As Belgium enters summer and temperatures begin to rise, the country could be facing a particularly deadly year for waves because many elderly residents have been left weakened by coronavirus infections. VUB-professor Dirk Devroey, dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacology, expresses his concerns on palliative care during these trying times.
"One problem is that we are still a little anxious to visit the elderly, that they're still more isolated than before," says Devroey. "It's important to have social contact with these people, and visit them regularly." Sadly, many of the social and medical workers who would normally be checking in on the vulnerable elderly are currently preoccupied with the country's vaccination campaign. "They've also had a year of very hard wrok, and so some of them will be going on summr holidays. That makes a difference in terms of having elderly people perhaps more isolated, and it could take longerb efore they are detected as being at risk for heart problems," Devroey adds.
Read the full article at brusselstimes.com.