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    Quarantine: Caregiving in the 21st century

    How do we offer comfort and quality-of-life to those in medical need?

    Started by: Josh Raves:3 Badge Winner! Open Authorship

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    Put aside the scientific considerations of the medical crisis for amount and think about the mental and emotional ones. Sick people need treatment along these dimensions as well, and it can't come in the form of a new pill or gene therapy. It comes from other people. Care for the very young and very old, for the terminally ill and those who need to manage the rest of their lives with an incurable disease. We're going to need more of this kind of care to survive the Quarantine superthreat. How can we deliver it?

    Community service is going to be more and more valuable, especially in the health care areas. The Chinese used to have a system that engaged people in health care and allowed them to progress as they learned by doing. (The old barefoot doctor concept...start by being a 'lowly' caregiver and progress as one's skills increased). The aging population of nurses could recruit and encourage apprentices in the craft of caring for the ill and dying. It really is a craft when done well.....

    Community service is going to be more and more valuable, especially in the health care areas. The Chinese used to have a system that engaged people in health care and allowed them to progress as they learned by doing. (The old barefoot doctor concept...start by being a 'lowly' caregiver and progress as one's skills increased). The aging population of nurses could recruit and encourage apprentices in the craft of caring for the ill and dying. It really is a craft when done well.....

    I also agree that community service would be very valuable for delivering medical and mental care for those infected with Reds. Mental care may not necesarily be therapy, but sometimes we just need to know that we are not alone and we have someone to rely on. Of course, any treatment should be done under the most strict sanitary conditions to prevent the spread but this situation puts our society to the test, to see if we have what it takes to remain together and help each other and hopefully live to see a better world.

    I think it'll be simimar to the way things were in 2008. FAMILY and community will be the caregivers in terminal illness. If you've dealt with any serious illness within your family/community you'd realize how few resources there are to provide it officially - and how thinly stretched they are. Faith based organizations will carry a huge responsibility in coordinating community help. There will be a new class of sage femmes - midwives - who work with the dying, helping them through their final days and supporting family members who take on the job. Quarantine will mean that entire families will be isolated and social services will need to be online and centralized. This'll cut down on their overhead too.




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