EP34: What Matters to Nursing Home Residents with Anne Montgomery from Altarum

<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">What Matters to Nursing Home Residents with Anne Montgomery from Altarum</span></em></p> <p><strong><em>“The presence of family and treasured people in a nursing home resident's life is incredibly important.”</em></strong><strong>— Anne Montgomery</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">COVID-19 has turned the whole world upside down, including the lives of nursing home residents. While nursing home residents only account for 8% of total COVID cases in the United States, they account for more than 40% of  all deaths. The response to this nationally was to lock down all 15,600 nursing homes for over six months. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While mainstream media has commented on their plight from an outsider-in viewpoint, in this episode, Anne Montgomery shares a new</span> <a href= "https://altarum.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-publication-files/Nursing-Home-Resident-Survey_Altarum-Special-Report_FINAL.pdf?utm_source=Altarum+Updates&utm_campaign=4c1e4b504a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_09_30_02_52&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4220252dfe-4c1e4b504a-347624313"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">special report by Altarum</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">released in October 2020 with insights into what matters to nursing home residents.</span></p> <p><strong>Part One of ‘What Matters to Nursing Home Residents with Anne Montgomery from Altarum’</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Social isolation and loneliness are not new phenomena for nursing home residents, but COVID-19 has amplified the distress and harm residents have ensured since the beginning of the pandemic. In mid-March of 2020, the federal government, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, issued a prohibition on visitation in nursing homes of family members, immediate relatives to keep residents safer. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To check the extent of social isolation and loneliness, a survey has been conducted from July until the end of August, althou