COVID-19 Update with Shawn Weiss

*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 podcast is by Dr Shan Twiss, President of Senior Health and Wellness Group, on the answers for elders radio network. And Welcome back everyone to answers for elders radio, and this hour has flown by, is I might get. I have the honor, honor and privilege of speaking with Dr Sean Weiss, and Sean is the president of the Senior Health and wellness group, which is an education and consulting company that works with families all over in helping to navigate senior care. And Sean also, believe it or not, owns a health home healthcare business as well and has for a long time. And I have been honored to know you, Sean, now for well over ten years now. It’s kind of crazy how our lives are kind of paralleled and things like that. So I’m so glad you’ve been able to be with us this hour and share your wisdom and I know you’ll be a wonderful asset to our expert team as we roll out nationally throughout all of our podcasts in the US. So, Sean, you know, I really want to start with where we left off with fall prevention, because that’s a piece of it where people have been during the pandemic. And I think I want to wrap up this hour kind of of where do we? Where are we at right now? We have a new Delta variant that’s out there. There’s all different types of things happening. So I’m picking up where we left off. Obviously, in activity. You made a comment which is really profound to me. Inactivity produces pain, right, right. So he’ll tell us a little bit about we’ve had. We’ve had seniors that have been inactive for quite a while. Right. So not only do you have, you know, our seniors and older adults have been inactive, but over the course of probably the first half of the year, there’s you know, maybe have been isolated, have not really gone out. Their weaker than they realize they are. Their balanced might not be as great as that used to be and they’re trying to go out, trying to get out more. There’s that longing to get outside and go do things, maybe go with their son or daughter to shop or go to a restaurant. And you know, you really have to to pay attention to how much have you been exercising, how much activity have you had? It’s, you know, the same use it or lose. It is is so profound in this situation because you might not even realize that you’ve become weak until you go out to do something and you’ve gotten maybe shorter breath or you’re just have to sit there and take a break. Yes, we’re seen it everywhere. Yeah, definitely, and you. Yeah, and your and I was going to say for me, I’ve noticed, you know, early in the season I have Rose Garden Right, so I’m out there usually for hours at a time. I even now. Of course, part of it is me getting older, but I can’t do the things that I used to do and it’s frustrating. It’s very frustrating. And part of it is my age, because I’m obviously where I’m at. But I think the other thing is is that we just kind of let ourselves go during the pandemic in many cases, and certainly you know, my doctor asked me how much alcohol I was drinking and I was like, well, I guess more than normal. You know. I mean I wasn’t taking care of myself as much as I really do, which is kind of interesting. Right, and you see that across the board, and not just an older adults in right, you know, and everybody and the like. We’ve been talking about this whole hour, whether it’s caregiver burnout or the reasons why there’s been an increase in, you know, alcohol consumption. We see a lot of doctors starting to ask about that. There’s a genuine, genuine concern about the lifestyles that we’ve been leading over the past year and a half and some of it’s you know, we really had no choice and her you know, when you’ve if you if your state was on a stay at home order, then you had to try to make do with what you had and sometimes you don’t have the opportunity to go at exercise or take a walk or you didn’t really know what you could do at home to try to keep your muscles strong and active. Right. So, with this Delta variant, obviously there’s a lot of confusion happening right now. Right. So what’s the scoop on it? What’s the truth? Well, you know, you know, I wish I could say that I am all knowing and you know, even as a home care agency and no owner and a Medicare provider, you know we have to be really up to all the regulations and all the recommendations and and I know the latest recommendations from the CDC and there’s just a lot of confusion and a lot of worry out there and, you know, speaking personally just from our agency, know we go from, you know, the pandemic, where we have all of our strict rules in place for infection control and trying to advocate for the wellbeing and safety of our seniors, to okay, well, now people are geting vaccinated, or now the orders are lifted, now the businesses are open and people are starting to get out and do more things. And what we’re seeing now is okay, well, now we’re seeing an uptick in cases again, even amongst caregivers and medical providers and people going to the hospital. So we’re kind of, you know what, our agency almost had to come back to a you know, step back a little bit and let’s revisit where we are with our recommendations and less revisit where we are with taking care of our seniors and in making sure, you know, we’re recommending staff get vaccinated, that were checking for family members of vaccinations, and most of our patients are vaccinated. Most of the elderly population that we deal with have been. But there’s a lot of fear out there right now and you know, we’re kind of seeing it start to go back again and in you certainly that creates a level of panic in me, as you know, a caregiver or a provider, and I just you don’t want to go back to that situation where people are becoming sedentary and isolated because, I tell you, the mental health and the physical health component of the wellbeing of everybody certainly has been significantly affected and we really don’t want to go there. You know, we don’t want to go back there. But yet we have to be safe, and so we have to, as a home care agency, advocate the best we can for our families to get the care for their loved ones that they need, for our patients who are living alone to still get the care that they need well and ride safe such a safe environment and safe situation. And I think too, is you know we always say, and I think we’re all guilty. I’m guilty. As say, I listened to science. Well, science is not