We continue to share tips that work. Art director Irina Erkan this time shared information on what should never be done if a loved one was admitted to a COVID hospital, and how to support a sick loved one.
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Not only patients of COVID clinics are experiencing new experiences in their lives. It is just as difficult for their loved ones. Many sincerely want to help, but do not know how.
I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t use my personal experience for research. So, “How to support a close COVID patient?”
Don’t pester
When you find out about the bad news, try not to bombard all the messengers of your friend every 2 hours with the question: “Are you feeling better?”
Why? The first week of stay the patient is not at all better. And worrying about yourself and for you can be a heavy burden for many in this state. Among the questions that patients most disliked were:
- “When are they discharged?”
- “What the doctor said?”
- “Why do not you take the phone?”.
How to do? Say: “How are you feeling? If you need help, write to me.” It was this reaction of friends that pleased the patients the most.
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Don’t force treatment
Do not send the patient treatment regimens and lists of medicines downloaded from social networks or obtained from “a friend of my mother who was cured in the best clinic in Israel.”
Why? The treatment regimen in COVID hospitals is strictly according to the protocol plus the individual condition. The patient simply does not have any mechanism to influence the treatment regimen. And who do you trust more? A prescription from Facebook or a doctor who has been seeing such patients for eight months now?
How to do? In no case do not challenge the actions of the doctor, do not give advice on how to treat. Just don’t touch this topic.
No “magic pills”
Do not send the patient promotional information about pills, dietary supplements, vitamins, folk remedies. As well as a video about “miraculous” remedies.
Why? The condition with COVID is quite severe, there is simply no strength to “eat” unnecessary information.
How to do? Each patient with covid is prescribed a complex of vitamins. For example, I drink Vitamin D 10000, C double dose and zinc cocktail. All convalescents need these vitamins. They are not cheap (if you buy not synthetics, but natural ones), but you can’t do without them. 80% of patients do not buy them because of the high price. Just give your friend a package of good vitamins and that’s it. Even if he is embarrassed to ask.
Don’t give menu advice
Do not try to advise what you can eat during illness, what you can not.
Why? The first ten days the patient eats almost nothing. There are so many antibiotics that there is no appetite at all. Smells are not felt, taste too. As soon as the patient gets better, appetite appears. And here I want the usual food, not the hospital.
How to do? If you are not at risk, ask what your friend wants and just pass it through the safe corridor. Even if it’s dinner from a restaurant or ice cream from a nearby stall.
Personal experience. I really wanted a cake from Volkonsky. But while my son was buying, I was on a drip and he could not find out which one. Therefore, he brought a huge box with all the sweets that were at that moment in the cafe. When I opened the box, it turned out that I began to smell! And it was very cool.
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Do not panic
Don’t panic. And do not shift your anxiety to your patient.
Why? He simply does not have the resources to contain these emotions. Even minimal stress reduces saturation by 5–10 units. This is enough to move to intensive care.
How to do? Communicate. Better by phone or video. Communicate as if the person is not in the clinic. Avoid topics that require immediate decisions.
Don’t ask who else is sick
Do not ask every day: “Who else in your family got infected?”
Why? We don’t know if family members got infected or not. All this will show time. But this is one of the most stressful topics in the COVID department. While the patient is in the clinic, parents from the risk group, small children can stay at home.
How to do? Ask if any of them need help. In support, food delivery, a trip to the doctor. And if you’re really willing to help, find a way to do it safely.
Don’t ask about deaths
And the last. Don’t ask your friend, “Has anyone died yet?”
There are no comments here. However, this topic was mentioned by every second researcher…
Thank you for the honest answers of patients (34–68 years old) of clinic #8, Kyiv, September 2020.
And let this information be useless to you. Health!
