In online meetings held by the General Directorate of Disability and Elderly Services; Covid-19 Measures were discussed with the directors of the Official and Private Nursing Home Aged Care and Rehabilitation Centers.

On Tuesday, September 22, 2020, the General Directorate of Disability and Elderly Services held two separate online meetings.   The first of the online meetings held before noon was discussed with the Directors of The Official Nursing Home Aged Care and Rehabilitation Centers, and at the second meeting in the afternoon, the directors of private nursing homes and aged care centers and the pandemia process were discussed with the general outlines within the scope of Covid-19 Measures.

The online meetings, chaired by Dr. Orhan KOÇ, General Director of Disability and Elderly Services, were attended by directors of the Aged Care and Rehabilitation Centers of official and private nursing homes operating throughout Turkey.

At the meetings, The General Director of Disability and Elderly Services, Dr. Orhan KOÇ, reminded the directors of the institution about the implementation of the measures and listened to their problems in this process. In the event of difficulties, the General Directorate and the Provincial Directorate officials should be immediately reached and informed, following the measures taken in consultation with the Provincial Directorates to provide care services to our elderly people entrusted to us in a way that is an example to the world and institutions should make maximum efforts to keep covid cases to a minimum, he said. In his speech, Dr. Orhan KOÇ said: "We fought a very serious fight during the pandemia period, we have achieved great success, you are the hidden heroes of this struggle. What is important is the measures taken in advance against the virus, and the implementation and strict control of the measures taken is just as valuable. In this struggle, it is important to pay attention to the preliminary findings. Everyone should be tested, those with contact, those in suspicious condition, cases with symptoms should never be neglected. These measures are vital to prevent the virus from entering organizations.

It was a very important step for us to move into the shift system. It's a system that walks with great sacrifices. You voluntarily participated in this. Otherwise, we couldn't protect our elderly from the virus if they were in a risk group. Before the shift sat the test application. Of course, the shift system is a tiring process. The science board recommends at least 10 days of shift. It could go on for a lot of reasons. While the tests are being carried out, it is important to pay close attention to social distance, isolation. Let's make it outdoors, if possible. It would be nice to have the results for the same day. But that wasn't possible. At least he should stay in isolation until he's on shift after testing.

Despite all these measures and considerations, if the virus has entered the organization, then we must make the utmost effort to keep it under control and not spread. The referral of the elderly or disabled with symptoms to the hospital is very important. Because it is absolutely important that our elderly people who are in the high risk group are referred to a health care provider and that the treatment is done in the hospital environment.

Your organization must be strict in isolation. But this can't be a makeshift place. If the isolation is not possible in a single room, it should be arranged in a double room but at least 2 meters between the beds. It is not desirable to have passed away in the organization. Minimizing this is the primary duty of the administrators. To do this, you need to make sure that everything that can be done conscientiously is done at the highest level.

I would like to ask that every case reported to the health directorate and our provincial directorate in no time. It's no use hiding the case. If possible, the entire organization must be regularly tested, staff, residents should all be tested and these tests should be repeated every 7 days. We're all testing negative, but we have to act like we're positive within the organization.

I know we have our problems, especially we have serious work to do with the lack of staff. We have not given up on our request for additional payments. The material equivalent of the service, the sacrifice, can not be measured by anything, but we will continue to voice our demand.  We are also in contact with the General Directorate of Labor regarding the issue of leave.

In organizations, it is important for the elderly to feed, to move, to be brought out into the open air on a regular diet. We expect you to document the work and experience done in the field and share them with us. For the elderly waiting in line, a social review should be done again and other social service models should be proposed. I think the work of our VEFA social support teams and their observations are important," he said.

At the end of the meeting, the directors of the organization took a word one by one and conveyed their support and demands to the process. They rened on the issues they faced on the field.