an answer. Science is a process of discovery and I think one of the things that people will say to me. Well, the CDC said this a month ago. Why did they change? Because we learned more. We learned about, you know, new things. So it’s like, I think the thing that’s interesting about how we frame things and how we discuss things are are in many cases driving society apart, because because people hear what they want to hear and they and they or they or they take their own twist to it. So having the opportunity to say, you know, science isn’t the ultimate answer. Science is about discovery and it’s about presentations of the facts as we know them at the time. And and we’re always learning more. If we ever just shut the door on to science saying well, you know, this is what covid is, we wouldn’t know more things, we wouldn’t be able to discover things about a vaccine or things like that. So understanding a little bit more about you know that we all have to be open to what the process is and what we learn and but that doesn’t mean we have to be confused and it doesn’t mean also that we have to live in fear, which I think is the other side of it. Right we’re in a much different place and we were a year and a half Agay, and I you know, that’s the hard part. You know, we don’t know what we don’t know and now we know what we know, right, and we still have a lot to learn. I think, you know, six months from now this conversation might be different. Yep, it’s just we may have to get a booster shot for those of us that have been back vaccinated. I’ve heard that and that’s okay. It’s like, you know, I guess my point is, you know, I’m lucky here in the state of Washington. I think we are like about about eighty percent vaccinated, which is really amazing in our state. But there’s other states across the US that are not in that position and it you know, it’s frustrating, coming from where I do and washing the state, to see the low numbers because I don’t understand why. But I think right really shows the confusion in the country and it’s frustrating, I think, on all ends. Right, and you see that, you know, a national rate, what are we about? Seventy percent as a nation. But you know, coming from a national perspective, to it all depends on, you know, your level of confidence, your level of fear, on where you’re living right now. So having to, you know, be a provider of education and recommendations for the health and wellbeing of so many people. It’s just a really difficult I don’t think there’s a writer, you know, an easy way to get people to come together, but I certainly think that the division, sir, is not necessary and it’s just only going to be to the detriment to the health and well being especially older adults and their caregivers. Yeah, and I do now that it’s like ninety six percent of those that are in the hospitals. I think the latest data are those that have not been vaccinated, right, and that is the thing I think that’s really overwhelming to look at. And here’s my other question I might we have. I’m going to ask you. I’m to know if you know this, but answer. But what about small children that haven’t been vaccinated yet? What is their risk factor to the Delta variant? What what have you heard? Like a lot of our seniors have grandchildren, right, and what we’re seeing right now, and this is the information that we’ve been provided, is they’re still gathering informations. As of right now, they’re not seeing that the younger children are as high risk for developing, the developed the varying or transmitting the Delta variant. They still still seem to be in a low risk. Cool for that. But, like I said, I think over the last couple of months we’re just gathering so much information on this variant and whether they’re that. You know now they’re coming out. was saying, okay, we really feel that all the vaccines now are protective against this variant, which is no wonderful news. We want to hear that. But my kind act, it will be like the flu. It won’t be anything, you know, terrible, which is great. If you’re vaccinated and you do happen to get a break through, you know, have a breakthrough case, your chances of hospitalization or death or in a little to none. We do know that for a fact. So you promoting you know that’s and because no vaccine is one hundred percent effective. And I think that’s also misinformation that you well, I’m not going to get the virus. Well, you might get the virus, but your chances you likely going to have a very mild case of the virus. You said like flu symptoms. Yeah, it slight fever, headache, a few days of I’m not feeling well. So, Sean, I want to close out this hour and make sure that everyone knows that you are going to have your own Mataf. You’re on answers for alderscom. You are on one of our specialists and you have a lot of resources on your website and you we can certainly link to that on answers for elder so for those of you that are listening to this podcast or listen to our radio show, please know that we would really love to have you reach out to Sean and I’m just so thrilled you’ve been with us this hour. Thank you so much and I look forward to a lot more podcasts on our podcast network with you. So, in the meantime, Sean, thank you so much for being on this show. Well, my friend, it has been great and I’m really looking forward to our new adventure together and again, just helping our older adults age in place and, for you know, helping everybody navigate through these trying times. It’s going to be a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to working with you on that. I love it. So to each and every one of you again, stay safe and we’re very, very thrilled that you’re that we’ve had an opportunity to meet this brand new guests and to each and every one of you remember looking on the seniors in your neighborhood. Are for them a glass of water, or maybe it’s a lemonade. Think about how you can help brighten their day and remember so many of them have been quarantine for so long. So if you can reach out, touch someone, say hello, bring them a smile and until next week, everyone be good to each other. We would like to thank you for listening to this podcast by Dr Shaun Weiss, CEO of Senior Health and wellness group, focusing on wellness and prevention strategies for seniors. As a fall prevention specialist, Dr Weiss provides family support and education to keep your loved one safe. You can learn more by visiting her website at www dot senior health and wellness dot org.