TRENTO. Anna Casanova, a geriatrician called to lead the Santa Chiara geriatrics unit, took up her duties a few days ago.
Originally from Belluno, she had previously been primary in Feltre where she also managed a covid section.
«In Trento I found a well-organized, well-structured department that works, run-in, and will not need major changes. I found attentive professionals and a great availability. We currently have 55 hospitalized patients. 50 in the ward and 5 in support in others. The request for assistance is high, here there are practically never empty seats ».
The elderly, in these years of covid, have paid a lot in terms of lives, autonomy, sociality.
What are the prospects?
Vaccination is essential. It significantly reduced complications and protected against infection. The three doses are also necessary for the elderly. In light of the current openings, they are the only possibility of salvation because the elderly, who also have other comorbidities, are more likely to face complications and with vaccination protection against infection is seven times greater. Difficult to balance between the need of the elderly to maintain relationships and the risk of contagion.
What is the right strategy?
We must be able to keep the elderly in relationships but with serious protections, because it is true that they have suffered a lot also in terms of autonomy the fact of not having received enough stimuli, but we have also seen that if they get sick there can be serious consequences. So yes to relationships, but prudent and very protected. The advice is to always wear Ffp2 masks and to be vaccinated. If an elderly person is vaccinated and the person they meet is also vaccinated, the risk is reduced, otherwise we are at the mercy of the virus.
In addition to a high mortality, what are the consequences of Covid on elderly patients?
I have seen serious consequences on the mobility and autonomy of the elderly, with problems also from a cognitive point of view. There are pulmonary complications, but in the elderly they are a bit confused because it is not known how much it is attributable to covid and how much to other diseases.
What are the diseases that increase the risks associated with covid?
From my experience they are lung diseases, diabetes and heart disease. Then of course the enticement and breathing difficulties make you lose a lot in terms of autonomy. This is why vaccination is important. It is necessary to avoid that the elderly fall ill not because they risk their life, but also because of their quality of life. Equally important is that people close to them are vaccinated. I’m talking about the adults who care for them, the children, the grandchildren. I think it’s a form of attention, of affection. Christmas has just passed, I think getting vaccinated is also a great gift for them.
She arrived a few days ago, but she is well aware of the needs of the elderly. What are its goals?
Certainly in geriatrics it is important to create links with the territory, create networks and relationships to share knowledge and have a single language on the territory as in the hospital to work together. The hospital stay is usually short and then it takes a good relationship with the territory to guarantee a real quality management of people.