(This is the second in a two-part series examining Green House homes as a potential solution to the long-term care crisis. The first part, which examined how Green House homes kept COVID-19 cases and deaths low, is available here.)
To hear John Ponthie tell it, you have to visit a Green House Project nursing home to truly know what they’re like.
“This doesn t look like a nursing home. This doesn t smell like a nursing home. This doesn t feel like a nursing home,” he said. “This looks like a big home a 7,500-square-foot home where these 12 elders live this rich life together, as rich as it can be given their functional decline.”
Mutant strains of the coronavirus are challenging public health efforts around the world. Dr. Nancy Nielsen, Senior Associate Dean for Health Policy at UB
Credit Buffalo.edu
President Biden has declared that his administration will work to improve the distribution of COVID vaccine. Dr. Nancy Nielsen sees a lot of things that can be done better. The Senior Associate Dean for Health Policy at UB s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is very familiar with the allocation chain involving private companies, federal and state governments. She also wants to give credit where credit is due. I think very valiant efforts were made so I don t want to disparage those folks that set up the current system under the last administration, said Nielsen, the former President of the American Medical Association. I think we need to remember we should be enormously grateful for Operation Warp Speed and for the scientists that developed these vaccines. Let s just try to improve things.
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Dr. Nancy Nielsen, a former President of the American Medical Association, discusses issues related to COVID-19 with WBFO.
A former President of the American Medical Association, Dr. Nancy Nielsen is the Senior Associate Dean for Health Policy at UB s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Credit Buffalo.edu This virus has mutated thousands of times already as it hopscotches across the globe. So, finding a mutation is not an issue, Nielsen said. But, this UK mutant is different. It has about 17 mutations that seem to occur all at once.
Some suspect the mutant strain may have already made its way to the United States. While that is a legitimate concern, Nielsen says the bigger question revolves around the effectiveness of the two COVID vaccines that have been approved by the FDA.
WBFO s Tom Dinki reports.
At least 21 residents of the Elderwood nursing home in Williamsville have tested positive for COVID-19 during the last six months, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
Resident Eileen Folkerth is not one of them.
But, like all residents, she can’t participate in activities outside her room, due to safety protocols.
“All you have is TV,” she said.
Folkerth may get back to a more engaging routine and what she called a “more pleasant life,” with the help of a COVID-19 vaccination. She could receive it as soon as this week.