the news, really this set standard. What we want to see people really reference when they’re talking about coronavirus and covid is going to the CDC, MMM DOT Gov and if you have questions there can be able to answer that for you. But really just keep yourself safe, just a heightened sense of awareness of hand washing, using a handgel, covering your cough, not coming in a direct contact with someone that’s sick. That’s you can’t avoid. Leaving your home. Need to be able to go out and go to the grocery store and such, but just being mindful of some of those, you know, little things that you can do to help, you know, keep yourself healthy. That I simply I’ll we’re asking right and so obviously, going back to the hull miths. Now I’m going to go take the bigger view and that is with our US government and our president, will, you know, got governance of this today? I believe President Trump said that anybody that wants to get tested can get tested. Is that true? Not Right? Not at this time. There is a finite amount of testing that’s available state to state and across the US. So we need to be very mindful that we’re testing the right people correct and not everyone. If you have questions, if you have concerns about your symptoms, you can reach out to the King County Coronavirus covid nineteen hotline. That numbers two hundred six, four, seven, seven, three, nine, seven seven. They can answer your questions very good. If you don’t want to leave your home, you can do one of two things. You can go to multiicare dot org and they have or are offering free covid nineteen e visits. Tell a medicine where you can talk to a provider about your symptoms and and get treatment via that Tele Medicine, or you can simply contact dispatch health. So dispatch health is a mobile urgent care service that can come out in treat your symptoms in your home safely. So, given that dispatch health will go up to how far north? All the way through evert and Marysville? MMM, and then includes the east side? It does, and includes all of the Greater Seattle area, pretty much tacoma and Olympia. Correct huge coverage area. So to our listeners, if you’re feeling like you’ve got some flu symptoms, you don’t want to go out because you’re concerned about getting exposed, this is a great opportunity for you guys to try out dispatch health and they will work directly in conjunction with your local emergency room are any sort of situation. They are kind of like a triage for you and they can screen you to a certain degree to see if you’re if you’re a good candidate to be tested if you’re having those kind of symptoms. So, Carrie, how do we reach you? So, if so, to be seeing, you need to dial with two five five three, zero nine three seven again, calling for to five, five, five, three, zero nine three seven, and that will put you in direct contact with our care team, our call center, and they’ll be able to talk about your your symptoms and do a restratification to make sure it’s appropriate. If it is, we absolutely will go out and see you same day and if you’re having those acute and emergent type symptoms where we feel that more appropriate testing should be done in a hospital, will talk you through that process as well. Well. I am so glad you have been here and to just to share all of your wealth and wisdom. So thank you so much and thank you again to our listeners. Stay safe. Answers for elders radio show with Susan Newman hopes you found this podcast useful in your journey of navigating senior care. 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