Nursing homes take action to protect residents

Turkish elder care homes are taking measures to protect the elderly across the country as the world grapples with the continued dangers of coronavirus.

Turkey has some 27,500 state-owned and 426 private nursing homes operating under the Turkish Labor, Social Services, and Family Ministry.

All of them carry out measures such as special shifts for the staff, and vigilant tracking any possible symptoms in residents of the virus.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are carried out every 14 days for staff starting their shifts.

An Anadolu Agency team documented life under coronavirus quarantine at one of these nursing homes, the 75th Anniversary Elderly Care and Rehabilitation Center in the capital Ankara.

Reporters from Anadolu Agency were allowed inside the home, with personnel in full protective gear caring for 273 residents after their COVID-19 tests came out negative.

Apart from the staff, no one is allowed inside the care home, and any medication, cargo, or basic supply deliveries are also kept outside for two hours before being taken inside after a disinfection process.

As the restaurant and cafeteria inside the nursing home is closed, the food is distributed to the elderly door-to-door in disposable plates by staff in full protective gear, just like intensive care unit personnel.
Orhan Koç, Turkey's director of services for the disabled and elderly, told Anadolu Agency that Turkey has applied partial quarantine rules to elderly care homes since Feb. 28 and full rules since March 26.

Thanks to these measures, Koc said the risk of virus transmission was minimized.

In case of a suspected case in a home, tests are carried out immediately, he said, adding that those who have positive...